LONG BEACH, California – Rookie racer Felix Rosenqvist of Sweden was comfortably positioned to advance to the final round of Saturday’s Firestone “Fast Six” in qualifications for the 45th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The 27-year-old NTT IndyCar Series driver was solidly in second place as the clock was winding down in the semifinal round of qualifications. That is when the six fastest drivers out of the round of 12 drivers is determined.
With just a few moments left in the sessions, Rosenqvist was trying to increase the speed in his No. 10 NTT DATA Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing when he locked up the brakes in Turn 9 and slid into the tire barrier.
The red flag was displayed and because Rosenqvist was the reason, his two fastest laps in that session were erased.
Rosenqvist went from a potential second place in that session to a 12th place starting position for Sunday’s renewal of IndyCar’s greatest street race.
“It was a driver mistake, definitely,” Rosenqvist said afterward. “I had a good lap, then went for a second one that looked a bit slower, but probably tried too hard there in the last sector. It's always within thousands and hundreds of a second, and you don't really want to relax even if you've had a good lap time.
“The instruction is always to push until the end. It's always such a small margin, so just a slight mistake looking up over the bump will cost you.”
Unfortunately for the fast and fearless driver from Malmo, Sweden, his mistake cost him dearly.
“I maybe broke three to four feet later than the lap before, and that was enough to down settle the front and I got out in the dirt a little bit,” Rosenqvist said. “It's done and I couldn't make it to the safety zone, so I was sort of stuck in the middle there and hit the tires.
“It was really unfortunate, but that's on me.
“The NTT DATA car was really good today, so credit to the boys and we'll focus on the race tomorrow.”
Rosenqvist’s teammate, five-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon, qualified for the outside of the front row alongside pole winner Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport.
Marcus Ericsson, the other rookie driver from Sweden, also had an issue in qualifications and did not advance out of the first round. He will start 19th.
"We didn't really get a lap on the blacks (Firestone primary tires), then we decided to box early to try to get out first on reds (Firestone alternate tires),” Ericsson said. “We came out decently on reds and ready to do a lap and then there was a red flag.
“It happens a lot in this series and it's very frustrating."