Scott McLaughlin doesn't expect to hang about in the mid-pack come race day at the Indianapolis 500.
The Team Penske pilot qualified 14th for the Greatest Spectacle In Racing after narrowly missing out on the top 12 shootout but believes he's got superior speed in race trim.
McLaughlin will start one lane forward of being in the absolute centre of the grid from row five with Ed Carpenter and Kyle Kirkwood on his left and right side respectively.
Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 2023 IndyCar Series, featuring Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon. All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand
Early indications are that passing at the head of the field will be easy, while those buried in the pack may struggle to make headway.
Despite that, the Kiwi is optimistic he'll be able to scythe through after seeing promising results in the second-to-last practice on Tuesday.
"I think we are definitely a lot happier than we have been the last couple of years," McLaughlin told fellow starter Conor Daly on DirtyMo Media's Speed Street.
"We've definitely made a gain, it's just not enough. It's so tight. Less than one mile an hour and I'm on pole.
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"It's tough, it's IndyCar, it's why we love it. We've made gains. I think our race cars are really good though.
"I feel really good in traffic. I mean, everyone is probably going to say that up until race day and then the green flag drops.
"I think I started 26th here last year and that was a little bit harder so it's nice to be 14th, so I'm excited."
Nine-time Indianapolis 500 starter turned Stan Sport commentator James Hinchcliffe echoed that sentiment.
The 2016 pole position winner hailed McLaughlin's transition from Supercars to IndyCar, labelling it "one of the most impressive second careers in motorsports I've ever seen."
"Scott's transition over to IndyCar and the rate at which he picked up – the craft, the subtleties and the nuance and learning the different types of circuits from the road courses to the street circuits to the short ovals to the superspeedway – I mean, meteoric," Hinchcliffe told SpeedSeries commentator Greg Rust on the Rusty's Garage podcast.
https://twitter.com/StanSportAU/status/1661265781781405699"You look at his performances in Texas last year and at the 500 until his incident last season, he's definitely got what it takes.
"He's surrounded by some of the best people in the business, and I love that only a few years into kind of being surrounded in this world his passion for this race in particular is unrivalled.
"It's incredible to see how much he's really adopted his love for racing over here and his passion for this race. He is fully committed. His work ethic is great. I said he's got great people around him. He's got a great shot at it."
https://omny.fm/shows/rustys-garage/the-motorsport-brief-the-biggest-race-in-the-world/embed?style=CoverMcLaughlin's teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden will start from 12th and 17th respectively.
The 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 gets underway on Monday, May 29 at 1am (AEST) with coverage live, ad-free, and exclusively on Stan Sport.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
Scott McLaughlin doesn't expect to hang about in the mid-pack come race day at the Indianapolis 500.
The Team Penske pilot qualified 14th for the Greatest Spectacle In Racing after narrowly missing out on the top 12 shootout but believes he's got superior speed in race trim.
McLaughlin will start one lane forward of being in the absolute centre of the grid from row five with Ed Carpenter and Kyle Kirkwood on his left and right side respectively.
Stan Sport is the only place to watch the 2023 IndyCar Series, featuring Will Power, Scott McLaughlin and Scott Dixon. All the action streaming ad free, live and on demand
Early indications are that passing at the head of the field will be easy, while those buried in the pack may struggle to make headway.
Despite that, the Kiwi is optimistic he'll be able to scythe through after seeing promising results in the second-to-last practice on Tuesday.
"I think we are definitely a lot happier than we have been the last couple of years," McLaughlin told fellow starter Conor Daly on DirtyMo Media's Speed Street.
"We've definitely made a gain, it's just not enough. It's so tight. Less than one mile an hour and I'm on pole.
READ MORE: Targeted' star warned ahead of Origin return
READ MORE: Eels injury crisis deepens in win over Cowboys
READ MORE: Controversy overshadows Reds' try of the year
"It's tough, it's IndyCar, it's why we love it. We've made gains. I think our race cars are really good though.
"I feel really good in traffic. I mean, everyone is probably going to say that up until race day and then the green flag drops.
"I think I started 26th here last year and that was a little bit harder so it's nice to be 14th, so I'm excited."
Nine-time Indianapolis 500 starter turned Stan Sport commentator James Hinchcliffe echoed that sentiment.
The 2016 pole position winner hailed McLaughlin's transition from Supercars to IndyCar, labelling it "one of the most impressive second careers in motorsports I've ever seen."
"Scott's transition over to IndyCar and the rate at which he picked up – the craft, the subtleties and the nuance and learning the different types of circuits from the road courses to the street circuits to the short ovals to the superspeedway – I mean, meteoric," Hinchcliffe told SpeedSeries commentator Greg Rust on the Rusty's Garage podcast.
https://twitter.com/StanSportAU/status/1661265781781405699"You look at his performances in Texas last year and at the 500 until his incident last season, he's definitely got what it takes.
"He's surrounded by some of the best people in the business, and I love that only a few years into kind of being surrounded in this world his passion for this race in particular is unrivalled.
"It's incredible to see how much he's really adopted his love for racing over here and his passion for this race. He is fully committed. His work ethic is great. I said he's got great people around him. He's got a great shot at it."
https://omny.fm/shows/rustys-garage/the-motorsport-brief-the-biggest-race-in-the-world/embed?style=CoverMcLaughlin's teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden will start from 12th and 17th respectively.
The 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 gets underway on Monday, May 29 at 1am (AEST) with coverage live, ad-free, and exclusively on Stan Sport.
For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by clicking here!
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