‘All on me’ mistake Ericsson admits after almost failing to qualify for Indy 500 · RaceFans

Marcus Ericsson has admitted he was responsible for jeopardizing his place in the Indianapolis 500 by ending a qualifying race prematurely.

The 2022 race winner only secured his place in the race with a last-ditch effort that placed him 32nd on the 33-car grid.

Ericsson was one of four riders vying for the final three spots in this weekend’s race after struggling to find pace following a crash earlier in the weekend.

But he made a mistake on his first run during Sunday’s Last Chance qualifying session at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When his race engineer gave him a “white flag” signal, indicating he was starting the last of his four consecutive laps, Ericsson misunderstood the message and slowed down.

Ericsson said he was solely responsible for the error, but the team will change its communication with him in upcoming qualifying sessions.

“You live and learn, don’t you,” he said. “It all depended on me.

“We’ve been doing the same thing all week. We did, I don’t know, 58 qualifying races this weekend, and it’s still the same countdown. So it’s just me.

Announcement | Become a supporter of RaceFans and go without advertising

“I ruined everything and I shouldn’t do that with my experience.” We will definitely change the procedure in the future.

Ericsson narrowly lost out on victory at last year’s Indy 500 after leading the field on a controversial restart on the final lap and being passed by Josef Newgarden. But he said the experience of almost failing to qualify was “at least as difficult, if not more difficult”.

“Especially after my mistakes on my first run when we were safe,” he said. “I can’t believe I did that.”

His Andretti team sent him for a slow lap of the track to cool his engine before the final run that secured his place in the peloton.

“Having to sit there and wait and think about it, I had one chance to go in the race and I had to do that run because I knew the car was hot, so it wasn’t ideal after the first run .

“We had to tweak the car. It has been really difficult for me to drive since my accident. So it was a very, very difficult mental challenge.

Announcement | Become a supporter of RaceFans and go without advertising

IndyCar

Browse all IndyCar articles