Electronic Design’s sponsored entry in the 104th Indianapolis 500 overcame two days of missed practice to turn in a speed of 222.086 mph in qualifying on Aug. 16. The DragonSpeed Racing Team’s #81 car driven by England’s Ben Hanley will start last in the 33-car grid on Sunday, Aug. 23.
After qualifying a year ago, DragonSpeed confirmed the team’s participation only last week. Driveshaft issues, which ended the team’s 2019 race a year ago after only 10 laps, also slowed down the process, but team officials said they were focused on getting the car ready for the eventual race as opposed to strictly focusing on the qualifying speed.
“The lost track time was a shame, but knowing that we are in the show allows us to focus on finding our baseline race set-up instead of qualifying,” said DragonSpeed team principal Elton Julian. “With Tom Brown joining Paul Thomas on the stand, we’re taking the same methodical, calm approach as last year, but emphasizing different things.”
“We spent our first proper day on track on developing a solid basic set-up for the race,” said Hanley. “We worked through a lot of options, but the tricky conditions made it harder to read the effect of various changes over the course of the day. All the same, we were able to identify a few issues we think we can improve for qualifying and the race.”
The car features a new livery and new sponsors for this year’s Indy 500, which was postponed from its traditional Memorial Day weekend starting time due to the pandemic. Besides Electronic Design and Machine Design from Endeavor Business Media, sponsors include Chevrolet Accessories, DragonSpeed IMSA LMP2 partner Flex-Box, and Toledo Building Services, plus continuing support from 10Star Solutions, Rembrandt Charms, and Motul.
“We’re grateful to the NTT Indycar Series, Roger Penske, Chevrolet, Firestone and our sponsors for their help in getting us here and look forward to playing our part in delivering a great show,” said Julian.
