NASCAR: Raikkonen sets 27th fastest time in qualifying

Kimi Raikkonen has never competed in Watkins Glen before and the set-up of the weekend in this series is such that each driver spends just 20 minutes on track during practice, with qualifying immediately following.

In the end, Kimi, who drove the No. 91 Chevrolet Camaro for Trackhouse Racing, finished 27th out of 39 entrants, but he thinks it’s a good start.

“Of course I would like to do more circles because I felt we had potential, but I wasn’t sure which tracks to choose,” the Finn commented with a smile after qualifying. – Circles obviously weren’t enough to put everything together, but I enjoyed it!

In general everything went as I expected, but there is always a difference between the sensations on the simulator and on the real track. Some of the nuances on the simulator are never reproduced, but at least I have an idea about the track.

I think in the course of qualifying I had to do better in some areas, but in others, it seemed to me, I handled it well. But everything is going well, because I was not counting on anything and at the same time I ended up somewhere in the middle, so everything is fine.

In the evening we will continue to work with the team so that I understand the rules better and do not make stupid mistakes. Also, it will be necessary to do something with the car, because we know where we started and how we worked with the settings later. I hope we can improve something. Today we have already made progress between the first session and qualifying – I hope this will be the case before the race.”

It’s worth adding that Kimi was the top European rider at Watkins Glen this weekend: at 27th, he was just 1.347 seconds behind qualifier Chase Elliott; Mike Rockenfeller showed the 33rd result (-2.106 seconds), Daniil Kvyat – 36th (-2.652 seconds).