Pato O'Ward plays down road course factor before Indy 500

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward has made it known that the ongoing SONSIO Grand Prix weekend at the IMS Road Course, Indianapolis, will not have any kind of effect on a driver ahead of the fast-approaching Indy 500. The 200-lap event is slated to take place on May 25.

In line with this, O'Ward recently had a conversation with veteran journalist Bob Pockrass at the racetrack and made it clear that the Road Course event will have little to no effect on a driver ahead of the Indy 500. In line with this, the 26-year-old added:

"I think it puts emphasis on momentum, right? But this is my sixth year in IndyCar, and from the five times that I have been here before, you know, sometimes you have a good Indy road course, sometimes you don't have a good Indy road course, but it doesn't really have an effect on the 500," O'Ward said (0:05 - 0:25).

The SONSIO Grand Prix takes place on the infield 2.439-mile track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in comparison to the oval track.

Pato O'Ward's take on his P8 in IMS road course qualifying

While Pato O'Ward has played down the influence of the IMS road course event on the iconic Indy 500, the Mexican driver ended his qualifying outing in P8 at the track in the lead-up to the main event. Moreover, his best lap was a 1:10.0083 behind Team Penske's Will Power.

Following the end of the fiercely contested session, he took the time to share his feelings via Arrow McLaren's official page:

"The car feels good. I think the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew have done a great job in giving me a good balance in Practice 1 and 2. We missed the Firestone Fast 6 because we're losing speed on the straight, but hopefully we can find exactly what it is. This is a very straight-line speed sensitive track. We want to go forward tomorrow, not backwards. I trust the team is going to find it, and tomorrow we'll be ready." O'Ward said.

The 2025 IndyCar season is four rounds down, and Pato O'Ward currently finds himself in fourth place in the standings with 108 points. He has Andretti Global's Kyle Kirkwood (P3), his teammate Christian Lundgaard (P2), and the reigning champion, Alex Palou (P1), ahead of him.

Including the ongoing SONSIO Grand Prix weekend, there are still 13 events remaining on the race calendar. Keeping this in view, there is enough time for Pato O'Ward to make sure he ends the 2025 season as high as possible in the standings.

The upcoming road course race will be the 26-year-old's opportunity to close the gap to Kirwood (127 points) in P3.