STARTING POSITIONS 

9th: CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN No. 20 GuyCare Chevrolet
20th: RINUS VEEKAY No. 21 Chevrolet

EVENT: Honda Indy 200
TRACK: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
LOCATION: Lexington, Ohio, USA
TRACK LAYOUT: 2.258-mile, 13-turn natural-terrain road course
RACE LENGTH: 80 Laps/180.64 Miles

BROADCAST: Sunday – 1:30 p.m. ET (NBC)

CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN, NO. 20 GUYCARE CHEVROLET

CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN, No. 20 GuyCare Chevrolet, Starting 9th: “This is great! We executed well. We made good changes from practice, we really absorbed what we learned and set ourselves up well for qualifying. I am very happy for everyone, not only myself for making my first Fast 12 but also for the team. It really shows that we are moving in the right direction. We have had great pace at multiple locations but haven’t had too much to show for it. It’s nice to get a good qualifying result! Now we just look forward to tomorrow and see what we can do in the race!” Courtesy INDYCAR Photo

OF NOTE: 

• Christian Rasmussen advanced to the second round of qualifying for the first time in his young NTT INDYCAR SERIES career and earned his first Top 10 starting position. Rasmussen was assigned to Round 1, Group 1 of qualifying this afternoon at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. He was the last car on track as the 10-minute session drew to a close and his final lap vaulted him to the 5th position, easily advancing to the second round. As part of the Fast 12, Rasmussen’s last lap would award him the 9th starting position – his first career Top 10 start.

• Rasmussen joined Ed Carpenter Racing after winning the 2023 INDY NXT championship. He was only nine when he claimed his first karting championship in his home country of Denmark. Rasmussen arrived in the United States in 2018 and began his road to INDYCAR the following year. He is only the second driver in history earn a championship in each open-wheel junior category that currently feeds the NTT INDYCAR SERIES – USF2000 (2020), USF Pro 2000 (2021) and INDY NXT (2023). He just recently celebrated his birthday, turning 24 last Saturday.

• The rookie continues to impress in his debut NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. In his first Indianapolis 500, he drove from 24th to 12th and was the highest finishing rookie in the field. He was on track for strong finishes in Detroit and Road America before facing unfortunate circumstances in both races. In the most recent event at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Rasmussen gained five positions in the first three laps. Despite dropping to 25th after a drive-through penalty, he used three late-race restarts to charge forward and earn his highest road course finishing position of the season.

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 CHEVROLET

RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, Starting 20th: “I really struggled with the car balance out there during qualifying, which is disappointing because we know we have a car that is faster than 20th. I am very happy for my teammate Christian (Rasmussen) in making his first Fast 12. I am looking forward to racing my way up to join him near the front of the field tomorrow!” Courtesy INDYCAR Photo

OF NOTE: 

• Rinus VeeKay will start 20th tomorrow at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after struggling with the balance of the No. 21 during qualifying. It has been a challenging weekend so far for VeeKay, who did not have the opportunity to turn many laps during Practice 1 yesterday as the team learned the nuances of the new NTT INDYCAR SERIES hybrid unit. In Practice 2 this morning, heavy traffic made it difficult to turn a fast lap. VeeKay will look to charge forward in tomorrow’s 80-lap race.

• Born in Hoofddorp, Netherlands, Rinus van Kalmthout began karting in 2009 at the age of 8. With sights set firmly on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, he transitioned to the Road to Indy in 2017 and launched his U.S. career driving as Rinus VeeKay. Now in his fifth season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, VeeKay has stepped into a veteran role as ECR’s senior full-time driver. He has spent his entire career behind the wheel of the No. 21 Chevrolet and is the longest tenured full-time driver in the team’s history. 

• The weekend of Indianapolis 500 qualifications marks VeeKay’s season highlight to date. The driver and his No. 21 crew rebounded from a crash during his first attempt and not being in the 33-car field to advancing the to the second day of qualifying and earning the 7th starting position. The following week, VeeKay raced his way through the entire field to finish 9th after a penalty dropped him to the back. The 23-year-old looks to use the pre-Olympics stretch of races as a springboard for a change of fortunes after several promising events have been complicated by issues outside of his control.