PLYMOUTH, Wisc — Ryan Hunter-Reay said it would take time. In a series as competitive as INDYCAR, to turn a team around doesn’t just happen overnight.

That’s why despite finishing 17th in Sundays Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America, he’s still pleased.

“All in all, I feel it was a pretty positive day in that we have a direction for the future, he said. “We did have some setbacks today, we had to use a set of Firestone primaries that were just off the whole way through. Unfortunately, we had to pit for tires and here at Road America, you need to be pitting for fuel on an empty tank. That set our race on a different path and from there, we had to save a lot of fuel. We could only do what we could do. Moving up 10 spots today was a good start and there were a lot of positives behind the scenes.”

After an incident in qualifying on Saturday, Hunter-Reay had to start from the last position in his first race with Ed Carpenter Racing and first NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on a road course since 2021.

He was off to a strong start, up four positions in the first lap alone and was running 23rd when the first full-course caution was called on Lap 2. As he started the race on the alternate red Firestone Firehawks and had completed the two minimum laps on that compound, he took advantage of the caution and made his first stop for sticker black Firehawks.

He resumed his charge forward, moving up to 19th before his second pit stop. Anticipating another full-course caution, Hunter-Reay dove into the pit lane with the majority of the field on Lap 12. Running 18th at the restart, he maintained the position until a Lap 25 yellow flag brought the field in for another round of pit stops the following lap.

Hunter-Reay continued to have spirited battles with the cars around him, using every available opportunity to pick up positions. Even though he was tasked with hitting a difficult fuel number after his final stop on Lap 40, Hunter-Reay defended and maintained his position. By the checkered flag, he had gained 10 spots and finished the race in 17th.

The team will regroup and come back in two weeks at Mid-Ohio.