Rossi will start from near the back of the grid after his steering wheel completely shut down on the approach to Turn 1 in the second qualifying group. It left him stranded near Turn 2 for much of the session and he will start 26th in the 27-car field.
“My steering wheel failed in the braking zone and I didn’t have the ability to shift or pull [the] clutch,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like that.
“Electrically, the car just died. Lost the dash, all power, everything. [It] sucks. The car was awesome.
“It’s a real shame because the car was great and had what we needed to qualify without a problem. We will regroup and be ready to fight from the back.”
The team’s race director Gavin Ward added: “We had an electrical issue with Alexander's steering wheel that cost him the chance [to progress in qualifying]. I have no doubt that he would have been right up there with them.
“That's something we need to learn from and fix, some work to do there that's the team's doing.”
Ward paid tribute to his squad after it built up a backup car for Felix Rosenqvist following his crash in Saturday morning practice that holed the tub of his racecar.
Amazingly, he not only got out on track but qualified fifth.
Source: Autosport