GMR Grand Prix Nets Another First-Time Winner In An INDYCAR Season That Doesn't Disappoint

GMR Grand Prix 2021 Podium where (L to R) Romain Grosjean - P2, Rinus VeeKay - P1, and Alex Palou - P3 click champagne Magnums in celebration. Image Credit: Chris Owens via NICS (2021)

GMR Grand Prix Nets Another First-Time Winner In An INDYCAR Season That Doesn't Disappoint

The day began with a very target-rich six drivers qualifying in the top 10 positions without having a win in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to have a third first-time winner in five races to begin this 2021 season.

In a professional racing series, especially one that is as competitive as this North American series, this seems almost unfathomable. This NTT INDYCAR SERIES race event featured something that hasn't happened since 2013 - A driver capturing their maiden Pole Position - Rookie Romain Grosjean, Dale Coyne Racing With Rick Ware - and a driver notching their first series race win - Sophomore driver Rinus Veekay, Ed Carpenter Racing.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference - Post GMR Grand Prix

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA - Saturday, May 15, 2021

Rinus VeeKay - Driver, Ed Carpenter Racing - Winner of the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined here in the Dex Imaging Media Center by our race winner, driver of the No. 21 Chevy for Ed Carpenter Racing. Welcome, Rinus. Congratulations.

RINUS VEEKAY: Thank you very much.

THE MODERATOR: You are now the third new winner of the year. You started off with a broken finger during testing, and now you are winner and in Victory Lane. Tell us about your day and how excited you are.

RINUS VEEKAY: It was an amazing day. To start with this morning, we started in the warmup fastest lap time. Of course, doesn't say too much, but the car felt amazing, very good on the long run, even though we only did blacks. But then we went to the reds, learned from last year because we had many races here, that the reds were very good in the long run, and yeah, just start was great, had a great ability to pass other cars, and strategy was amazing by the team. So everything was just on it.

Amazing day, and definitely one I will remember for the rest of my life.

THE MODERATOR: We have been joined by race steward Arie Luyendyk here in the media center, close friend of Rinus's family. A couple more nuggets about today's win. Rinus has now won at all four levels of the Road to Indy and now in INDYCAR. The last team win was in Iowa July 10th of 2016 with Josef Newgarden and you've now become the sixth youngest winner in history at age 20 years, eight months and three days. Yes, we look that kind of stuff up.

We will take some questions from here in the media center and then we'll go to Zoom.

Q. Kate mentioned you're the first driver to win on all four levels of the Road to Indy. What has it meant to you to have that defined path and the scholarships to make it to INDYCAR, from U.S. F2000 to INDYCAR?

RINUS VEEKAY: It's amazing. Of course my first-ever test in U.S. F2000 in that new car was here. That was the Chris Griffis test in 2016. So yeah, just amazing to have so much experience on this track in a long time and go through all the ladder systems and win races and know how to race here.

It was an awesome race, and just feels amazing, and I'm very grateful for what the Road to Indy has done to me.

Q. Your first top 5 was here in this race last July, your first pole was here in October, your first podium was here in October, and now your first victory is here today. This has got to be your favorite road course, right, favorite course?

RINUS VEEKAY: Oh, yeah, I like this track, especially when you have a good car. It's always more fun.

But yeah, just -- you know, this is a track that really suits me. Got to be quick, but you can also attack and pass, and there's many, many opportunities to move forward. That's exactly what I could do today, so I'm very happy. Really have to thank the team. I'm very grateful for all the sponsors and very excited to start driving with Dale Coyne next week.

Rinus VeeKay, competing in his 19th race, earned his first victory by prevailing in the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. VeeKay, who started seventh in the No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek Chevrolet, won by 4.9510 seconds over pole winner Romain Grosjean. Image Credit: Walt Kuhn via NICS (2021). 

Q. And also the heritage of this race team is so deeply rooted in this facility with Ed Carpenter and Tony George and the fact that for years they've been chasing victories, came close to winning Indy 500s. They've won Indy 500 poles. Now here you give the team their first victory at the speedway on the road course. How do you process all that?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it's crazy. It's just great for the team. Everyone is so happy. They were already like super motivated, but I'm pretty sure now for the 500 everyone is just going to be next-level motivated. I know we have a good 500 car, good oval car, and yeah, I think we can really, really do well, and I'm just excited to get going.

I also want to thank my private sponsors, JUMBO and Basic-Fit. They've made everything possible for me, and of course Ed Carpenter Racing. They are the greatest team out there.

Q. And also last year you became the fastest teenager in Indy 500 history. I guess next week the next goal is to become the fastest 20-year old in Indy 500 history?

RINUS VEEKAY: That's my goal. Yeah, we're working on it. I feel super confident. First race win is there, and it takes a lot of pressure off, to be honest. Now I can just drive the 500, and yeah. You know, I don't have to show that I can win because I've done it.

Now it's just going to be focusing on the best possible result, and yeah, I want to thank Ed Carpenter Racing for everything they've done for me so far, and yeah, Chevy for the great engines. Indy 500 coming up, lots of power, lots of speed. I'm sure we'll be good.

Q. When did you see today that victory was possible? Was it basically beating -- when Romain was coming out of the pit stop and you were ahead of him? Was that when it became very clear to you?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yes, definitely. It felt like I could drive away from him. I heard I had a very, very nice gap to him, so I kind of took it easy, tried to save a little bit of tires, even though it was hard to keep them going, but yeah, we got there, saved some fuel at the end, and everything was awesome, like perfect down to the millimeter for the team. Yeah, very happy with them.

I don't know how many times in a row they have given me a great strategy.

Q. There was a little bit of drizzle off and on it seemed like today. How much jeopardy was there out there on the track, or what was the sense of this thing could go to rain?

RINUS VEEKAY: I wasn't really sure. I just tried to get the best laps down as possible. I could see the rain on the aeroscreen, but it didn't seem like it would give a big impact. So kind of took it a little easy on the brake zones, but yeah, corner grip felt just how it should be.

No, I'm very happy it stayed dry at least. But the race is over and I'm very happy with it.

Q. Romain basically pointed out you were born after he first started racing. Obviously Arie -- was Arie a big-time idol growing up? Give us a little background on how far you've come so fast.

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, Arie was a big idol of me. Still is. His dad made my dad's gearboxes in Formula 4, so a long family connection, and it's great how fast I've been able to -- well, first make that step to racing in the U.S. and then move up throughout the ladder system to win my first INDYCAR race.

Q. If my memory serves me right, in 2016 you were introduced as the first confirmed driver for the new U.S. F2000 car in 2017. Does it almost feel right that your first victory came here, where you were first introduced to the American motorsports market?

RINUS VEEKAY: Oh, definitely. Well, I would take a win anywhere, to be honest, but this is one of the best places to do it. Yeah, I'm just super grateful for all the opportunities I've had. I've won a race in an INDYCAR.

Q. I know you've talked a lot about the excitement of moving to Speedway, making this town your home. Does that make this win and being able to have fans around here and interact with your fans like I know you really enjoy doing, does that make this win any sweeter than a first win would have been anywhere else?

RINUS VEEKAY: Oh, yeah, it's definitely an awesome way to win. We had our first real driver parade and driver intro. It was awesome to just greet the fans before the race and see everyone super excited. It's definitely more surreal to win when there's fans around.

I live in -- like right next door, so every day I wake up, open the curtains and I see the grandstands of the racetrack. Definitely the closest I get to a home race. Also for the team, and yeah, just the perfect day on the perfect place on earth.

Q. I know we've said that this team has been waiting for a win now for nearly five years. Could you sense how much this meant not only to Ed but the folks in the crew around you, many of which have been around here since 2016 and even a good time before that?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it means a lot to the team. Everyone knew at the team that they could win a race, that we could win a race. But we just had to show it. Today was finally the day, and everyone in the world can see that Ed Carpenter Racing with Rinus VeeKay are race winners.

Q. Ed told me post-race that he felt like this was maybe your first real complete race of your INDYCAR career now for about a year and a half. What did you feel like you put together to be able to come through with a mistake-free, clean, perfect race?

RINUS VEEKAY: Well, I think pace was really, really big today. We had awesome pace, which really helped make the strategy work. Passing was easy because of the pace.

Every time someone came in my path I could attack and go for it, and yeah, that really put a few cars between me and Romain at the end, which gave me a lot of comfort.

Yeah, definitely a nice way to win with a little bit of margin, and I could kind of breathe at the end, so that was very nice.

Q. Now you've won this one; how about we take the one after this, as well? Maybe win that one, as well?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, I'm very keen to try to sweep the month of May. That's of course my goal. Yeah, the mentality and everyone's confidence is super high at the team, so I think we can definitely go for that win. We've had an awesome car last year, and Ed Carpenter Racing has showed the last few years that they have the car to win the 500.

Yeah, very excited to go drive with Bitcoin during the Indy 500 on the car, and yeah, very excited to try to win the race.

Q. The move you made to split the middle on Jimmie Johnson and Alex Palou there seemed like it was pretty pivotal. Could you take us through that, why it was important to make that move there, and did you have any concerns that you might not get through?

RINUS VEEKAY: Well, I saw they were coming out of pit lane, but I knew they were teammates, so they have cold tires. I had just kind of the peak on my tires on the reds, so I knew I had to get by and kind of get a gap.

Alex defended on the back straight. Jimmie drove the normal line. There was just about one car width space between them and I went for it. I knew there were a lot of marbles on track, so didn't want to get the tires too dirty, so I stuck it between there, and I know Jimmie is a smart driver, same for Alex, and yeah, kind of hoped they would see me, and they did. I was very happy that I could stick that move, and definitely gave me a big adrenaline kick.

Q. Moves like that, it seems like you're getting a reputation for being that kind of risk taker and having that kind of daring in your game. Do you like having that reputation?

RINUS VEEKAY: Oh, yeah, definitely, as long as it's clean, which it is. I like passing. As spectacular as possible would be nice. No, it's very nice, and I'm very, very happy that I've got the car to do it with. Definitely makes passing a whole lot easier.

Q. They were talking to the broadcast about your parents being over here and how they've been living with you in Speedway and I guess you're coming over here to live in the motor home the next couple weeks and they're going to stay in your place. What's that been like with the living arrangements at your place and what it's like having them here for the whole month?

RINUS VEEKAY: It's great to have them over. Of course it's big to have them here. It's a lot to take in, but also they were worked as hard as me to get where we are now, so it's great that they can, yeah, just get in, like soak in this whole experience with me, and yeah, it's awesome to win when they are here. I am very much looking forward to dinner, and especially the dessert. No, it's amazing to have them here, and I love them, so it's amazing.

THE MODERATOR: When Alex Palou won at Barber he allowed himself a "bad food" kind of dinner and he was going to seek some fried chicken. What is it you'll be seeking tonight?

RINUS VEEKAY: Cheesecake. Oh, yeah. I told them on the radio, it's a deal I have with my trainer, when I get a podium I can eat a cheesecake, so I'm very excited, and I think I kind of deserve one.

THE MODERATOR: Like a piece of cheesecake or a whole cheesecake?

RINUS VEEKAY: I see him do this, so I think it's a whole one, but I will just go for a piece before I -- yeah, well, have a little bit worse night.

Q. After St. Pete's race, a lot of drivers had some complaints about the physical conditions after the race, and today we had a long stint with green flag. Do you think that the physical conditions today was something to complain, also, or not?

RINUS VEEKAY: No, actually not. You know, I wanted the race to end earlier, but I had a different reason.

But no, physically I felt good. I think St. Petersburg was the hardest race with the temperatures.

I live together with my personal trainer; we wake up every day to prepare for days like this, and this really shows how much it pays off. Very happy with it, and for me, the harder the better.

Dutch pride is all over Rinus' helmet. First are the bands/fess of color from The Netherlands flag from bottom Blue, middle White and top Red. the real capper, however, is the color of Dutch royalty and that would be Orange. Rinus knows that if it ain't Dutch, it ain't much! Image Credit: Chris Jones via NICS (2021) 

Q. You're the first Dutch winner in INDYCAR. I was wondering what does it mean to you, and do you think your success is going to help further popularize INDYCAR in the Netherlands?

RINUS VEEKAY: Oh, definitely, I think so. It's big to win. Of course I kind of had to show that I could win. That was kind of a pressure. But now that I've done it, I think I would like to continue doing it, but yeah, Dutch fans love Dutch success, so I think because of this, more fans are going to follow me. I've showed that I can win, and yeah, I can do it more often. Very happy and very happy that so many Dutch people are following me already.

Q. I think Arie Luyendyk is in the room with you there if I'm correct. Has he said anything to you or any interactions?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, I talked to him and I was very happy for me. I got many, many thumbs up, so yeah. Great day for the Dutch people.

Q. I want to ask you, through the first five races, four of the five winners have been in the INDYCAR youth movement, so to say. Can you talk about how successful the younger drivers have been so far? I know it's a short sample size, but four of the five racers have been in that Indy youth movement.

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it's crazy. I'm the third new winner, third new INDYCAR winner of 2021. I thought last year was crazy. This year is crazier.

But I'm very happy. It's really showed how high the level is, and new generation is coming, so just very happy and, yeah, great podium, too, with Alex, who has become a good friend of mine, and Romain, who of course brings a huge, huge audience from F1 over to INDYCAR.

Q. Rinus, we've talked about Arie a few times today, but can you expand upon what he's done for your career to get you to this point and where do you think he's been the most beneficial or what he's taught you the most that's helped you be a winner now?

RINUS VEEKAY: Well, Arie has been around for a very long time. I actually met him at the Indy 500 in 2016 here in Indianapolis at the Union Jack's Pub in a meet-and-greet.

No, it's great to have Arie here, and yeah, he has given me a lot of tips but also very good guidance about watch out for any rule changes and him being an official or steward, he gives me good tips and many reminders that really help me out. Yeah, just little, little tips and a lot of good atmosphere he gives to me so I can win the race.

Q. I'm curious what goes through a driver's mindset when you take over the lead, final stint, and do the nerves go up, heart rate go up? Do you have to play games in your head? Do you feel any vibration around the track? Does anything in the mindset change from the previous stints?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, I knew I could win the race, so didn't want to think too much about it. I kind of wandered off sometimes about, okay, you're going to be a race winner. Oh, I'm not. I just want to kind to take it easy. But yeah, just big goal was don't make mistakes. I had a good, comfortable gap, and yeah, I knew the tires were going to go a little bit there at the end, so wanted to do everything to kind of save the rears, but yeah, did everything I could, and yeah, very grateful for everyone around helping me, especially the team Ed Carpenter Racing.

Q. How confident are you going into the latter part of the month of May and if you are able to win the 500 do you want VeeKay or van Kalmthout on the trophy?

RINUS VEEKAY: Let's do both.

I am very, very excited to get going for the 500. Yeah, Ed Carpenter Racing makes very, very good Indy 500 cars, and everyone is super motivated. It's the biggest race of the year for them. But to finish off the Indy Grand Prix just before with a win is a big, big confidence boost for everyone at the team.

Q. You had said on the race broadcast that your family had sacrificed everything to get you up here. Aside from this win, is there one key moment in your journey that stands out the most?

RINUS VEEKAY: It's this one, yeah, definitely. I've never cried when I won a race, but I have done today. So did my parents. Yeah, it's just amazing.

Their lives have evolved around me for a very long time to make this possible for me, and I'm extremely grateful. Yeah, I've finally done it. It just feels surreal.

I think I will kind of get the feeling more once I wake up tomorrow morning, but no, it's just great that they can be here and enjoy this moment with me.

Q. How much momentum does this give you going into next week for testing and then obviously for qualifying at the weekend?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, this is definitely a very good way to end up the streak of road courses, and now getting into oval mode. Yeah, it's definitely going to be big for the team.

Everyone is going to be super motivated. They know we can win the race. We already knew, but now we did, and I think everyone will be -- yeah, will be just giving it their all. I knew they always do, but yeah, we can win the Indy 500, and I'll do everything I can to make it happen.

Q. What milk have you decided to go for if you win the 500?

RINUS VEEKAY: I decided to go for whole milk. I actually wanted buttermilk, but that wasn't an option. I saw the photo of Simon pouring milk on his face, and I think the whole milk gives the nice thick layer of milk, which I like.

Q. At Laguna Seca when I interviewed you for Indy Lights, you said something to me. You said that you wanted to be the next Max Verstappen of INDYCAR. You've already gotten Rookie of the Year and you had your first race win now, and I want to know do you think you're getting closer to that performance level that he has, but also the orange army?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, definitely. I could already see many VeeKay fans here, but I think this is definitely a big step forward. Yeah, I kind of proved myself today, so I think Dutch people are always very proud of their countrymen, and yeah, I think this is the best thing I could do today to get the Dutch army bigger than ever.

Q. I think you're the first driver to win at every level of the Road to Indy and then in INDYCAR, as well. Just wondered kind of your reflections on the Road to Indy and how much that's helped you to get into the position you are today because obviously the scholarship system is not common around the world, it's something quite -- at least relatively unique to America in the stature that it is. I wonder your kind of reflections on that?

RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it's definitely unique that there's a scholarship system. It really prepares you. You're always driving before the INDYCAR in the same weekends, and you see the INDYCARs going and you can see the races in real life but you can also race on the tracks you're going to race in an INDYCAR. I have done many passes, many laps on this track before in all sorts of cars, and it definitely prepared me. I knew everything that could happen in every corner, every scenario, just because of the Road to Indy. So very grateful that I had the opportunity to do that and be successful in the Road to Indy, and yeah, show that if you can win the Road to Indy, you can win an INDYCAR race.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Rinus, for joining us today. Congratulations on your first career INDYCAR win and I'd like to give a special thanks to all the international media that joined us today.

RINUS VEEKAY: Thank you very much. See you at the next one.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference - Post GMR Grand Prix

Indianapolis, Indiana, USA - Saturday, May 15, 2021

Romain Grosjean - Pole Sitter - P2 Podium

Alex Palou - Started P4 - P3 Podium

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good evening, everyone, and welcome to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Dex Imaging Media Center. I'm Kate Davis, director of communications for INDYCAR.

We are joined by our second- and third-place finishers. Our rookie, Grosjean, driver of the No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda, and our third-place finisher, Alex Palou, driver of the American Legion Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Gentlemen, welcome to the media center. Romain, welcome back to the media center. I know you didn't get the win, but from where you were six months ago, to have a pole and a podium in INDYCAR, tell me how you're feeling today.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Yeah, it's not a bad day. I think we're kind of disappointed to be second but also super happy, and I was telling the team, look, guys, that's a great day. You can't be disappointed being second. That's fantastic.

We've had a strong car all weekend. We were leading the race quite easily in the first stint. We got a bit unlucky with traffic and back markers. I think that cost us a chance to go for the win, but also Rinus was quite fast on a different strategy. The right one, I guess.

But we've done great work, and sitting second in my third race starting in INDYCAR, it's pretty big. It is a tough championship. There's super good talent here, super fast drivers.

Yesterday I felt amazing in qually. This morning in the warmup we didn't get quite it right and we made some changes for the race, and that worked well.

Yeah, I think I did a pretty good job at the first rolling start leading the field, kept myself first through the first corner and then the restart felt a little bit more natural to me, so that was good, as well, and the car was very, very nice.

I still think there is a few areas we can work and improve. That's what we're going to do. Obviously everyone is going to be busy the next two weeks for the 500, but it's a great way to start the month of May for Dale Coyne Racing by RWR and a great way for me to give the car to Pietro Fittipaldi, the 51 car, and for him to have a good month of May.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go now to Alex Palou. Podium finish for you today. You won the race at Barber, trail your teammate in second place in the overall standings by 13 points. How are you feeling today?

First time that a Ganassi Racing car sported an American Legion sponsored livery. Spaniard Alex Palou gave this new sponsor some very decent camera time with his P3 Podium finish. Image Credit: Walt Kuhn  via NICS (2021)

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, hello, everybody, and first of all, congrats to my whole team and to Romain. I know it's tough, but I think I did too good of a job last year giving him a really good car this year.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: I've changed everything.

ALEX PALOU: I guess so.

But yeah, I mean, I'm really happy. We started the weekend with one in free practice, which was going to be a really tough weekend, but we recovered, so super happy. I was super happy yesterday being in the Fast Six without feeling super, super good and comfortable with the car, and today we made some progress during the warmup.

I think the race was pretty good. We had some issues with some lap cars that made things really exciting. I think we didn't maybe do the perfect strategy with the red tires, the black tires, but we are on the podium, we started P4, and it was a good day for us, for the No. 10 and the American Legion car. I'm happy that this is the first race for them with us, and we got a podium. So it's good.

Q. Romain, I would think every time you go out in an INDYCAR right now, you're learning something. What did you learn about I guess the series today and the competitive nature of it, and did VeeKay kind of come out of nowhere or could you feel him stalking you?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: So what I learned from Barber Race 1 was that from lap 1 to lap 85 or 100, wherever we're going, you need to push every lap. In Formula 1 normally you do the race start, you push a few laps and then things settle down and you manage the fuel and your tires, you look at the gap; whereas here, different strategy, yellows, pit closing and so on, there could always be someone coming a little bit out of the blue.

Rinus was super fast in pre-practice 1 as well as in the warmup in the cooler conditions. So I knew he was going to be good. He didn't quite make it to Fast Six, meaning he had some more red tires available for the race, and he started on black. Yeah, I guess when I was catching the slower car, he pitted early from the blacks and then got on reds and gets him freer, and yeah, I knew they were under different strategy, and it was going to be tough.

We were a little bit less competitive on the blacks today, and also on the last stint I got stuck behind Sebastien Bourdais, which is a super good driver. He was on a new tire, I was on old reds and I couldn't pass him for a long time until he actually locked up and went straight into Turn 1. I kind of killed my tires and I could see Rinus about four, five seconds ahead and didn't get a chance to come back to him.

So yeah, I mean, that's what I learned, you just have to push all the way. Even when you have seven- or eight-second lead on the first stint doesn't mean you're going to win the race.

Q. Romain, to try to elaborate a little bit on that, how aware were you of where Rinus was on the track when you were leaving the pits on your final pit stop, because it did look like if you beat him out of the pits before he got by you, you'd be the leader?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Yeah, I wasn't well aware of where he was. I think he still came out with a good lead and also I was behind two cars leaving the pit lane back markers. So it was a tough day in terms of overtaking people. I know it's a really good track with a really good straight line, but when the lap cars are using their Push-to-Pass, it's hard to get by, and then obviously you're going to push harder on your tires and get a bit of a harder time, and you just can't really do the pace you want.

I knew Rinus was on the last -- before the last pit stop, he passed me; I was on black, he was on red. I asked the team is he on the same strategy, and they told me yes, and therefore I knew I had to kind of try to stay close on the blacks from him, but couldn't quite do it.

On the last stint, as I said, I was stuck behind the No. 14, which was going fast, but too fast for me to pass him and just too slow to catch Rinus, so a bit in between.

Q. Alex, you represented the American Legion today and that's an organization that means a lot to this facility, especially Memorial Day and all that. What were your thoughts being able to have their colors on your car today?

ALEX PALOU: I mean, it's crazy. As a kid you always want to represent big brands, big organizations, and it's amazing that I have the opportunity to represent the American Legion here in Indy. They were telling me that that represents like more than a million people, so it's great. I think they are going to be really happy that on the first race we were able to be here on the podium, and it's amazing that they were here with us, so hopefully we can keep on doing great results for them.

Q. Also you and Rinus were both rookies last year, and you had a fairly consistent rookie season, Rinus was either spectacularly great or spectacularly bad. How do you kind of see the fact that now this kid is in Victory Lane, too?

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, I'm super happy for him. I'm really good friends with him, and to be honest, as Romain said, he's been super strong through FP1, FP2, qualifyings, and I don't why he didn't really get into Fast Six, and I was like super slow compared to him. But that gave him an advantage today with two sticker sets of red tires.

But he did an amazing job. I think he's going to keep being up there. He's been really consistent this year, but hopefully he doesn't do it too often.

Q. Wanted to ask you to elaborate on your success so far because you're only a few races into your INDYCAR career and you're already on a podium. What's fueled your ability to pick up the series so quickly?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: I don't know. I feel like it's a race car that I like driving. It feels like it's something quite similar to the GP2 that I drove back in 2011 and cars that I've always been competitive with. Yeah, I've got a really good group of people around me starting with all the engineers at Dale Coyne Racing. Ed Jones, my teammate, really helping me a lot. And then to be fair, Honda and Firestone have been a great help, as well, trying to get me up to speed and explaining to me what to do, what not to do. So I think that's how I could get it quite quickly.

As a rookie I'm lucky to do some extra days of testing, which is always great. And also, you know, those 10 years in Formula 1, I've had to adapt to some very different cars, very competitive and very terrible cars, and I think you actually -- I'm not going to name the terrible ones.

ALEX PALOU: No, I don't think you need to.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: But you actually learn to adapt and to change your driving style. I think sometimes I need to understand a little bit more how to go fast in INDYCAR, but yeah, so far it's been really -- everyone has been really helpful, and I'm loving it.

Q. Romain, I'm wondering how personally you're feeling. I heard the crowd cheering you after the race. You had a big smile on your face. You seemed to be pumping your arms. You seemed very happy and pleased and energized. How were you feeling through these three races you've run so far?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Yeah, you know, when you get a pole position and a second position in the race, you can't not be happy. If we do racing it's obviously because we are racing fans but also very competitive, and we want to go out in the front, we want to fight for good position, to drink champagne on the podium and bring a nice trophy home.

Funny how life works its way around making an overnight success out of a driver who simply paid his dues in a series where it is hard to break out from a set cast system. Bravo for Romain Grosjean and Dale Coyne Racing for sticking their collective necks out on an honest chance to display what they have. Image Credit: Chris Jones via NICS (2021)

I'm very happy. The first two races we had some good pace but we had a few technical issues that kind of slowed us down, but generally I love driving the car. Even at the warmup this morning my engineer said, you can pit to do some setup changes; I'm like, no, I'm not pitting, I'm just happy being out there and pushing and learning on the tires.

I'm having a great time. The whole atmosphere between the drivers, we're here with Alex and we're joking and having fun, it is super competitive on track, but as soon as you remove your helmet, there is like a good friendship between the drivers, which you surprisingly don't find anywhere else. I love that part, and I'm having a blast of a time.

Q. When is the last time you've enjoyed coming to work this much?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Oh, I'll say 2013. When you weren't born.

ALEX PALOU: I was.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Rinus wasn't born when I started racing.

ALEX PALOU: When did you start racing?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: 1999.

ALEX PALOU: I was two years old.

Q. Romain, I just wondered how important it was for you today to be out front and for the pole lap, as well, yesterday to sort of -- was it important for you to prove to people that you can still do this and that you can still be competing at the front, or was that something you're really not too bothered about and it's more thinking about yourself and what you're doing on your own?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Well, you know, I don't think I need to prove to anyone what I can do. If somebody doubt that, well, they should look a little bit of my career and what I've done and what I could even do in the last few years with the car under my hands. So it's more for me to enjoy racing as I love it and to, yeah, fight for good position with people that are passionate about it, into a great atmosphere, but also very professional.

I'm here for myself. I knew it was going to be a challenging year for my family with me being away quite a bit and traveling, and with the time difference not being able to talk to them as much as I would love to, but they can also see how happy I am, how much I'm enjoying the moment, and the fans are giving me back also so much through social media, through the grandstands today, the fans cheering for me. It's just incredible to live, and I'm very grateful.

Q. You mentioned traffic being quite important in the race today in terms of how it all played out. I wondered if you could elaborate on that a little bit. There was two kind of incidents with Takuma Sato and wondered if you were happy with how he raced you today and if you were happy with how those things played out?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Well, I think every series is different, and you've got blue flags issued everywhere. In Formula 1 I was shown the blue flags quite a bit over the last few years and it was terrible for us. The leader complained that it wasn't good enough.

Here today obviously I wish it was on more often because I was the guy that was chasing them, but it's the rule that INDYCAR uses. Is there room for improvement? Probably. Is there a perfect solution? No. But definitively I think traffic cost us the win today.

Q. Following up on the point about Sato, was it also part of the problem the fact there were so many marbles off line? The braking zones for Turn 1 and Turn 7 looked like you daren't go off line?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: There were a bit of marbles but I don't think that was kind of the biggest issue. I think the fact that the back marker can use the Push-to-Pass to defend from the leader, that's a bit more annoying because you use your Push-to-Pass, you should actually use it to fight Alex or Rinus today and you don't want to use it using the gun.

We were also a bit short in sixth gear. I think the wind changed a bit direction, so I was actually hitting a limiter which didn't make my life easier to overtake the guys. But you know, with Takuma it was a bit on the limit I would say. With another car, as well. And if you lose three seconds over two laps and another time a couple of seconds passing a guy that's five seconds, then that would have been more than enough to keep Rinus behind us. But it's the same for everyone.

Q. Alex, I was going to ask you, obviously you ran two sets of blacks at the end there, right, in the last two stints?

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, we did. Well, three stints. All those stints we did were on black tires except for the beginning that we started on reds. Yeah.

Q. Did you feel that if you had been on reds you could have kept Rinus behind you? I know you got accidentally tripped up a little bit about your teammate --

ALEX PALOU: It's tough to say. Now that we're done, I would say, yeah, 100 percent we should have gone on the reds, but yesterday when we did the Fast Six we were lacking a lot of pace on the used reds, so that's why we said, man, these tires for us, they don't really work. I think we were like five or six stints from Romain, so we said, if we play the same game --

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: I was fast.

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, you were fast. They were super fast -- but yeah, to be honest, they run quicker than me on the sticker reds, so if we played the same game as them tomorrow, like today on the race, we know that we are not going to go faster. So we tried different stuff. We didn't lose, we just lost some track time, which was fine, but it was too exciting with Newgarden coming with the with you reds and lap cars and I was with the blacks and I was like, oh, my God, no, but it worked out at the end.

Q. I believe Olivier was on the radio with you during the race apprising you of the gaps. How has the chemistry developed between the two of you through the first three races you've done in INDYCAR?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Very good. From the beginning when I was home this Christmas, Olivier came because he lives not far -- well, he's not far in France from where I live. He came home and we had three hours' chat, something like that, over lunch. You know French like to do long lunch. That was good, and I could tell that something was happening.

He's an incredible engineer. He's so calm on the radio. It's incredible. Even yesterday when we did pole position, it was like, that's pole position. I shouted and I said, Hey, mate, it's pole position! And during the race he's the same. I'm sometimes a bit the opposite, so I think we balance each other.

This morning in the warmup I wasn't quite competitive and not so happy with the car, so I gave him the key and I said, look, do what you think we should do for the race, and it didn't work too bad.

Q. Romain, how much momentum does this give you going into -- obviously you're going to miss the 500, but going to Detroit the next time out for yourself?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Well, every track is a new challenge. Indy GP, I knew it was probably the closest from the track that I've been racing over the last 10 years, so I could tell I was going to feel confident here.

Also the Honda simulator, it's a brilliant tool, so I was on first the morning doing some laps here. I'm going to have a session again before Detroit to practice there, but I've heard it's quite bumpy.

ALEX PALOU: That's what they say.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Yeah, that's what they say. Have you lost teeth yet?

ALEX PALOU: It's my first time, as well, because we didn't run last year.

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Oh, yeah. So it's going to be quite an interesting weekend. I loved St. Pete. I don't think we were as competitive as we were on the road course. We're going to do some -- we're going to keep working, do some great work on the simulator. I'm also going to have a test in Road America before we go there, so that's going to be nice to have an extra day in the car just to keep learning about it and keep finding a few things here and there.

Q. Alex, obviously you've had a great start to the season, winning in Barber and then your podium here. Again kind of on the momentum side of things, you're only a couple of points behind Scott. How much confidence does that give you going into the rest of the month and the 500 but also the fact that you're kind of up there with Scott and the team, you've really kind of hit the ground running this season?

ALEX PALOU: Yeah, I mean, it's super early still, and you can see that one race can change the standings a lot. Winning a race means a lot here in INDYCAR. But yeah, we did a good start so far. We are one-two in the championship. That means Chip Ganassi and all the crew, they did an amazing job during the preseason and during the races. We didn't start like super smooth if you think about like we had some issues at St. Pete, we didn't have super clean races at Texas, but we're still here, we're still fighting, and that's a good thing.

Yeah, hopefully we can keep it going the month of May. I think it's going to be awesome. I had a good month of May until I crashed last year. I'm not going to do that again. I love the place. I love the race. I know that with experience I have this year, running the race last year and also Texas, the two races, yeah, I'm feeling super confident, and now especially coming out of a podium, I'm going to be pretty excited.

The best of days was had by three members of the new guard proving, as Chip Ganassi said on giving an answer to a question about "Golden Era" times in IndyCar, we are living in the golden era of IndyCar. Image Credit: Chris Jones via NICS (2021)

Q. Alex, the move where Rinus split you and Jimmie down the middle there seemed to be a pivotal one for him. Could you give us your perspective on what you saw there, and when he got by you did you think that was probably a good pathway for him to victory?

ALEX PALOU: Man, that was close. That was close, but that was a good move by him. We were on the out lap on black tires and he was, I think, like six laps already with the reds, so it was like, man, I cannot -- I knew I couldn't brake as late as him. Yeah, that was exciting. He was there in between Jimmie and I, so I just gave him enough room so he could fit there, and I was covering the inside. That's all I could do I thought at that moment. But yeah, there was nothing really I could do. When you're on the out lap on the blacks and he's already with the reds, you cannot do anything.

Q. Romain, I know you're just fresh from the race, but the first half of this one you were pulling away. If you could go back and do it all over again, what would you have done differently?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: Blue flags. Honestly, that's the only thing we could have done differently today. We can gain a couple of seconds on pit stops and so on. Still feel like we can improve a bit there. But today we were leading the pack by a good margin, meaning I was going to be the first one to hit traffic, and we hit it quite hard.

Really having that was the only thing that I would have changed today, putting away cars that were lapped cars out of my way.

Q. Romain, I've got a question for you slightly a little bit off tangent, but you're a driver that's experienced driver aids in Formula 1 and INDYCAR. Push-to-Pass versus DRS, how do the two compare in terms of what you can do as a driver?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: If I'm being honest, I prefer Push-to-Pass because you can use it on different places and try to be clever about it. With the DRS it's just when you're within a second you press the button, you open it and it's a few spots and it's unlimited, whereas the Push-to-Pass, you want to use it on key moments of the race, and that's more down to the driver to do it.

You know, and also the overtaking normally a little bit more done later with Push-to-Pass, whereas the DRS the difference of speed between cars is huge and you can tell that sometimes the car just even comes back on the racing line before the braking zone.

Q. For the Dale Coyne team, it's a smaller team when you're competing against the powerhouses like Andretti, Ganassi and Penske. How much has this weekend done for the team?

ROMAIN GROSJEAN: It's been a great weekend for the team. Everyone has been working super nicely. We've had a good car from the start here. Fine-tune it, because here a couple of hundredths of a lap can mean position going into segment 2 or 3 or Fast Six, so we just need to -- you just need to be spot on, so in that aspect it's been a great weekend I think for the confidence of everyone has been boosted, and as I say, I relied a lot on the engineers to do the best job they could, and they've done great.

[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

So, this leaves open the question - will the next race, the greatest spectacle in racing, The 104th Running Of The Indianapolis 500 have a first-time winner? Given the way this season is playing out, the chances are better than an even shot. 

... notes from The EDJE

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TAGS: Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carpenter Racing, Chevrolet Racing, GMR Grand Prix, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Romain Grosjean, Alex Palou, Honda Racing, The EDJE