Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Indy Autonomous Challenge Set Autonomous Speed Records at Monza “Temple of Speed” Trial

Team PoliMOVE won the first-ever autonomous driving road course time trial competition, held at the Monza "Temple of Speed." The fact that a “hometown” team representing Politecnico di Milano won resulted in a historic celebration on the Monza Winner’s Podium. Image Credit: Business Wire (2023)

Indy Autonomous Challenge Set Autonomous Speed Records at Monza “Temple of Speed” Trial

The Indy Autonomous Challenge (IAC) today announced that team PoliMOVE won the first-ever autonomous driving road course time trial competition, held at the Monza “Temple of Speed.” The historic feat took place as part of the Milan Monza Motor Show (MIMO), which ran from June 16-18, 2023, at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza. 

In January, the IAC announced it would expand its challenges to include road courses and formed a two-year partnership with the Milan Monza Motor Show to run competitions at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on the famed F1 circuit. IAC teams were tasked with programming their AI drivers to pilot identical Dallara AV-21 racecars in the first IAC exhibition ever held on a road course and the first run outside the United States.


“Once again, the Indy Autonomous Challenge is pushing the boundaries of high-speed automation with a historic time trial race on the iconic Monza F1 circuit,” said Paul Mitchell president, IAC. “It was an honor for the IAC to have our competition approved by the Automobile Club d’Italia (ACI Sport) and watch the fans cheer on the winning hometown team PoliMOVE. We can’t wait to come back next year and attempt some head-to-head racing.”

The IAC brought six autonomous racecars and five university teams to MIMO to compete in six sessions over three days, totaling more than 1,300 miles of testing where the cars consistently reached increasing speeds, running progressively faster lap times. The autonomous driving software was programmed by students and researchers from some of the most advanced universities and research centers in the world, and included teams from:

  • KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology)
  • MIT-PITT-RW (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pittsburgh, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of Waterloo)
  • PoliMOVE (Politecnico di Milano, University of Alabama)
  • TII UNIMORE Racing (University of Modena and Reggio Emilia)
  • TUM Autonomous Motorsport (Technische Universität München)

TUM Autonomous Motorsport took second place with a lap time of 2:08.66 (269.9 KPH/167.7 MPH top speed) and TII UNIMORE Racing finished third with a final lap time of 2:11.24 (250.8 KPH / 155.8 MPH top speed). More than 10,000 spectators filled the stands to witness a first-of-its-kind spectacle of fully autonomous racecars competing on an F1 circuit. The fact that a “hometown” team representing Politecnico di Milano won resulted in a historic celebration on the Monza Winner’s Podium.

Each of the five university teams participating received an official driving license to participate in the competition, issued by ACI Milano. Although the license is granted to the team leader, it represents a first-of-its-kind motorsport license for an "AI driver.” To gain approval from ACI Sport, the IAC and each university team had to submit historical data and demonstrate track tests at Monza to validate the ability and safe operations of an autonomous racecar.

The IAC will continue to collaborate with ACI Sport and the Autodromo Nazionale Monza to advance the rules and regulations guiding autonomous racing competitions with the goal to hold the first multicar head-to-head racing competition during MIMO 2024.

In addition to track activities, the IAC exhibited alongside Premier Sponsors, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) and Luminar, all week in Pit Boxes 37-39. The exhibition allowed spectators to learn about IAC’s base of operations in Indiana where it is partnering with the IEDC to develop a global hub for high speed automation.
[ht: Business Wire]

... notes from The EDJE


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TAGS: Indy Autonomous Challenge, IAC, Speed Records, Monza, Temple of Speed, Trial, KAIST, MIT-PITT-RW, PoliMOVE, TII UNIMORE Racing, TUM Autonomous Motorsport, The EDJE

Wednesday, June 14, 2023

One Step At A Time Is What's Ahead For Ryan Hunter-Reay At Ed Carpenter Racing

Ryan Hunter-Reay peering through the winscreen of the Ed Carpenter Racing No. 20 Bitnile.Com Chevrolet on grid at Road America. Image Credit: James Black - NICS (2023)  

One Step At A Time Is What's Ahead For Ryan Hunter-Reay At Ed Carpenter Racing

A race car driver's series history is never fully written, as it is said, until the fat lady sings ... and so it is with IndyCar's Captain America Ryan Hunter Reay.

It seems that Ed Carpenter Racing has been going through a challenging period since the start of the 2020 season. During this time, the No. 20 car has only managed to achieve three top-10 finishes, with Conor Daly securing two of them in the Indianapolis 500. Ed Carpenter, the team owner, felt that a new direction was necessary for the team and approached Ryan Hunter-Reay to take over the No. 20 Bitnile.com Chevrolet from Daly.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who has an impressive racing career with 283 starts, understands that there are no quick fixes or guarantees of immediate success. He mentioned that the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is a most highly competitive professional racing series and doesn't allow for easy turnarounds. However, he does have a previous experience of stepping into Rahal Letterman Racing's No. 17 car midseason in 2007 and finishing seventh at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

It is with this background Ryan Hunter-Reay came to participate in a pre-race ZOOM Call interview, his first since committing to assume the seat of the No. 20 Bitnile.com Chevrolet offered by Ed Carpenter Racing.


BEGIN 
Q - Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal. One memory that I have is from Auto Club Speedway where both you and Ed Carpenter had each your own podium, Ed for winning the race, you for winning a championship. How is it going to be like to maybe spend some time together on a podium? What are your thoughts about your chances of maybe winning there at ECR?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, like I said, one step at a time. Just got here, obviously. There's a lot of work to do.

Like I said earlier, jumping in at the middle of the season in INDYCAR, which is arguably the most competitive series in the world, be no testing -- I hadn't been in for a year and a half almost.

Getting up to 98 percent is not going to be an issue for me. It's getting that last two percent out of it where I have to be comfortable enough to operate on the absolute edge like you have to in qualifying, getting those extra three-, four-tenths of a second out of it at Road America, that's where the real challenge is.

We have to do that, all while working together for the first time.

One step at a time, but yeah, that was great memories. Ed won the race. He was out there doing doughnuts while I was being handed the championship trophy, and certainly a pretty cool scenario.

Yeah, it's great to be back working with him again, and hopefully this is something that we'll all look back upon as another good memory.

Q - Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal. The beauty of this union is that it is process over personality. You two have good strong personalities, and again, a healthy respect for each other, especially with all the history in INDYCAR and everything. It just seems like the process is something that you guys will sort out and it'll be successful.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, I think we're both very level-headed, disciplined guys that go about it in a methodical manner. Hopefully that'll lend itself to -- lead us down the right path.
ENDS

Hunter-Reay’s connection to Carpenter is another plus, and it’s more than sharing the spotlight at the last race of the 2012 season. Three years prior, Hunter-Reay started the season with Vision Racing, the team formed by Carpenter’s stepfather, Tony George, and the drivers were teammates for six races. Hunter-Reay also said he tested with what became ECR at the end of the 2013 and 2021 seasons.

FULL ZOOM Call Interview & Transcript >>>


NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Tuesday, June 13, 2023
Ryan Hunter-Reay - Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: After a weekend away from the track, the NTT INDYCAR Series getting back at it this weekend with the 34th trip to the historic four-mile layout up at Road America Sunday at 1:00 p.m. eastern. It's the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR.

Joined by driver of the No. 20 Bitnile.com Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing after getting a taste of the 2023 season driving earlier this year for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing at the Indianapolis 500.

Great to be joined the onetime INDYCAR series and 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay, fresh off fishing in the Atlantic. Maybe not.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Not so much. Thanks for having me.

THE MODERATOR: How excited are you about jumping back in and getting going this weekend?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Obviously this is a tough situation. A lot has happened in a short amount of time. There's just a whole lot to take in. It's so multifaceted. There's so many variables here at play.

Bottom line is tough situation, especially mid-season. I feel for Conor. I've been on either end of that deal, and in some cases numerous times. Big fan of his, and hopefully he'll be back in the INDYCAR Series soon where he belongs no doubt.

We're just plugging away hour by hour here, day by day, and looking forward to the weekend ahead.

Q. There's so many crucial things each day leading up to the race on Sunday, even the sessions, how crucial will each practice session become over the weekend?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Oh, absolutely crucial. Pre-COVID we had two practice sessions on Friday. Could certainly use that added session right now, but it's just a lot. It's going to be a huge undertaking.

I've been out of the car turning right for probably a year and a half. Obviously I've stayed current in prototypes, Cadillac, CGR, Chip Ganassi Cadillac last year, obviously just came out of the Indy 500.

But it's new all around. Even the small things I knew about Road America since I was 17 years old in a two-liter car, the little nuances are all gone. I've got new track surface, new team, new car, new group of people to work with.

So there's just a lot going. Like I said, I'm looking forward to the challenge, but I'm also a realist. I'm approaching this from a pretty disciplined standpoint in curbing some expectations there and just taking this, like you said, how is that first session? I'm taking it lap by lap, outing by outing, and at the moment we're going day by day just trying to prepare for this thing.

There's a lot to digest and a lot to consider.

Q. You were here and then you were gone. You weren't gone from racing but you were pretty much gone from INDYCAR until you came back from the 500. Now you're back and suddenly it's a full-time ride. Is this what you wanted? Are you been working and hoping to return full time to INDYCAR?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: You know, obviously I had agreed to the end of my term at Andretti at the beginning of -- it was actually the end of 2020 that we agreed 2021 is our last season, and I wanted to take a step back, try some new things.

I wanted to go do the SRXs of the world. I wanted to have the opportunity to drive for teams like CGR and IMSA and Cadillac and Chip Ganassi and IMSA. I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed taking a step back and kind of getting a renewed sense of kind of where I wanted to be.

And no, I was not pursuing anything full-time in INDYCAR. That was not my objective.

Obviously apart from the very unique scenarios that may come along, this one I didn't foresee. Last year obviously I was on call for the 10 car. That was quite the roller coaster because I never knew where that was going to go, but I kept myself ready.

I kept myself mentally dialed in ready to jump in the car at any given point. So I think that primed me not only for the 500 this year but where we are right now.

But no, that was not my objective just a few weeks ago. Just a week ago.

Q. Did Indy get you hungry again for it? And two, I know you're very pragmatic and looking at this realistically, but do you want to turn it into more than one year?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Right now honestly it's race by race. We'll see where it goes. Ed is a good friend of mine. He called me. I was surprised when it happened. He called me and said, I need your help. Would you be willing to do this? This is the situation that we're in.

I had driven for Vision, right, in '09. Ed was my teammate. I had tested with the team in 2013. I tested with the team in 2021.

So this is over a decade-long relationship and friendship that kind of got us to where we are at this point, and it's a unique scenario. You know, subbing out a driver in the middle of the season is a tough one for the team, for the driver.

Like I said, I'm a big fan of Conor. I've been on either side of this with the Rocketsports situation, then with the Rahal situation in 2007 coming in, so I have an immense amount of respect for either side of it.

This is a unique scenario where myself, coming in at this point, it gives potentially the team and myself an opportunity to come at it from a fresh perspective, looking at things a little bit differently than how they have been for the last two or three years straight.

Rinus VeeKay and Conor are great drivers, but sometimes a team, especially in a series as competitive as INDYCAR, you just need to mix things up a little bit, look at things in new ways, and it's just the way the business rolls.

I'm not really sure where it's going yet, and I'm not really looking that far ahead right now. I am totally focused on getting to Road America, doing the best job I can for that group of people at Ed Carpenter Racing who I have a great relationship with, and that's really where it is.

We'll see where it goes. And yeah, it's a lot of pressure on me, honestly, but at the same time, when I look at this pragmatically, I look at it from a realist point of view. There's not silver bullet here. This is a matter of us looking at how we can approach things differently. How do you approach a qualifying session differently, a race weekend differently?

How can we tweak some things? Maybe some of the things I used to do in the past weren't right. Maybe some of the things they're doing now aren't right. Maybe we could come together and maybe take a path that way.

Q. Can you still do any of the SRX races?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: We are currently working on that. Obviously SRX went to Thursday nights, right, which is really cool. Really proud of the growth there looking forward to another season of it.

But the INDYCAR weekends are such that you have to be on location Thursdays for track walk, driver meetings, and all that.

So we're -- I just spoke with them today, with Don Hawk and Tony Stewart, and we're trying to figure out what the situation is.

But yeah, TBD for sure.

Q. You kind of answered this in a roundabout way, but I want to ask it more directly. I think I'd read somewhere that you weren't really looking to return to a full-time role unless it was the right opportunity, and I know you said this isn't a full-time opportunity yet. But what about this opportunity? You spoke about your relationship with Ed, but what about what your job is going to be made this situation appealing enough to you to want to come back to potentially run 10 or so races to finish out the year?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, that's a great question. Like I had said during the month of May at Indy and how much I enjoyed working with the people at Dreyer & Reinbold, it was about the people.

I've got a great relationship with Ed, but I also have had working relationships and really strong relationship currently with the team manager at Ed Carpenter, Matt Barnes, the engineer, my engineer, Pete Craig. Worked with them before.

My current crew chief on the 20 was my crew chief on the 28 at Andretti Autosport, so I just know a lot of the people there. They were in the position where this was something that needed to happen for the team.

Like I said, I was surprised that we were in this position, that it came along. But yeah, when they reached out and when Ed reached out, it was something that, hey, this is what I love to do. I just came off Indy and had a great time there, really enjoyed it, and this is what I do for a living.

I'm in a position where I could potentially contribute to the team as a whole. Why not? What are the why nots? What are the whys? Just putting all that together, and in the end it ended up coming down to the people.

Q. I was wondering, your boys are a little bit older. This is more of a personal family question. But your boys are a little bit older. To be able to come back and remind your oldest one and refresh the little one's memories of Captain America and who Ryan Hunter-Reay is in INDYCAR, what does that mean to you and your family?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It's always been a family sport for us. INDYCAR is a family sport, whether it be on the driver side or the fan side or the team side. Yeah, that's great that I get to share it with them, but really this is 100 percent business decision for me.

My years of experience, hoping that I can contribute in even a small way to some progress here on the approach side.

Yeah, no lie, Road America is one of our favorite races, one of the kids' favorite races, being there at Elkhart Lake and being at the track and all that stuff. That's how it's always been. That is a pretty cool kind of side off-spin to it that we get to enjoy, and I feel fortunate for that.

Q. Obviously I know you were out of the car for a little bit, but how do you feel your time say with Callum and Juncos, how do you think that will be beneficial to you going forward for the rest of the season? Do you think there's anything you learnt from your role as a driver coach that you can bring forward as a driver returning to INDYCAR?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, I mean, I really look forward to working with Juncos Hollinger Racing and with Callum. I wasn't necessarily a driver coach. I was more a consultant to the entire race team.

I've had the opportunity to work with three different race teams within a calendar year. What that gives me is a broadened sense of -- like I keep saying approach, but each team approaches how they go about a race weekend completely differently. You would think it's pretty straightforward, you put the wheels on the car, you go out on track, you test, all this stuff, and it's not. Each team does things very differently.

So I've had the opportunity to see numerous strategies when it comes to their implementation of a strategy of a race weekend. Not just a race strategy and when you pit and all that.

Yeah, that's been -- I've enjoyed it. I've got to view it from, so to speak, 30,000 feet and see how these things operate, what are the positives, negatives, and hope I can apply that to the situation.

Q. In terms of working with Rinus, how excited are you to work with a driver who you probably haven't worked with before?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, Rinus is a great talent. Obviously he's just got such a natural ability, and he's always smiling, always positive. So yeah, definitely look forward to working with him, and hopefully that will be a good relationship moving forward that we can push the team along further in the right direction.

Q. I'm just curious, Ed kind of mentioned in the release about your leadership capabilities and the role. Is there anything you're kind of looking for out of the team that you can bring in, maybe ways you can instill in this team moving forward?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, a team, right, everybody says racing doesn't get the rap for being a team sport as much as it should because it is -- it's a lot of different personalities in one area that need to come together and put forth a competitively strong effort when you're going up against all these other teams.

Each situation is so unique. I can't say what I can bring into a situation. It depends on what and how they go about -- which I'm still going to learn, how they go about it on race weekend. How the team goes about what their test plan is, what the menu is for each different change, each different request from the driver, and what that data analysis looks like between sessions and kind of how we approach a qualifying session and all this.

I am coming in and I am working with -- really even though I know a lot of people there, it's a new grouping. It's a new situation. I also have to blend into that. I have to gel with that.

Then from there, I'll find my place and what I can bring to the table or what I think may be a potential improvement that we can try and work on.

Yeah, a lot of TBDs right now, just a whole lot of them. I wish I could expand more on it, but one thing on my side, I think I have a lot of experience with some really great race teams, whether they be in INDYCAR. My career has been a journey. I've driven for the greats, I've driven for Rahal, Foyt. I've driven for Andretti. I've driven for Ganassi.

I have a lot of experience and a lot of different race teams and how they go about their business.

Q. You kind of mentioned the test you had with ECR I believe it was '21. I'm assuming there's a big difference between a Honda and a Chevy, what you feel in the car. Did that kind of help you hit the ground running a little bit when you show up to Road America this weekend, or is it still going to be more learning the differences between the Honda and Chevy since the last time you were on a road course like this in race conditions you were in a Honda?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, so since the last time I tested in a Chevy, turning right at Barber October of 2021. You know, that was when -- my engineer for many years, Ray Gosselin, engineer for 12 years at Andretti, he was going to Chevy.

I was able to work on some drivability things with them, and since then it's been completely reworked on the drivability side. Basically you're most sensitive to it as a driver like, right, tip in right when you get into throttle, getting through the middle of the corner, because you are trying to maximize the corner. Obviously all these things happen very fast.

But that transition period from 0 percent throttle to, let's say 20 to 25 percent throttle, that is a very key area in where and how you put the power down and manage that power. Each driver wants something different.

Things have changed, so that will be another thing I'm going to have to adapt to. At Indy you're really not looking for those drivability characteristics that you would be on a road course. You're in a completely different road range.

So that's something that will be another one of those items on the list that I'll be trying to work through in a very short amount of time.

Q. Just wanted to follow up on something you said earlier about having sympathy for Conor having been on both sides of that. What would be your advice to Conor moving forward in terms of him picking himself up and getting back into racing in INDYCAR?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, I mean, Conor, like I said, I'm a big fan. He's a scrapper, as am I, and he certainly is a part of INDYCAR. So I certainly hope that he's back at some point. Hopefully soon.

Yeah, as I said, it doesn't make the situation any easier for him. I've been through all of it. I've been replaced at one point, and then I didn't drive for almost a year and a half back in 2005.

From the time I got back in at the end of 2005 to the middle of 2007 -- actually it was longer than that when I jumped in at Rahal replacing Jeff Simmons.

Yeah, I think the big thing is you just have to keep after it. This is for every driver, even the young drivers out there. You're one weekend away from the next opportunity, and just I think keeping the confidence in yourself and being just tenacious and persistent has been what I've always done, and I have no doubt he will, as well.

We're definitely going to miss him at the moment, but I hope he's back, and I have every reason to believe he will be.

Q. All is right in the world right now; Ryan Hunter-Reay is back in racing, and I am so happy for that. Not necessarily happy how it happened, but I'm happy that it happened.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Thank you.

Q. Let me ask you a quick question. You and Ed Carpenter, and you kind of touched on this, are good friends. How will this friendship affect your ability to achieve the results that will be expected from you at ECR?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, I mean, we're not talking about -- right now we're not talking about results. This is not a silver bullet. This is not a situation where they have brought me in to, okay, let's put another driver in the car and you driver, the new driver, you go out and go faster than the old driver. That's not what's happening here.

This is a scenario where we are going to approach this from a technically disciplined approach, and it's going to be methodical, it's going to be a process. It's not going to be short. We're going to have to work through it every day.

It's kind of a different situation for me, as well in some ways. It's a new scenario with a new team that works differently than other teams I've been with. I haven't actually gone racing with Ed Carpenter Racing, even though I've raced with Vision back in 2009, which is, as you know, over a decade ago.

Yeah, it's not, hey, get in there, go get the result now, go do better than last weekend. That is the one, I think, misconception that people have. That's not what's going on here. This is something that is a much bigger picture approach. That's where we're at.

And yeah, I think that friendship can only help. Ed is a racer. He wants it blunt. He wants to understand what I think every day, at the end of every day, at the end of every session, he wants to understand what my feelings are. I'm eager to see how the team goes through a race weekend. There's certainly plenty of very, very accomplished people there.

All the talent and all the capability is there. It's just little tiny things can kind of tip you off your access here in an INDYCAR. I've experienced either side of that.

Q. Has the sabbatical recharged your batteries?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, I mean, I think so. It's been nice. I've been nonstop since '03 and with the same organization for 12 years, so it was a good time to just take a step back for a moment.

I got to do a lot of things I wouldn't have. I got to coach my kids' teams. That means a lot. They're at an age where they're so impressionable, it's really nice for dad to be home for a change and not always be at an airport and sleeping at a hotel.

That was something that was very enjoyable, and at the same time, it allowed me to come back very refreshed and focused, and here we are.

Q. Going back to Indy, I'm just wondering, you had a situation there where you had Graham Rahal kind of parachute in as your teammate. You're not doing something exactly parallel to that, but it's sort of similar coming into a new team like this and trying to help them. Did you learn anything from what Graham went through in that kind of crash course that he had getting in the Dreyer & Reinbold car that might help you going into the Ed Carpenter situation here?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, it's very similar to what I went through with Dreyer & Reinbold. We had a longer time to prepare for it, but all the same things that -- you would think it would just be as easy as drop my seat in the car and drop my helmet and we change a fire suit.

It's a lot of different stuff. All the settings on the dash, on the wheel, the hand grips, where the knobs are. I've had muscle memory and so does Graham, being with the same team for so long.

You don't even have to think about where this deal is, or when you're in the heat of the moment coming in at 220 miles an hour where the pit lane speed limit button is. All these things that are crucial to having a successful race. You have to then go and relearn or maybe have the team move around a little bit, and even then, it's still not the same as what you're -- you always feel like you're adapting in the car.

For the first day in the No. 23 car at Indy I was having to look down and place my thumb where the radio is, just to talk, like look down off the track to do it; whereas in the past I've had -- it's just all been -- I wouldn't have to look at any of it. I knew where everything was. There's things like that.

Then when you're working with new people and you're always trying to understand, it's critical, too. It's like a coach and a quarterback. You're always trying to get that communication down and trying to understand what each needs to move forward.

Graham, he just jumped in for the race so he wasn't really prepping the car. He did have Carb Day and there was that element of it. He had to adjust it.

Yeah, there's a lot of similarities there, and you just have to take it with an open mindset and an optimistic approach and just get after doing what you know how to do I think is the big thing.

Q. Like you said, obviously you know Ed well, you know a lot of people at Ed Carpenter Racing well. You know Chevy. You've got a connection there obviously from the former engineer with Ray. I'm sure they're still working through what they want you to diagnose, but do you have a sense of what maybe the top-line items are? Does your relationships with both manufacturer and team side give you an edge here being able to pinpoint, kind of hone in on where they're trying to improve?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, I have a great relationship with Chevy outside of even Ray being head of at-track services. I've driven for them with Cadillac, Jim Campbell, we won the championship together in 2012. The whole team at Chevy, I've got a great relationship with. That helps, no doubt.

But on the Ed Carpenter team side, I'm also coming in and learning a bunch in a short amount of time. They're learning me, at the same time we're coming together during a race weekend. We don't have the luxury of having a test, which would have been really nice.

But we're coming together in a very short amount of time, so there's even a challenge of just doing the fundamentals right at that point, trying to get everything down, the seat fit, does this thing hit you here, is the steering wheel -- the steering wheel size that I'm going to be using is going to be different. Is that going to bug me in the first session? I'm not sure.

There's a whole bunch of different things, and then you get on to the meat of it, which is trying to work through whatever these potential walls are that they want to break down.

Yeah, we have some ideas of what that might be, but right now the best thing is to just let me come in there, work as I do, let them move forward and work as they do, and in that process we'll naturally find some things that we want to try different.

Q. You talked about Conor and how you've been on both sides of this. One, have you talked to Conor? Have you had any communication with him? Two, what's the protocol for something that I know is just inherently awkward? I know long-term things will be good, but in the short-term how do you deal with it? When do you talk to him if you haven't talked to him? How does it all work?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, that stuff is personal. I talked to one of our good friends about it, too. I wanted to call Conor about it. But there's an area, too, where you just need to cool off. I remember right after my situation happened, it's not necessarily the scenario I would have liked to happen right after.

Yeah, I'll approach that in the right way. Like I said earlier, Conor is a friend. Honestly, I think he's a great driver and I honestly think he'll be back at some point, and I just hope that that is soon.

This sport is brutal. Like I said, my career has been a journey. I have been on every different end of it, whether it's at Indy being bumped in, bumped out, on the front row winning the race. And then you look at my career and the whole thing has just been a journey from team to team to team, like I said, having been on either side of it.

Yeah, these were huge considerations in the process of deciding on all this, and really when it came down to it, the team was at a position where it needed to -- it was at a position where in order for it to be in a place where it potentially would like to be in the off-season of '23-'24, that these things had to happen now.

But yeah, I was surprised. It wasn't something that I was pursuing.

Q. You were quite complimentary about Rinus before. Can you explore a little bit more you guys working together? What are you guys' respective strengths as you try to work together to take ECR forward? Where can you complement each other?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, I'll have to let you know because I haven't worked with him for a day yet. But yeah, I know him just through the paddock. And he's a hard-charger. He's just naturally talented, young, hungry.

I've been obviously in that position the same as him before, and it's a unique opportunity for us to work together. I look forward to seeing his perspective on things and how his approach is.

I really like the fact that he's always -- he seems to be always smiling and optimistic, and that'll be nice to work with.

My rookie season in what was Champ Car, 2003, I was, what, 21, 22 years old or something, and I was fresh out of Formula Atlantic. My teammate was Jimmy Vasser, who is series champion, and I'll never forget the time I spent with him just working through -- just seeing how he went about things methodically, and I learned a lot from Jimmy from that time forward.

Q. Speaking of rookies, I understand both you and Rinus were at Linus Lundquist's test last week in Sebring. What were your impressions of Linus, and do you think he might be of help going forward to help the team forward?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, he's a pro. Did a great job. Didn't set a wheel wrong, really, and gave good feedback. Long, hot day at Sebring. It's not fun testing at Sebring in the middle of June. It's like operating in a sauna.

He did a great job, though, and I think it was a beneficial test for the team. Rinus worked well with him, as well, kind of giving him some ins and outs of the team and what to expect and this and that.

But yeah, absolute pro. Hopefully he has a future in INDYCAR racing. I have no doubt.


<<<<<<<< Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal >>>>>>>>
[above]

Q. You're going to be turning 43 next December, and we've seen the last Indy 500, drivers like TK and Castroneves that they're almost 50 and still running the 500. Is it something that you have planned for your future to be racing at least ovals or at least 500 until you're 50?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, this -- thank you for the reminder of my birthday coming up at the end of the year.

This sport is so intense, and it requires absolute 120 percent commitment. So you can't make a plan for four or five years from now. You go every year basically.

If it is still burning inside, if it's still something that drives you -- I talked with Gil de Ferran about this, and he said when you don't want to do this, you'll know. You will know. Okay, I just don't -- I feel 75 percent about it. I don't feel 100.

Gil de Ferran, he retired pretty early, and he talked with me about that, and I think that's how we go about it.

I think Tony Kanaan feels -- I congratulated him on his last Indy 500 there. He knew that there's a certain value in going out on top. He went out in a great program at McLaren. He's been with some great teams. There's a value in that, rather than just sticking around and seeing what happens every year and trying to piece it together.

You can never really plan it, honestly. I wish I could give you a better answer than that, but as long as I keep waking up wanting that 500, wanting another one of those Baby Borgs up there, I'll keep doing it.

Q. You've spent most of your career driving in INDYCAR without an aeroscreen. What are the biggest differences now driving with it, and how did it feel? Did it feel normal to drive with it during the month of May?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Well, just to clarify, I'm not sure you're aware, but yeah, I did drive with the aeroscreen on the car for two full seasons at Andretti in 2020 and 2021. But yeah, it's strange. Your whole career you're driving single seaters, driving INDYCARs, driving anything with open wheel, you have a sensation of air speed just on your helmet. It's something you didn't think you would cue off of, something you didn't think you would feel.

But when you put that aeroscreen there and it wasn't there, it was almost like I lost that sense. It was strange.

You can adapt to it. Visually it's fine. You just lose the airflow. I think as it's been documented numerous times, it can get pretty hot, depending on the race, depending on the type of racetrack, especially on street circuits.

But I'm happy it's there. It's already saved my -- I won't say rear end. It's already saved my head. It saved it at Barber in 2021, and we have numerous other examples of that with other drivers.

Yeah, when you think about it, you look back and you think, okay, we're out there doing 240 miles an hour with our head exposed bobbing around in the air, it's a little crazy to think that we got away with some of what we did.

Q. Coming into the weekend, you mentioned a lot of this is going to be new for you, learning about the team and stuff. What are you hoping to take away into this weekend heading into this first race?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: We're looking to take away a good understanding of what the team wants and needs and what I want and need out of this partnership, and kind of trying to get a better understanding of some of the nuances and how I operate, how they operate, and then how we can go and talk about it during the break between Road America and Mid-Ohio and implement potential changes moving forward that I may need.

Like anybody's driving style, one driver is going to ask for and want different things from their race team and race car than another driver. That's just how it is.

I think that would be the big thing.

This weekend is almost a test session for us. It's a getting-to-know-you session for us. As long as I go about it that way, and the team does, as well, I think that we'll put our best foot forward for Mid-Ohio.

Q. How serendipitous is it that Captain America is racing his first race back full-time at Road America?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It's pretty funny. I think Leigh Diffey even coined it there for the first time. I'm not sure; I don't know if that was at Iowa or Road America or what. But yeah, certainly one of my favorite racetracks outside of Indy -- probably my favorite racetrack outside of Indy, and it's a new one. I'm going to have to learn it now with the new surface, what curbs you can use on the apexes and exits. All that stuff will change when you change a racing surface.

Yeah, going to be learning a lot in a short amount of time.

Q. Talk a little bit more about the repaving of Road America. How much is it going to change the racing, and is part of you a little bit frustrated that it's happening now just because it's sort of an added complication to the return, or is it just a fresh new challenge?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I mean, yeah, not ideal timing, right? To throw another variable into the experiment is not obviously what you want to do.

But some teams went there and tested. They went quicker than they have in the past, so it shows that the track surface is gripping up. I'm not sure what it'll do for the racing. I have no idea.

I enjoy the Road America, Mid-Ohio, kind of old-school kind of throwback road course, big undulations sometimes in the pavement, exit curbings that drop off, just stuff like that where it's pretty old school where it's the complete opposite of what you'd see in Formula 1 and things like that.

Yeah, unfortunately at some point they had to do it, I guess, at Road America. There were some areas that just needed the attention and decided to go the whole way. Hopefully it'll be good for the racing. I have no idea, though. I couldn't comment to that because we didn't test there.

THE MODERATOR: Ryan, thanks for doing this.

We didn't talk about game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals tonight. Who do you got?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I have the Panthers. Of course I do. Went to the game the other night. It was a close one. It's amazing how physical these finals games are. Hopefully the Panthers can knock one out to come back home and fight another one back here at home. It's going to be tough. It's just so physical this series. Go Panthers!
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

It's great that the NTT INDYCAR Series is returning to action this weekend at Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix presented by AMR for its 8th race of the 17 race 2023 season.

Road America is a historic racetrack known for its four-mile layout and challenging course. The race is scheduled to start at 1:00 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday. It promises to be an exciting event for INDYCAR fans as the drivers compete on this iconic circuit.

UPDATE:
Ryan Hunter-Reay (RHR) had a good day in the race. He started last at P27 due to a horrible qualifications session and was one of only a few cars to pass for position in the double digits - 10 positions to P17. Only two other drivers moved 10 or more positions from starting position to end result - Helio Castroneves from P26 to P15 and Scott McLaughlin from P18 to P8.

Can not really hear any ladies singing, profile challenged or otherwise, given the level of professional challenge and completion shown by RHR at Road America.

... notes from The EDJE


FEATURED ARTICLE >>>







TAGS: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Ed Carpenter Racing, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, No. 20 Bitnile.com Chevrolet, THE SONSIO GRAND PRIX AT ROAD AMERICA, The EDJE


Monday, June 12, 2023

PPIHC Announces Hurley Haywood 2023 Grand Marshal

Image Credit: The Brumos Collection via The Speed Journal (2021)

PPIHC Announces Hurley Haywood 2023 Grand Marshal

Hurley Haywood, a legendary sports car racer, will serve as the Grand Marshal of the 2023 Broadmoor Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, brought to you by Gran Turismo. Haywood will make a demonstration run up the mountain in a Taycan Cross Turismo Turbo S on Sunday, June 25.

Haywood is highly regarded in American motorsports, having left an indelible mark on the racing scene. He has an impressive racing resume, including winning the 24 Hours of Daytona overall five times, the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, and the 12 Hours of Sebring twice. He has also completed the Triple Crown of endurance racing, which is a feat achieved by only a few drivers.

Hurley Haywood, in sharing his memories and perspectives during a 2021 The Brumos Collections installment of “Inside the 59” chats, on the mid-engine 1971 Porsche 914-6 GT, recalls, “was very nimble, easy to drive and had great resilience.  Racing against equipment that was much faster than ours, we won because of durability and planning.  This was my first year of racing, so it was quite a learning process.” Image Credit: The Brumos Collection via The Speed Journal (2023)

The famous #59 Brumos Porsche colors, which Haywood helped popularize over his five-decade plus racing and associated activities career, will be present in the race as well. David Donohue will be competing in a Porsche GT2 RS Clubsport with the goal of setting a new Time Attack 1 record. Donohue was the 2022 Time Attack 1 champion and would love to repeat the mark in 2023.

Haywood expressed his excitement about being part of the event, particularly with the success Porsche has had on Pikes Peak and Donohue driving a Brumos car once again. He is looking forward to the event and expects it to be a thrilling experience for all involved.

David Donohue in the 2022 Pikes Peak International Hill Climb winner’s circle, under foggy conditions. Image Credit: Rob Hutton via Stuttcars (2022)


As for the car Haywood will be driving, the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo is the top model in the Taycan range. The Taycan has previously completed a 1,400 mile journey to Pikes Peak, setting a Guinness World Record for the greatest altitude change by an electric car. The Taycan Cross Turismo features a Gravel mode, which adjusts various settings to enhance performance on loose surfaces like mud, sand, and gravel. Additionally, the car has body cladding to protect against rock chips. On paved roads, the Taycan Turbo S Cross Turismo can accelerate from 0 to 60 miles per hour in just 2.7 seconds. It boasts dual-motor all-wheel drive, adaptive aerodynamics, air suspension, and Porsche's PCM system.

The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb, known as The Race to the Clouds, is the second oldest race in America. It has been held annually since 1916 on Pikes Peak, near Colorado Springs, Colorado. The race features a challenging 12.42-mile (20 km) course with 156 turns and a significant elevation gain of 4,725 feet (1,440 m). The event showcases a variety of vehicles, ranging from production-based Time Attack cars to purpose-built Open Wheel racers and state-of-the-art Unlimited vehicles. The current race record, set in 2018, is held by Romain Dumas and Volkswagen in the all-electric I.D. R Pikes Peak, with a time of 07:57.148.

... notes from The EDJE


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TAGS: PPIHC, Hurley Haywood, 2023, Taycan, Turbo S, Cross Turismo, Brumos, Porsche, The EDJE

Thursday, June 1, 2023

Santino Ferrucci Shares How He Almost Won It All For AJ Foyt Racing At INDY500

More than 200,000 people line the streets of #DowntownIndy to celebrate the return of Indy’s biggest celebration before the #Indy500 ... the 67th AES 500 Festival Parade welcomes then P4 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge qualifyer Santino Ferrucci and guests. Image Credit: FB/META Contribution (2023)

Santino Ferrucci Shares How He Almost Won It All For AJ Foyt Racing At INDY500 

During the NTT INDYCAR ZOOM Call video news conference on May 31, Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing discussed his impressive performance in the 107th Indianapolis 500 and shared his thoughts on the upcoming Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. 

Driving the No. 14 AJ FOYT RACING/SEXTON PROPERTIES Chevrolet, Ferrucci secured a career-best third-place finish in the Indianapolis 500, which took place on May 28. He expressed confidence in his chances of winning the race and claimed that he was a serious contender for the victory most all race long. 

In addition to discussing his Indianapolis 500 performance, Ferrucci addressed a rumor regarding his pit stop during the race. He clarified that the speculation about the team owner, 88-year-old A.J. Foyt, being slightly over the wall and stabilizing a tire during his pit stop was false.


Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal - BEGIN
Q. In the Indy 500 if that last accident didn't happen behind you, you were about to swoop past the two cars in front of you, with as many laps were left, what was your thinking? How do you think you would have been able to fare?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, we'll go back. Say it stays green. Newgarden had one of the faster cars. I was two-wide going into one. I wasn't going to pinch Ericsson and crash with Ericsson. I was going to actually lift and give him the place because I wanted to be behind him into two, get the run outs of two because we were really good there, or wait one more lap and get the run out of two.

My intention was to lead. The reason being because I passed Ericsson earlier in the race and I led and I knew he couldn't pass us. Like, I knew our car just had the raw speed, with the downforce level that we had, to just lead and run away. Yeah, that was my thinking right there.

Had it stayed green, would he have been able to pass us in the end of stint? Again, I don't know. It would have been an interesting shot if he could. But from what I saw early in the race, especially on the end of a stint when the tires are old, our car was one of the best cars from lap 20 to lap 33.

No, I was getting ready to lift into two to give him the lead back to take it again and try to lead it till the end.

Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal 
Q. Given the race dynamics, you had the confidence, the car, the measure of the drivers, you felt you would have had a measure of the race?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yes, yes, 100%.

Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal
Q. Did you know you had an extra crew member over the wall? If you look behind me, you'll see the finger is pointing directly at A.J. Foyt over the wall, touching a tire.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: That's not A.J.

Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal
Q. It isn't?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: That is Craig Baranouski, team manager. Trust me, they look exactly the same.

Yeah, I'm sure if you blow back up that picture, you'll see A.J. sitting in his chair with the headset on 100%.
ENDS

AJ Foyt Racing issues a confirming direct statement after this interchange with Santino Ferrucci on an image captured during the INDY500 broadcast that had some people thinking they saw AJ Foyt himself helping during a Ferucci pitstop, as reported by Asher Fair of Beyond The Flag.

AJ Foyt Racing As Quoted:
“This is not our usual post, but this photo has been circulating with speculation that A.J. is leaning over the wall and helping with the inside front tire. That is not true. Despite A.J.’s reputation for working on his own cars, it is Craig Baranouski who’s pictured here assisting with the tire on the stop. Hope this helps clear up any confusion/rumors.”

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference - Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Santino Ferrucci - Press Conference (click image to launch ZOOM Call Video)

THE MODERATOR: Just days after the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, don't blame our guest today if he's still smiling, if he's not mowing his yard, that is, Santino Ferrucci. Great month, actually for the entire AJ Foyt Racing team, culminating for Santino, a career-best third-place finish on Sunday, heads to Detroit this week, site of his NTT INDYCAR Series debut back in 2018, and if that wasn't enough, he'll start his 50th INDYCAR race. It's also your birthday, right, Santino?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: There's a lot going on today between the 50th start this weekend, the good finish, my birthday. My hands are gross. I'm mowing and doing yard work because I'm only home for one day before I turn around and go out to Detroit, so excuse me for being really sweaty. It's like 100 degrees over here in Texas.

THE MODERATOR: Driver of the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Sexton Properties Chevrolet joins us today. A few days to chill, or if you're not chilling you're doing your yard work. I'm sure you're still excited about everything coming out of the 500.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, of course. I mean, it's one of those things to where I'm very happy with how everything went. We had a hell of a month. Couldn't have asked for a better day at the end, but also it could have been a hell of a lot worse, all things considered. So just very thankful for that.

I think it's pretty clear that we'll win that race one of these days. Yeah, excited to be home for a brisk 24 hours to mow my field, and then back to Detroit.

Q. Looking ahead to Detroit, obviously you've got some fond memories there, making your first start back in 2018, new circuit, a lot of different features to it. What are your thoughts heading into Detroit?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I mean, honestly, hats off to the entire Detroit GP team, Bud Denker. That place looks phenomenal. We went in the wintertime to go check it out. I just got a picture of pit lane. Super excited for everything. Very happy to be going 200 miles an hour down Jefferson. I probably will buy a mouth guard at Dick's Sporting Goods before I head over there because it was still bumpy in the Tahoe that we took a hot lap in, so I can't imagine what it's going to be like in the INDYCAR.

Q. Obviously no one has driven the Detroit course yet, but have you had a chance to get in it on like a simulator? Do you have any thoughts on the layout and what it might race like?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: So we're actually one of the few teams that we don't have the simulator, just because it's so allotted to some of the top teams and they book their days out in advance. I actually won't be able to see it virtually or run it until we go to practice on Friday.

But having taken some laps there in the Tahoe, was definitely a lot of fun. They do have a much better suspension than the INDYCAR, though, and heated seats when we were there, so it was really nice.

Really looking forward to being back in Detroit. I am going to miss Belle Isle. That place has always been very special and very good to me, so kind of bummed I didn't get a shot to win that race again this year because we've been really close with Rahal in the past years and with Coyne before that.

Yeah, just have to make it happen on the new track.

Q. Do you have any thoughts on the split pit lane and how that might work?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I'm actually really excited. I think it's one of those things to where it's already chaotic enough in an INDYCAR to have the pit lane in Detroit the way it was, so to split it, it's going to be -- I think Max Papis is going to have a really rough two weeks with going from the 500 now to Detroit with the zero contact rule in pit lane. That one might have to get waived a little bit.

Outside of the INDY500, Santino Ferrucci second driving strength is considered to be street courses. Going into a new course for every driver with wide track surface, Ferrucci feels his chances are good at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2023)

Q. Obviously everybody talks about the Indy 500 hangover that can happen sometimes. You had a terrific month of May. Have you guys talked about that or has the team had any pep talks or sort of hey, how do we regroup and face the final 11 races this season?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I have to laugh because we were talking about the Detroit GP before we even ran the 500. Everything that we did leading into Indy, all that preparation was already done, so all we really did was drive the car and manipulate things. We actually had a really stressful Friday, which kind of put us -- wasn't great, but obviously Sunday being good, I've already sent in all my reports to the team. I have their reports.

No, I don't know, it's a really long week for me just because you have the 500, then you have everything to pack up and leave, because I don't live in Indy, then the banquet, and then I had to drive home 12 hours yesterday with my dogs. Then on top of that, getting home, birthday, having to basically cycle, reset and then jump on a flight early tomorrow morning.

It's kind of nonstop, so getting sleep is tough, but it's a lot of fun, and I like the energy of go, go, go, and I'm pretty sure the team does, too, at this point, and continuing that momentum.

We feel really confident with what we're gaining on our road and street course cars. We're almost there, so hopefully we'll continue being competitive inside the top 10.

Q. When I talked to you after the race Sunday, you were pretty sad. A lot of times people with a third-place finish in the Indy 500, you'd be pretty happy about that, but to be that close, how long did it take for you to kind of go from sad back to looking at the big picture?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I was happy about -- once we got into the press conference I was in a much better mood. I wouldn't necessarily call the emotion sad. It wasn't just like one particular thing when I got out of the car, and as everybody saw on national television I was basically crying. It's just one of those competitor things in you that there was so much riding on that race, and it was going so well up until that -- it finished really well.

When you have that kind of -- it wasn't just pressure to perform but emotional pressure to just be there and to know that we probably had that race won, had it gone yellow two seconds later, it's just kind of heartbreaking. But still, at the end of the day, you come home in third, to join Helio and one other driver, I believe it's Henry Fultz or Henry Hines, in five for five of your first five starts in top 10s, and then you really start to look at what you've accomplished at the 500 in your first five starts with four different teams and what you did with A.J. Foyt -- what we've done at AJ Foyt Racing, who hasn't had a podium or top 3 since the year 2000 at the speedway.

You know, there's so many positives, and that day could have been so much worse. We had so many close calls between pit lane and some of the crashes on track that at the end of the day I was just really, really happy to -- I went to bed that night knowing that I did the best I could, the team did the best they could, and that's the track.

Q. Do you believe you were more negatively impacted by that last red than Marcus because everybody says first and second can fight for the win, but third really can't?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: No. So the way that everything played out, the way that INDYCAR finished under green was 100 percent correct for the fans. It didn't affect anything for me. What affected me wasn't the red, it was the yellow.

So the second it went yellow, had it gone yellow two seconds later had they waited, which you can't wait when you're crashing, so there's nothing you can do, I was in third, I was about six inches behind Newgarden, and that's very clear in the video.

So at the end of the day, nothing changed for me. The fact that they actually went red and restarted the race gave me that opportunity to win again. I just didn't have a great restart because it's chaotic when you just go -- you've got to also remember there's no restart zone. At that point when you're going green for one lap, it was really cool to see the shootout, I'm not going to lie, but you know that they're going green, so you were literally at the hands of the leader on a completely random -- you could start going into 3 in the middle of 3 and 4 out of 4. He could start the race whenever he wanted to start the race instead of in the zone, so it was completely unpredictable.

He just had a really good jump, and I just -- I did not, so it took me out of the -- that's what took me out of the win at the end of the race. It had nothing to do with INDYCAR or the red in my opinion.

Q. Also, what was A.J. like after the race? He had a smile on his face for the whole month, considering the beginning of the month was one of the saddest months of his life, but between what you did and Benjamin Peterson, he was smiling all month at Indy. What was he like after the race?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I think he was really proud. There's truly two people that understood my emotions and felt my emotions on Sunday. A.J. was one, and Michael Cannon was the other. If you look at some of the photos from that day, you can kind of see it in my eyes, just -- you really have to have it in your hands and then lose it in your hands to kind of understand that feeling of when you work that hard. So you have to understand you're coming from a team with two cars, a budget that's a quarter of the size of Penske and Ganassi, and that's all month long. We wanted it probably that much more than everybody else that day.

To come up that short, A.J.'s finished second and third on dominant days in the '70s, and he talked about those races, where we had the car to win. We were by far the best car at the end of that race. Once the Team McLarens were out of it and the 10 car and the 21 had the incident in pit lane, that left us.

We were the car to win, and yeah, just sitting third knowing there's nothing you can do, after all that hard work, yeah, it's a feeling that very few people would understand.

But he was incredibly proud of I think what the organization accomplished. I'm very proud of Larry and what Larry has done with the team because Larry has had control of this team since 2007, and to see him get his first podium as a team boss and team owner at the speedway was huge.

I think everybody was incredibly proud of what we've accomplished.

Q. You were just talking about the unpredictability of those restarts. Do you think it would benefit if IMS had a restart zone like we see in NASCAR, and also, what do you think about the guys using the pit lane entry as they were coming up to the green and the checkered? Do you think using that's a little bit dangerous with the pit attenuator in play there?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah. Well, the restart zones, we do have one. It's not necessarily as clearly marked as NASCAR, so it's not terrible. It's just the way that they start the race, if the Hondas are starting it slower, the Chevies needed to start it a little faster, so the fact that Marcus started it slower, it was obviously huge to his advantage, and you saw that when he left.

As far as using the pit lane and using it towards the attenuator. I'll be perfectly honest, that's a driver's choice there. I wouldn't call a rule on it for track limits. At the end of the day they're going to risk their life if something happens and they hit it. That's on them.

I didn't personally go down there. I would be really nervous cutting the car down that low with that much momentum if something were to happen because you'd look like an absolute more on if you wrecked trying to go below the attenuator to break the draft. But their cars were really good.

No, you're going to do anything you can to win that race. I'm honestly surprised that it finished the way it did. Josef had a fantastic run at it, too, and Marcus was able to completely clear him before going into 2, which is good.

Q. Going to Detroit, obviously your last street race on Long Beach was pretty stout. With cannon coming across from Ganassi on your road and street program, where do you see you're at with stuff like damper programs and stuff like that? Do you feel you're getting stronger?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: So our damper program, to be honest, is about a decade behind. We are slowly working towards improving it. If you look everywhere we've started, we've been about two seconds off the pace, closed the gap off to a couple of 10ths.

The issue that we have is the way that we can move forward in a timely fashion. So we are building what we can at the shop, adjusting, adjusting, adjusting, playing catch-up at the track until we run out of adjustment.

Long Beach we had a great race car, but we didn't really have anything better than I believe we finished 11th. We didn't really have anything better than that.

Moving forward, I think that we're building off of that slowly. We obviously need to qualify the car. We haven't qualified in the last two races because of electrical issues. So not great. Doesn't help when you're fighting in the midfield that's as competitive as it is.

We will get there. I'll say with the 500 being done, all of our attention will now be on the road course and street course program. Michael has been working diligently with a couple of the other engineers on making sure that the 500 was going to be as sound as it was. That just shows what we were able to do with a couple of months of preparation.

I'm excited to see what we have now, knowing that we're going to take that car, put a cover on it, full focus on everything else this year.

Q. Any good overtaking spots on this track?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Jefferson is going to be very interesting. They still needed to rework it. They needed to rework the track again after they go through winter because the winters are really rough. But it was rather bumpy. It will be kind of interesting to see the lines.

The straight is longer than the one at the GP. The GP, you do have a lot of passing at the end of that straight going into the hairpin or the first turn. I think, yes, it will provide for some great racing. I hope we have a great strategy race like we did on Belle Isle. I think that was our best street course race as far as entertainment goes. I'm hoping the new Detroit track lives up to that.

Q. I was talking to Larry just ahead of the Indy 500. He was saying how he's really enjoyed having Michael join the organization. What do you think his contribution has been so far? What do you think he can do going on for the rest of the season, including helping you guys in Detroit?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, so the way that Michael puts it, it's called Racing 101 in his eyes. It's basically a way to organize things.

The setups on these cars throughout the paddock are almost all the same. Everybody is similar as far as diffs, geometry, roll centers, ride high, aero. So there's nothing special going on there.

Mike is just trying to bring in some of his knowledge obviously from years past. Obviously having worked with him before, the thing with dampers is that every place is very different, every place has there own custom way of doing things and getting things done.

Mike is just trying to work out with my race engineer how to best get the dampers to suit the car for my driving style. We are getting closer every time we get to the track. I'm just excited to hopefully be able to show if we do get it right what we can do on a road and street course.

Q. A.J. referred to you as the funny looking kid. Off the track, you're a rising start, be the next big thing. Tell us what you're doing to try to handle the pressures of being a celebrity off the track?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I wouldn't necessarily call myself a celebrity off the track.

What's cool with driving for A.J., driving the 14, one of the things I really appreciate Larry for doing this is letting me be myself. I get to kind of be who I want to be, completely unfiltered, just enjoy my life and enjoy being a race car driver, which is a lot of fun.

With that obviously driving the 14 has actually made me more popular than I was expecting because we're also doing really well. I just want to make A.J. happy. I just also really want to get this program going for Larry.

We're as much friends as he is my boss. We're just having a great time. We love being there. Just as long as we're having fun, I think we'll be competitive as well, just kind of that mental adage: we don't feel like we're really working even though we're one of the hardest-working teams on the grid.

Q. You talked about the finish of the race, the red flag, you took the white flag, then race for the victory. You talked about NASCAR with the green-white-checkered. Indy races by the miles. What would your thoughts be if that race would have ended under a green-white-checkered?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I don't know. I mean, that's kind of funny to say Indy races under miles, because so does NASCAR, and NASCAR does green-white-checkered. Sometimes they don't finish under 600 miles, sometimes it's 620 miles. That would change up the strategy, because you would have a lot of fuel saving things 'cause the cars are so much more calculated than the NASCAR where you fill the tank, send it, you're normally fine at the end of the race.

We're calculated to run out at exactly 500 miles. It would change the dynamic of the race completely if you did something like that.

Would it be fun? Yeah. Would it be strange? Very. I think it could also be kind of dangerous because our tires wear fast. Every time we pull our tires when we were at the end of a stint, they were basically toast, zero wear left, almost on the cords. If you're going on extra 10 laps per se on these old tires, you risk so much more than what the reward is.

I think it would be fun to do at a track like Iowa 'cause it's a short track, not necessarily Indy.

THE MODERATOR: How much land are we talking that you're mowing here?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Only a third of an acre on a push mower, though. Very old school. My fiancée thought I was crazy when I bought this thing at Home Depot. You're going to mow the lawn once and pay somebody to do it. Nope, I'm sticking to it. Very committed.

Street courses may be the key for Santino Ferrucci and Rookie - who was also named INDY500 Rookie Of The Year qualifying P11 and finishing P21 - Benjamin Pederson's success through the rest of 2923. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2023)

Q. You are good on road courses. You say the team is now truly focused on the balance of the season. Do both you and Ben feel the same about going into this next weekend here?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I mean, I don't know what we're going to get. We're making another adjustment into the correct direction. It's not like we're going back to Indy GP just yet where we have an idea how to change the car.

We are heading in the direction that we want to. Whether we get there when we roll out or we get there throughout the weekend is going to be kind of up to us to push the engineers in the right direction.

Also you don't really know what you're getting with the street course because it is kind of new for everybody. It's a hard one.

But I do feel more confident and comfortable going into this road course than I have St. Pete and Long Beach.

Q. I would like to ask you about your race, very good race. How do you rate your race and your team on a scale of 1 to 10 and why?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Oh, man, honestly it was a 9.5. You're just missing the win with the rings. Everybody performed flawlessly all month long. We were fast come Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday. Friday we had a hiccup, which was interesting, but we recovered really well going into Sunday.

Even the way we picked our race downforce, ran the race, I mean, all the way from the safe on the last pit stop with catching the tire before it rolled out into pit lane, all those things, you're looking at a well-strategized basically perfectly executed 500 run with the exception of the last red flag.

It's very hard to say that there's much that I would have changed throughout that month.

Q. What is more important to you, this third place on the 500 or win another race of the calendar?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: The third at this 500 was really important to me. I think it was my first INDYCAR podium. It was something that we really needed to see for the sponsors, for ABC, for Homes For Troops. It's really hard to knock this finishing in the top three of this race for anything else.

Obviously still elusive to my first win. Would have been pretty cool to happen at the Speedway to have my first win in the series there of all places. I think we definitely will have opportunities to win some races later this year, especially races like Iowa and Gateway because I do think we have a solid oval program.

Yeah, no, hopefully I get that checked off the list as well. That third at Indy is going to be something I cherish for a long time.

Q. You mentioned A.J. was maybe one of a couple people that understood what you were going through after the race. What did he say to you? Did he have any really wise words for you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I mean, he just said he was really proud of me, really happy with what we accomplished. He said third is honestly not that bad in the big picture of things. Having himself finishing third numerous times, second, I think he knows that I'll win this race, and he knows that I work really hard.

It's just one of those things, basically you did everything you could. I drove one hell of a race. It's a lot to be positive on. There's nothing to be disappointed about. To just move on forward, we got the rest of the season, come back next year and attempt to do it again.

Q. Anything could have happened. Third is not bad.

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yes.

Q. By association a lot of people put A.J. Foyt and Tony Stewart in kind of the same conversation. Did Tony before the race or after the race reach out to you to say anything about the race?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Funny enough, his dad. I'm actually pretty close to his dad, too. Tony is probably pretty busy with the Coke 600 and all that. I know he watched. I actually do need to reach out to him and see what he's doing.

I grew up watching him, idolizing him. Because A.J. is a little bit pre my time. Just to carry on that 14, I don't want to say it's that persona that comes with it because I am myself and my own person, but I do think I fit the 14 very well.

I'm still missing a few race wins and championships, but I'm sure we'll get there.

Q. I want to talk about this track. You mentioned nobody has raced on it. You mentioned you have no sim experience on this. What differences are you expecting heading into this weekend compared to Belle Isle? Is there any differences you're expecting from looking at the track layout?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think this track is actually going to run a little bit more like Long Beach in a sense than Belle Isle. Belle Isle is challenging because it was multiple different types of pavement, concrete, old stuff, new stuff. It was like a blend of everything. Versus this track, they repaved most of the city, changed everything.

This is actually a pretty wide street course, believe it or not. This is going to be really fast. Might run more like a race that was pre my time in this series, might run more like Baltimore or Houston.

I'm excited for the dual pit lane. I haven't seen that before. I think that will really change things up. I just hope we get the race distance right with the strategy. I trust Firestone to do the right thing with the tires so we have some tire deg as well, which is kind of huge.

There's so many unknowns going into this event, the one thing we know will be different is pits.

Q. As a driver, you try to focus on yourself heading into a weekend. Will you be keeping an eye on the INDY NXT to get an idea how the track races?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, we'll probably definitely watch the series that are with us that weekend to get an idea because you'll be able to see the bumps. Those cars are sports cars. The INDY NXT series are low cars. It's just one of those things that where our tire compounds are so different to everybody else, it will be unique in a sense.

It will be cool to see how people are passing each other.

Q. It looks like a fast layout. Are you expecting a fuel saving race this weekend or do you think it's going to be a flat-out race from start to finish?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I actually don't know. I think it can go either way. To be honest with you, when we ran Nashville, Nashville was just such a chaotic race for everybody because it was a new track, but also it's almost like really (indiscernible) type of how small that track is for our cars. They didn't make that mistake with Detroit. It's wide open, a massive track.

I think it's going to be a fantastic race. I don't know if fuel saving is going to play a part. That's kind of like INDYCAR, cars are running for a number. That's kind of what made Detroit an interesting fuel race. If you can make the alternate tire last, and if you can make it in two stops, but you're making a pretty hefty fuel number.

I'll be curious to see what we get for mileage and what we predict. Then again it's always different, we don't know the track, but it should be a lot of fun.

Q. Podium is a pretty big landmark in your INDYCAR career. Looking back, how much do you feel you've progressed as a driver? Do you think each time you changed teams has helped you learn different things off people?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Europe, they don't change the car. You show up in a team, Hey, go drive this. We'll change the front sway bar a little bit. They don't adapt. It was tough for me as a driver because I like a very loose race car.

No, going through all the different teams in INDYCAR has definitely helped me. Being part-time for a couple years definitely hurt a little bit compared to some of the full-time drivers having progressed. We were really starting to become a good racer during the Rahal year.

I think things were starting to click for me in my third season. To have another full-time season, it was a bit off the back foot to start, but I'm definitely getting back to where I was really comfortable like I was in '21. I'm driving a lot better.

I think I make a lot of good decisions on track, too, to finish these races. My rookie year, I did have three fourth-place finishes. I've been really close to the podium a bunch of times. So to finally check that off the list, especially at the Indy Speedway, it was huge. Next one is the win for me.

Continuing on the trajectory that I am, I'll definitely be able to accomplish that this year. Just hoping to be in the right place at the right time because it's just one of those things where the series is so competitive that even though we're really good at the 500, we ran up front all day, you still don't win the race. You have to remember you have to do the same type of race at every other track because they're all very long, they're all very tough, and there's always about 10 or 12 cars that can show up to win.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

This weekend's first time downtown street course race, the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, marks the balance of what is now an eleven race championship season and the world begins anew for many drivers ... but the spotlight will be clearly focused on the fortunes of Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 and Benjamin Pederson in the No. 55 both powered by the naming sponsor Chevrolet of AJ Foyt Racing as led by Technical Director Michael Cannon.

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, which will be held on the streets of downtown Detroit, marks the return of NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing to the city after a hiatus since 1991 - on a completely new temporary circuit. The event will be broadcast on NBC at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 4, with a simulstream available on Peacock. Fans can also follow the race through various radio coverage options, including the INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation 160, and SiriusXM NBC Sports Audio 85. Additionally, live coverage will be accessible on racecontrol.indycar.com and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.

... notes from The EDJE


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TAGS: Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, INDY500, Santino Ferrucci, Michael Cannon, AJ Foyt Racing, Craig Baranouski, ZOOM Call, NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Chevrolet, The EDJE