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| Will Power is looking forward to racing in the INDYCAR Harvest GP, a track he has won on three times before, matched only by his teammate Simon Pagenaud. Power said he believes his success at the IMS GP track boils down to his qualifying, an area of mastery. Power has 60 INDYCAR poles, just seven shy of tying Mario Andretti’s record of 67. Each of Power’s wins on the IMS road course have come from the pole. "For me, generally if I qualify on pole at that track, we have a great shot of winning, and that’s been the case for me every time except this last one," Power said. "I can’t really put my finger on why that is the case, but some tracks favor you a little, maybe it’s the way the strategy works out, maybe it’s the fact you can use your raw pace." Image above, Will Power - salvages 2020 season with a win at Mid-Ohio's Honda Indy 200 Race 1 - Sept. 12, 2020. Image Credit: Matt Fraver via NICS (2020) |
INDYCAR HARVEST GP 2-Race Weekend Brings A Cooler Challenge For Pagenaud, Power, & Herta
To some, open-wheel racing in October during NFL Football season is a crime against Humanity ... especially with the previous owner of the INDYCAR SERIES. It is tough to compete when the series owners are more concerned about their skybox seats and relationships with team owners than watching cars buzz around a track with temperatures dropping down into the 50's and lower. This just isn't the meaning of Fall.
Bring in a disruptive pandemic health event, a change of ownership and a reactive salvation from a planned 17 race season, to a possible 9 or 10 race season, then rebuild it back to a 14 race season through a series of 2-Race weekends at supporting and series owned tracks, then, voila, October 1-3, 2020 plays host to the aptly nicknamed INDYCAR "Pumpkin Spice" Grand Prix on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Tuesday, September 29, 2020 -
Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Currently P4 In Championship - Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner
Racing
Currently P5 In Championship - Will Power, Team Penske
Currently P8 In Championship - Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske
THE MODERATOR: Good morning. Welcome to today's NTT INDYCAR Series video news
conference featuring three drivers who will race this weekend in the INDYCAR
Harvest GP at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
We're pleased to be joined by Simon Pagenaud and Will Power from Team Penske,
and Colton Herta from Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing.
Colton, you're the most recent winner in the NTT INDYCAR Series, winning the
front pole at Mid-Ohio. Indianapolis has been a place where you've had success
in the junior formula and finished fourth in July. What are your expectations
heading into a doubleheader this weekend?
COLTON HERTA: Definitely keep the momentum from Mid-Ohio and try to win. If
you want to try to get Newgarden, second in the championship, we're going to
have to have two good races. He's a little bit ahead, so we might need a
little bit of help from him. If we can win both races, that will definitely
help our chances.
THE MODERATOR: Will, you started on the pole there, won at IMS three times.
What is it about the IMS road course that seems to suit your style pretty
well?
WILL POWER: It's a pretty straightforward track. But every corner sequence,
it's quite technical. There's a lot of compromise in there. I kind of like
that stuff.
Yeah, I mean, it's just another track that I enjoy. All pretty good for me.
Yeah, I can't put my finger on why I've won there three times. I think being
fast is one of them.
THE MODERATOR: How important is it to try to end the season on a strong point,
try to maybe grab top three in the championship?
WILL POWER: Yeah, that's obviously the goal, try to finish in the top three.
More just looking at race wins honestly. The whole championship thing, I mean,
I'm only interested in contending for a championship win. Other places don't
really mean anything to me.
Trying to get wins, that's all I'm aiming for. I mean, do my absolute best
honestly, not even aim for wins. Just get the most out of myself every
weekend.
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| Three time IMS GP event winner Simon Pagenaud on racing the IMS road course the first time - “I grew up at a racetrack that’s quite similar in terms of driving technique, that racetrack was only 20 minutes from my home, and that’s where I learned to drive a car,” Pagenaud said. “I was very well suited to (IMS) because it suited my driving style and therefore it was working together very well. I felt at home right away. I didn’t have to search too far on my driving side to produce lap time. Those are the fun times in racing.” Image Credit: Chris Owen via NICS (2020) |
THE MODERATOR: Simon, you also are a three-time winner at the IMS road course.
20th to third in July. It's a completely different race in October than July
with temperatures being probably 40 degrees cooler ambient. What do you expect
from the weekend?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, of course it's an interesting dynamic. Hasn't been the
greatest season. We've had a streak of bad races, starting in Indianapolis
Speedway, unfortunately. So the season didn't develop as we wanted.
Certainly right now we're honing in on what the car needs in terms of setup.
That's super exciting. We've got three races to go. For us, it's about
winning, quite frankly winning races, nothing else.
The other goal is to understand the car the best we can for next year, come
out of the gate next year to win the first race and go on and try to fight for
the championship.
Different dynamic than last year for sure. We were in the championship. This
year it's going to be about, like Will said, doing the best, just extracting
the best out of yourself and the car. Also really understanding, that's what
I'm aiming for.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for any of the drivers.
Q. When the whole thing starts off with one driver taking the first three
races, a truncated season of 14 races, kind of sets the bar in a weird way.
Everybody is struggling. There's been some really great driving. I would like
to hear what your experiences have been driving with the new rookies that are
out there.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, you're absolutely right. There's been a lot of great
driving. Colton was winning in Mid-Ohio. Pato has been tremendous in a lot of
races. The young guys coming up, it's interesting to see them, how they handle
their cars.
Like you said, there's been difficulties for everybody. Some, like Scott
Dixon, managed to get the best out of tough situations. Wish we could have
done the same, but we didn't. Try to focus and go forward.
Definitely new race format, new qualifying format. Very different season. No
testing, which I personally love going testing for improvement. I'm missing
that. I hope we can go testing very soon.
WILL POWER: Yeah, the rookies again this year have been very impressive. Alex
Palou, Pato who is not a rookie but pretty much is. They're all quick. Rinus
VeeKay. I know I'm missing one there, I feel bad. There's one other guy who is
really fast.
Yeah, they've been very impressive with the limited running we have. The field
just seems to get tougher every year. Get these young guys in, barely 20, and
already right on the pace. Have 20 years of racing ahead of them.
It's good. I love racing against the young guys. I even go back and I'll race
karts against the 15, 16-year-old guys just to embarrass myself amongst some
aggressive, fast kids.
Yeah, it's good to see.
Q. Colton, you were one of the young guns coming up. Now you're established in
the field. How has it been going side-by-side with the rookies?
COLTON HERTA: No, it's been nice. I think for a lot of my career, I grew up
racing against a lot of these guys anyway through karting. This isn't really
new for me with this rookie class.
Yeah, I think like the guys have said, it just seems like the series is
getting tougher and tougher. Another really good crop of rookies. Definitely
makes you work harder. You know there's a lot of guys coming in that are
really fast and can take your seat. Yeah, definitely makes you work really
hard.
I think it is impressive. Especially with the limited running time that we
have, just one practice for a lot of the weekends, it is impressive to see
they've gotten right on the pace. Who knows, maybe they will be even better
next year when we have a lot more running time.
Q. I know with the two races on the IMS road course this weekend, we have a
couple different race distances. You don't want to necessarily give too much
away. Just with those two distances, how do you feel that could have a chance
to shake things up as far as strategy?
COLTON HERTA: I don't even know the distances, so it's probably someone else's
question.
WILL POWER: I think it's going to be pretty straightforward honestly. I think
the longer race will be a three-stop and the shorter will be a two-stop. Yeah,
kind of mixes things up.
Yeah, I guess it's good because everyone learns on the first day what the best
strategy is. So having two different race lengths keeps everyone guessing.
Might make the racing a little better.
SIMON PAGENAUD: I join Will on that. It's a really great point. In Iowa, for
example, on our team we had a strategy starting from the back. Even before the
yellow came out, we were already back to the front.
On the second day, actually use that strategy, so we can come back as quickly
to the front. We ended up being more in traffic. I thought that was super
interesting to see. Obviously everybody is paying attention to strategies. But
that could be changing the format for the second race, probably
(indiscernible). I think it's good for racing.
Any time something unexpected happens, makes the racing more exciting in some
ways. Yeah, I would agree with Will 100%.
Q. Cooler temperatures than in July. A lot of times when the road course race
is held in May, it's fairly cool. What type of race do you think we'll see
with the cooler temperatures, hopefully drier conditions?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I think the track will be a lot faster. There will be less
deg, more horsepower basically. It's really difficult to actually say what
effect it will have on racing. Maybe the racing will be similar, honestly. I
think the cars will just be a little easier to drive, more downforce in the
cool temps.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, definitely be less physical, as well. The heat
personally was excruciating in the first Indy Grand Prix. The Harvest one
should be a lot easier physically speaking. Should allow the driver to be 100%
as well, all of us. I expect that to be a bit different.
Now, I don't know about the race, if it's going to change anything, like Will
said. Might make the out lap more exciting because tires are colder. Something
to watch there, yeah. Less degradation on the tires, for sure, faster cars,
faster pace.
COLTON HERTA: I'm not really sure what it will do for the racing. I think
there's a possibility that guys will try different downforce options if it's
that much cooler. This is a place you can sometimes get away with trimming if
it's a little bit cooler because how long the straights are, no major
high-speed corners. It might be interesting in the race to see what people go
for with downforce options that might open up the passing a little bit.
Q. Back in December, Chip Simmons predicted at this time a year ago to now,
meaning now, everybody will be talking about how great the racing is and not
about the Aeroscreen. Do you think we're at that point yet?
WILL POWER: Yeah, it's honestly been a difficult year because people haven't
had much track time. You are kind of running on the go.
Yeah, I believe everyone's become pretty immune to the Aeroscreen. I think it
looks really good from the side angle. Obviously the front angle it's a little
bit wide. I think, yeah, it's going to be the normal look in INDYCAR. I think
if we see one without a screen, it's going to look kind of strange.
SIMON PAGENAUD: I mean, it's just a different format this year. Again, like I
just said, are we completely used to it in terms of setups? No, personally on
our car I think we still have a long way to go on setup to be very happy with
how the car handle. So we're not there yet.
Some of that is due to lack of time. Even less practices at the racetrack
doesn't allow you to make much changes. You just show up. If you unload quick,
then you stay there all weekend. If you are not too quick, you can't make big
changes because you don't want to get lost. That's really what happened this
year for everybody, I imagine.
But in terms of driving comforts, like we talked about, INDYCAR has improved
the cooling. We've also been lucky with not really hot races yet. In terms of
safety, we've seen it. It's been amazing. Thanks to INDYCAR for protecting the
drivers and making sure that we are still the pioneer in safety going forward.
COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I'd agree with Will and Simon. I think it's hard to say
relatively what the racing has been like this year because of how little
practice, I think very few guys get it right on a weekend. Maybe that tops
three or four guys that kind of break away from the pack, got it right on that
weekend.
It's hard to say relative to any year if the racing is better or not. I think
we have had good races at some places and others haven't been so great. I
think that's an aftereffect of what we're allowed to do in a COVID situation
practice-wise, trying to get as much track time as we can.
I don't necessarily think that's an effect of the Aeroscreen, though.
Q. Is this one of the more challenging championships you have ever been a part
of with all the uncertainty you've had this season?
WILL POWER: Yeah, I think what was challenging about it was not knowing
exactly what races were coming, when they would be to prepare for them, the
lack of testing.
But I actually don't mind the short weekends. We only have an hour to get it
right. I feel like I can get on top of it pretty quickly. I've kind of enjoyed
the short weekends, kind of wonder if INDYCAR will look at that and think,
Well, maybe we don't need these three-day weekends, get it done in two anyway,
have a lot less practice, just get on with the weekend next year with a normal
schedule.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I found it just, like Will said, challenging in the ways
you didn't know really, like Mid-Ohio, what was going to happen when it got
canceled.
For any athletes, I think you prepare yourself mentally, even though it's just
subconscious sometimes. You prepare physically and mentally for an event. When
the event gets canceled, it's on to the next one. All of a sudden you have to
reshuffle your ideas.
There's a whole preparation with the race team also, communication with your
engineer on preparation going into the weekend, what is going to be the
practice like, what is the race going to be like, what you need.
All that has been really kind of shaky this year. 'Adjustments' has been the
king word of the year, I would say. Challenging for sure. Different,
absolutely. Yeah, just have to deal with it, I guess.
COLTON HERTA: It's definitely been really challenging. I think, like they
alluded to, you always kind of physically and mentally are preparing yourself,
whether that be in the gym or on the sim, doing prep work with your engineers.
So it's tough when you kind of have these (indiscernible) and go weekends
where you don't really know if they're going to happen, you don't know the
next race on the schedule.
But I also do like the weekends being a little bit shorter. Like Will, I think
it's a good thing. I think if you're a professional racing driver, you have to
be able to get on top of it. An hour session should be plenty of time to get
up to speed in a race car.
Yeah, I do like that. I particularly like it more for the short ovals. Maybe
there's a chance we can do more doubleheaders, one-day or two-day events on
the shorter ovals.
Me personally, I really like the full weekends on the road courses.
Q. Obviously the top two goals for a season would be Indy 500 and
championship. This year at this point it's kind of chasing down second now. Do
you embrace swinging for the fences this weekend? How do you balance that and
trying to stay in the top five of a championship?
COLTON HERTA: I mean, I think if you're not going for the championship, you're
kind of mindset is to win races. That's really the mindset. Obviously don't
overextend it and throw a good result away. I have a little bit to lose.
Obviously we need to do well. If we really do want to get second place in the
championship, we need to win another race. I think we do need a little bit of
help from Josef on this weekend.
But, yeah, like I said, if you're not really in the championship, I think the
goal for everyone should be to win races. That's what we're going to try and
do. Try to get on pole, just like Mid-Ohio, then be able to lead the whole
thing.
WILL POWER: I mean, I do the same thing every weekend, doesn't matter the
situation. Unless you're truly points racing, all you have to do is cover the
guy you're racing the points with. You're just trying to execute the perfect
weekend. Everyone understands the goal. The whole field are going there with
one goal in mind. They're just focusing, trying to get the most out of it.
There's no real benefit for going for a big move or something that's 50/50. It
just never works out.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I mean, for me it's a bit of a different approach I
guess. Obviously if we manage to get the car where we wanted it to be, go for
the win, execute, like Will said. Obviously if we execute as a team, we should
be in contention to win the race. One goes after the other.
But to me and to my engineer and my 22 team, the goal is thinking about
championship next year already. Considering the lack of testing, really want
to understand what we need for next year. We'll take some risk on setup
choices and hope that it works. If it doesn't, then we revert back and try to
do the best we can. That's really our goal at this point, think about 2021 as
well.
Q. Colton, obviously this weekend you have Hinch back in the car, also for St.
Pete. How beneficial is that for you given he's got the experience of being
with you guys this season, given that it's a truncated schedule, but also
coming off the back of the momentum from the last race in Mid-Ohio?
COLTON HERTA: Yeah, I really like working with Hinch. I think a lot of guys
know he's a great driver, deserves to be in INDYCAR. It's nice that he's back.
I think as far as setup-wise, I think he's really good at setting up a car.
His feedback was really important in Indy. I think you can sometimes get it
where, like, maybe a teammate likes to set their car up a different way. You
try their setup changes and it doesn't work out for you. I found the very
opposite for me and Hinch. I think it was very compatible.
He really did do an amazing job with the car in setting itself up in May. I
could use a lot of his ideas and things from his car that kind of transferred
right over to my car. I felt the same exact balance.
Q. Similar driving style?
COLTON HERTA: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Q. With the momentum going forward from Mid-Ohio, anything you can take from
that into this weekend?
COLTON HERTA: I think just a bit of relief that we got the win in this year. I
think it's important for me to win at least once a year. I think for a lot of
guys, they feel the same way. It was nice to get that win done, kind of take
it off my shoulders, kind of push forward.
Q. Will and Simon, I spoke to Josef yesterday about Helio coming back in. What
are your thoughts on that? Are you going to have any advice for him? Josef
said he's probably going to be a bit rusty.
WILL POWER: I think it's great that he's able to run in INDYCAR again. It will
be really interesting to see how he goes because he's been in a sports car,
which is quite a different animal to drive. He has a lot of experience, very
quick driver.
I hope he does really well. I hope he does real well.
SIMON PAGENAUD: I don't think Helio ever gets rusty quite frankly. He's fast
as hell. I've seen him obviously as my teammate in sports cars. He's been
putting the car on the poles more often than ever.
Q. He won at the weekend, as well.
SIMON PAGENAUD: He won three races in a row. He's super excited to be back in
INDYCAR. That is what he loves. It's different for us. He's not going to be
our teammate. We love having him with us because he brings that energy.
Yeah, I wish him good luck. Hope he doesn't do too well. Yeah, he's going to
be just fine. Obviously McLaren Schmidt team is really good. Should be in
really good shape this weekend.
Q. The championship for you guys is difficult. As you alluded to, you're kind
of focusing on 2021.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I think like I said we're going to do some aggressive
setup change that we think should go in the right direction. Obviously it's
not just like throw a dart and try it. It's something that we think might be
interesting for the future. We'll try it. We'll see. If it's in the right
direction, we stick with it. If not, we revert back. Like Will said, basically
extract the best out of the weekend.
Like Colton said, there's a few things I'm looking for in the car that we
haven't really been there yet. It's not far. Should be an exciting weekend for
those reasons.
Q. Will, is it the same for you, almost like a test session?
WILL POWER: Yeah, not really. I mean, I'm approaching it like a normal
weekend, like I would any weekend. Try to get the car in the window, I guess
preempt as much as we can on setup to what direction we think it will go with
the cool weather, kind of evolve what we had earlier in the year at that
track.
Just the normal progression of trying to get the car in a window. I think it
was obvious to us that we needed to improve the car a little bit from what we
had back in May, I can't remember exactly when it was, but earlier in the
year.
Q. A lot of running at the IMS this season. Next season you might be doing
something similar. Are there any changes you'd like to see for the Indy GP
weekend in terms of track layout?
COLTON HERTA: I think I would love to maybe see -- I think you could do it
each day, do a different track each day where you can have the turn one like
the Formula 1 cars used to use, I think that might make overtaking a little
bit better. The other day you can do the normal track. You can practice on the
normal track, run it Sunday, shouldn't be a huge adjustment to run the track
Sunday. It should be easy flat out for these cars, so...
WILL POWER: Actually, I agree. I actually was going to suggest it to Roger.
You change the track from one day to the next, do exactly what Colton said,
which is open up turn one of the oval. I think that would create actually a
lot more passing.
I don't know with Firestone, we have to change the tire, like they had issues
in Formula 1 for the long-loaded banked corner. But, yeah, I think that would
be quite interesting.
SIMON PAGENAUD: I don't care (laughter). I really don't care. You ask that
question, I was like, Well, okay, whatever they decide quite frankly. I have
zero opinion on it. I drive whatever they give me. Love just being at the
Speedway. Whatever the track is, it's going to be fine.
Q. What do you think about doing more off-season iRacing? Would you like to
see INDYCAR put something together like they had done back in March, April,
May?
WILL POWER: Definitely not.
COLTON HERTA: Yeah. I was going to say the same thing.
WILL POWER: Drives me crazy. I don't miss that at all. I guess it was fun, it
was good for the series to be able to do it virtually. But, man, it consumes
so much time. It becomes very frustrating.
I think iRacing is great. I think they've created an awesome product. Man, if
they have the series in the off-season, I won't be doing it. Consumes way too
much time.
SIMON PAGENAUD: I enjoyed it. I thought it was fun. Brought competition home,
which was cool personally. I liked actually spending the hours, something I
enjoy. I thought that was cool.
Obviously iRacing is a great product. Also raced the 24 Hours? Colton, did you
do the 24 Hours?
COLTON HERTA: No, no way.
WILL POWER: 24 Hours, man, you're crazy. I could not sit there doing that.
SIMON PAGENAUD: It was fun. It was fun.
I hope that INDYCAR is going to work on having the official game though
someday. It's great to see the F1 game come out every year, the new car,
livery, sponsors, all the drivers. It's a great reach, right, for the youth
and also anybody that is interested in racing. It's just great to have a video
game, just like NBA players or NHL. It would be amazing.
I don't know. I don't know what the future hold. I really hope that INDYCAR is
going to have its official game someday.
THE MODERATOR: That is all the time we have today with our three drivers. We
thank them for their time, wish them the best of luck this weekend at the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]
This two race test weekend event (starting Thursday Oct. 1, 2020 with Practice and Qualifying) may actually live up to its nickname of the INDYCAR Pumpkin Spice Grand Prix. The inside prediction of the series points championship for this Wuhan Virus health event truncated 14 race season may be decided in the favor of points leader Scott Dixon (by 72 points over Team Penske's Josef Newgarden) gaining his historic Sixth (6th) NTT INDYCAR SERIES Championship leaving only one driver to have secured more championships - AJ Foyt at Seven (7).
INDYCAR HARVEST GP SCHEDULE:
Thursday, Oct. 1
2:25 p.m.: Practice (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)
6:20 p.m.: Race 1 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)
Friday, Oct. 2
3:30 p.m.: Race 1 (USA Network)
Saturday, Oct. 3
10:20 a.m.: Race 2 qualifying (INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold)
2:30 p.m.: Race 2 (NBC)
All action carried on the Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network
TAGS: NTT INDYCAR SERIES, INDYCAR Harvest GP Presented by GM R, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Team Penske, Colton Herta, Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Autosport, Chevrolet, Honda, Firestone, Pumpkin Spice, The EDJE
