Category: NTT Indy

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO.7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: Felix Rosenqvist, last but certainly not least. Felix is driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. A new spot for him.
Felix, last year you got the first win in INDYCAR. That was a box checked. What’s the box you want to tick this year with the new team?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, it was good to get that win out of the way, for sure. It’s not so many goals to tick off the list, except two big ones: that’s the championship and the 500. Certainly not easy things to do. Naturally that becomes the next target.
I think as a team this year we kind of want to break into the top spot of the big four, as we hopefully can call it now. I think that’s everyone’s ambition. You never really know how it’s going to go sitting here, but we’re all pretty confident. We made some steps. Yeah, we’ll look forward to see where we are in Barber.

THE MODERATOR: Let’s open it up for questions.
Q. How did you feel testing? What were the fundamental differences between how the team operates, but also how they set up the cars? Even though I realize the cars are spec, there seems to be quite a big variation in teams to what the default setup is. Have you found a substantial difference?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s certainly been a difference. It’s always different philosophies in different teams. Already in Barber, I got a taste of that. I think it’s probably not in the place where I want it to be yet. I think Laguna felt pretty good, and it’s definitely getting nearer where I want the car to be.
It’s a spec series. You’d be surprised how different the car can feel if you put in different kind of setup philosophies into it. It’s the same chassis, almost the same engines between Chevrolet and Honda, but the dampers I think is a pretty big place where you can make a difference on the car, on how it handles. That’s probably the biggest difference you’re going to see between teams.
Yeah, our car is certainly really fast. I think it’s been fastest like every test we’ve done, or second in Barber. I haven’t really been there yet. I think I’m still kind of looking to break into the last couple of 10ths. We know the car is fast, and that’s the main thing.

Q. Given your previous experience in other series, learning new tracks, would you highlight the Nashville track as one of the ones that you would expect to excel given your speed at learning new courses?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think it could be a good one for me, for sure. I think that kind of reminds me a little bit about the Formula E days where you have a new track for everyone that everyone needs to learn in a very short time. It’s a street track. Hopefully a fun track. It looks like it.
Yeah, hopefully that can be a benefit to me. But these days in INDYCAR, everyone’s really good at getting up to speed. There won’t be any shortcuts anywhere once practice is done. I think everyone is pretty much going to be there.
That’s definitely one I really look forward to anyways. Regarding if I have an advantage or not, I think that’s going to be a really cool event.

Q. Your teammate Pato O’Ward, what is it like now for you in this new environment working together with him?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s been really good actually. Me and Pato get along really well. We’re a two-man team or two-car team, which is obviously a different dynamic than having three or four cars. I think it’s really important that you need to work in the same direction, you need to be able to share everything between you and not really hold any doors closed in terms of information or any ego trips or anything like that. I feel like we’re really good like that. I feel the whole team is really good like that.
It’s a very tight team that’s only focused on INDYCAR. There’s nothing else going on. We have two cars and that’s it. That’s everyone’s focus.
Yeah, Pato has been great fun. He’s a really good energy source to the whole team, including to me. He’s a happy guy. He has lot of energy. That just shows that, yeah, it gives a lot back to the team.

Q. Do you think you are a happy guy, too? Do you think can you find room to develop and take further wins because there will be less attention to you?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, I don’t think that stuff matters so much. I think the main thing is that I’m in a team where I feel like I have a good future with. We have good plans for the future, what we want to do in terms of car setup and so on. I feel like we have, yeah, good stuff in the pipeline for what’s about to come.
INDYCAR these days is pretty tricky. You cannot do a lot of testing and stuff. Every step you make is going to take a bit of time. But I feel like I’m really in a good place for this season and next year. I feel like I’m in a team where I feel really happy, yeah, just can’t wait to get going.

Q. One of the big storylines going into the 2021 season is all these drivers coming from elsewhere. You made that leap a couple of years ago. Back to 2019, what did you know about INDYCAR before you came to the series? Did it meet or surpass what you were expecting?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, I wish I could talk to myself now back in ’19. It’s a tough series. I haven’t done anything else that is as difficult. I know many other people that came from F1 says the same thing.
You look at it from the outside, you think it’s going to be like a simpler form of racing. But the simplicity is actually what makes it hard. There’s not so much to do on the cars. The tracks are pretty rough and brutal physically and on the cars. Driving style-wise, it’s pretty raw.
Coming in from F1, for Romain, or Jimmie in NASCAR, I think it’s going to be very different and very tough. But I believe all of them, they’re winners. They will figure it out eventually. I think even Romain has looked really quick in testing, as well.
But, yeah, I mean, that’s only part of it. Then comes the whole racing part of it which is super different with yellows. We don’t have blue flags. You have to take into consideration all the lap traffic. That’s a big thing that I had to learn when I came here in ’19.
In general I think it’s a great championship. It’s good fun. Proper racing.

Q. Are those the types of things you would have told yourself, technical, procedural stuff?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, just everything, man. Yeah, blue flags, the changes from track to track, how you set up the car, how you need to really dial in the car every session, just how aggressive you need to be in the races because otherwise you’re going to lose a spot immediately. Ovals, we haven’t even talked about that. That’s obviously not something Romain will do, Jimmie either. Yeah, that’s probably the most tricky thing of all.

Q. Every driver makes a team move based on many different reasons, specific to the driver. You’ve left the team that won the championship last year and moved to a different team. How intense is the motivation to kind of make that move work?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, obviously it’s my ambition to make it work. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it. I’m confident it’s the right move. I’m really impressed by Ganassi’s operation. It’s a super good team. They did a lot of things.
When I started talking to Arrow McLaren SP, I think their interest in me is how much they’ve improved in the last couple of seasons, what they have in the pipeline, direct relationship to McLaren, things like that. It makes a difference.
I think with a couple of years, this team is going to be really, really strong. That’s something I wanted to be part of. I’ve been in INDYCAR now for two years, and I was ready to kind of find where I want to be, find a family where I feel at home. I feel like I have the right tools to go and finish my goals, which is to win the championship and the 500.
Yeah, I feel like I’m in a good spot for that.

Q. You’ve not really felt how the team works over a race weekend. What have your initial feelings been? You mentioned the McLaren element. Interesting model the team uses with different elements helping to drive the team forward. How has your experience been? How confident has that made you looking at the season?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s a lot of new things happening at the team, which is really exciting. But I think the team is also clever enough to not let it become a Formula 1 team, so to say. You can always copy things from F1, but it would never work in INDYCAR because it’s such a different platform. There’s many people that tried it before. They hired Formula 1 engineers, think that they’re going to blow everyone away, and it just never works.
I think that’s why it’s really good to have the knowledge from the people that’s been at the team for a long time in an INDYCAR, like Taylor leading the team. He’s the one who can judge that whole balance between how much new stuff are we going to do and how much are we going to keep to the basics and the roots.
What impressed me, though, is there’s a lot of — when it comes to the engineering side, there’s very high efficiency in the team. Whatever data comes in, that data will then be directed down to a millions of different things. There’s a lot of time saving, in that makes sense, in the team. I think some of the partnerships with Arrow and McLaren have made the team efficient on the engineering side. That really impressed me when I came here. That was on a very high level.
Again, there’s a lot of new stuff. Everything kind of needs to settle. I think last year it was just how are we going to do this. This year things are falling a bit more into place. So definitely following the plan.

Q. You worked hard on the 500. Juan Pablo is coming into the team. How confident are you and how happy are you he’s aboard for the 500?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Juan Pablo is someone you cannot count out. He was joining us at a test in Laguna. He was super fast. He had a lot of valuable comments, as well, about the car to the engineers. I kind of wish he was with us for the whole season because he’s a fun guy to have along.
I think every time I get the chance to work with someone like that, learn a lot. You think, This guy has been to F1, he’s won 500s, championships. It’s for a reason. So when he’s talking, you listen. Yeah, really valuable to our team.
Hopefully we can get him along for full-time next year.

Q. I heard you say about the Formula E. Came to my mind that this format on racing in Formula E, you have very close sessions between all the day. Do you think this help in any way to prepare in this pandemic situation, these close sessions, you need to avoid all the crashes, don’t make mistakes in that short time?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yes, I mean, I think most racing categories are kind of following the same trim. Before we went into the pandemic, I would say INDYCAR and F1 were the only ones where you had, like, three practices, a lot of practice before the race weekend starts. This kind of feels like more back to basic. It’s more equal to Formula E, as you said, but even to everything else I raced where you normally only get one or two practices, then you’re off to qualifying.
But I think it’s good. It’s the same for everyone. It might hurt the rookies a little bit. INDYCAR did a pretty good job last year to give them some extra time in some new places. But, yeah, I think it’s a good way to move the championship in the right direction and makes everything a bit more compact.
Pandemic or not, I think it’s a fun thing also from a preparation standpoint and also physically. It’s a big physical challenge to just show up and get it done in two days. It’s a lot of driving in a short time.

Q. Obviously Montoya has worked with McLaren before. He’s only with you for the Indy 500. What do you think he can bring to the team for the rest of the season?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: He already brought us a lot with test day we did in Laguna. He’s doing a lot of hard work with aero stuff like that. At the end of the day he was going for proper runs. His feedback was very accurate, pretty similar to mine and Pato’s. I felt like he gave something more because he had experience. He’s actually driven this car without the Aeroscreen. That experience means a lot for us to listen to and learn.
I think especially on the ovals, I’m really curious to hear what he can say. If there’s anything setup-wise he can advise us to go in a specific direction. That’s the fun thing with INDYCAR. Even if you have all the resources in the world, guys like Juan Pablo can still be the key to make a breakthrough on making the car faster because it’s just really back to basics.
Sometimes, yeah, you don’t need to look that far to go forward where you think you need to spend millions, like in Formula 1 for example, everything is about the money. INDYCAR you can actually go really quick with a small budget.
I think the hard thing in INDYCAR is to be quick every weekend, knowing track conditions, how is this track going to be different from that. Everyone can get it right every now and then. That’s a cool thing. It’s just about getting it right all the time.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Felix.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 11 AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Charlie Kimball, driver of the No. 11 Tresiba Chevrolet for A.J. Foyt Racing. Charlie will race this year in the GMR Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 15th, then the big bopper, the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 30th.
Thanks for coming in.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Short program this year. How are the preparations going, especially considering the team you’re driving for is looking really strong in testing?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Yeah, it showed pretty well I think the work we put in last year in races because we didn’t have the opportunity for a lot of testing. The race development, the development we did during races, seems to have been paying off in the off-season so far.
I think as a team, that momentum is quietly building and growing pretty consistently. The engineers, the mechanics are all working really well together. Sebastien and Dalton seem to be working well together, which bodes well as we get towards the month of May program.
To me it means a lot to continue the relationship with Novo Nordisk. This is our 13th year together now, two years in Indy Lights, and a decade in INDYCAR. The relationship to be able to continue to support and advocate for the diabetes community through the motorsports program.
As I joke, it’s a cause close to my heart and my pancreas. Really appreciate their years of support and being able to support the diabetes community in that way.

THE MODERATOR: How tough is it for you to get ramped up mentally for a shorter program rather than a full season? When you see everybody else, they’ll be on the track. A little bit tighter this year with Barber only being a few weeks before the month of May. But to know it’s May and May only, is that tougher for you?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I think it may almost be easier in that all that I have to think about is three weeks. It’s two races. The GMR Grand Prix, qualifying weekend for the Indy 500, then 500 miles. The rest is secondary to that, which is nice.
The goal is definitely to win the biggest race in the world for A.J. Foyt, put another baby Borg on his shelf. It allows me to be a little more hyper-focused on the job at hand, the races I am in this year.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions.
Q. It was interesting you come in right after T.K. there. He was talking all about how he’s filling the rest of his time. Have you got any other plans? You’re probably gold standard, so it’s difficult to get a ride in IMSA. What options have you got out there?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Yeah, the sports car stuff is a little hard with the driver equalization, the licensing thing. They’re looking at evaluating that.
Options exist. I mean, I’ve always said have helmet, will travel. I love being at the racetrack one way or another. I plan to be at every INDYCAR race somehow this year. Still figuring out what that looks like.
But I listened to Tony’s response a little bit. My wife is going back to work full-time, so I get a little more time with the kids, which is great. A year old and a two-and-a-half year old, two mobile children is almost harder than a couple of sessions at Pit.Fit. Keeps me on my toes (smiling).

Q. When you say you would race in some capacity, obviously you and Josef are two of the most eloquent drivers we have, along with Hinch, would you be interested in getting behind the mic, talking about the sport?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Well, I’ve always said that I have a face for radio, so I’m not sure that I’d be on for broadcast TV-wise.
Figuring out what that looks like. Still figuring out all of the off-season I’ve been working towards trying to get in the car as much as possible. That continues into and throughout the season, whatever that looks like.
At the same time it’s trying to fill my time, fill my days, and see if there’s a way to share my passion for INDYCAR and the Road to Indy and racing, tell that story if it’s broadcast or radio or something else that we haven’t thought of yet.

Q. Obviously you’re doing the races with A.J. Foyt this season. Do you think there might be a possibility to do more races with them later in the year depending on how the season goes?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Trying to, absolutely. Like I said before, I have helmet, will travel. There are a few races that last year I didn’t get the opportunity to do because of the pandemic and didn’t do in 2019 because of my schedule of races. Highest among them is probably Long Beach, then Laguna and Portland. Those West Coast races are pretty close to home and special to me.
If there’s a way to put together a package for one or two or three of those, I’ll definitely do that. I’ve talked with Larry a little bit about it, Scott, the team manager about it, how it would look at that point.
Toronto is another race we didn’t get to last year in a full-time schedule that I always love racing north of the border.

Q. In terms of your expectations for this season, given the team have done well in testing, what are your hopes they’ll do this year?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I think we had really good cars by the end of the road course events. If it was the Harvest Grand Prix or the Indy GP in July. Temperatures will all be a little different in the beginning of May than they were on July 4th when we raced there last year.
Pretty good cars for the Indy 500 last year in August. Kind of the nice thing about the 500 being in August, there hasn’t been too much time for development, but the time there has been, the team has been really efficient in taking those steps forward.
I know that Team Chevy has been working hard across the winter. I have a lot of confidence heading into both configurations of racetracks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when I’ll be behind the wheel.

Q. It is a direct focus kind of a season at this point. What do you think are your biggest challenges with A.J. Foyt going to the 500 and what do you want to work on the most?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Well, I think the biggest challenge for me at least is getting up to speed as quickly as possible. I don’t think at the moment I have any test days or many test days planned before the GMR Grand Prix. When I get in the car for that first practice, I’ve got to be ready to go from lap one all the way through that weekend, make sure to take care of the car, take care of the engine, take care of the parts so when we roll into practice for the Indy 500, I’m ready to go.
I think the biggest challenge for me will be making sure that I can get the rust knocked off as soon as possible.

Q. Has there been any changes in your preparation now that you’re really focused, a dedicated focus for IMS?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Training-wise, physically at least the (indiscernible) has adjusted a little bit. The first time I’m in the car is the middle of May, whereas a lot of drivers I’m training with are middle of April. I have an extra four weeks to build my fitness, to make sure that I am overly prepared for those two races, and able to take advantage of any opportunities, other things and additional opportunities that come my way throughout the year.

Q. How is the relationship with Dalton and Sebastien as it relates to trying to make certain setups right?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Well, it’s really good. Working with Dalton, he obviously has an engineering degree, I see him a lot in the gym. Sebastien, I really enjoyed the races we got to work together, the test days at the beginning of last year pre-pandemic, then the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg last October was a lot of fun. Great results, two A.J. Foyt cars in the top 10. Then got to spend a little bit of downtime with Sebastien and his family after the race weekend, which was really neat.
I think that dynamic and personal connection means that when you get into the engineering office, things flow that much easier.

Q. Not the first time that a truncated Indy 500 type of season has ever been done and I hope you win.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Appreciate it. Thank you.

Q. You know I’m into racing. I also know you have two kids. Do you ever think you could see your kids getting into racing like you?
CHARLIE KIMBALL: I hope they find the same passion that I have for racing in whatever they do. I know that sounds like such a dad answer, and I’m sorry for it. But it’s so true. I just hope that they find something they love as much as I love INDYCAR racing and love racing cars. Whatever that is, we will support them.
Sometimes I kind of hope they find maybe an easier, less stressful job than driving an INDYCAR. Yeah, maybe playing golf or something, not racing INDYCARS. At the same time if they do, I know my wife and I are going to be supportive of it.
Thanks, Asher. Great to hear from you.

THE MODERATOR: Charlie, we appreciate you coming in and taking the time. Looking forward to seeing you throughout the month of May, Indianapolis, best of luck to you.
CHARLIE KIMBALL: Thanks, guys.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: Pato, welcome. Thanks for joining us. Driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Had a great season last year.
Pato, you really established yourself last year as a star in this series. You were in contention right up there for the title. What are the expectations for 2021, and how is the preparation going for the season?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I think it’s hard to put expectations, certain expectations down, but I think it’s nothing hidden. We want to win races. We want to win races. We want to be consistently fighting for podiums, and we want to be there. We want to be contenders every single race weekend.
I think in doing so, that’ll put us in a position at the end of the year to fight for the championship. That is the goal. I want to get to Long Beach having a possibility to win the championship. That’s why we do this, man. We do this to win races, win championships. The team has been working really, really hard to just make everything that we had last year better.
Me as a driver, I’m just trying to do everything I can to be better physically, mentally, preparation-wise, honestly anything I can do that will make my life and the team’s life easier at the race weekend, I’m all for it.

Q. You look at a lot of the guys who you’re battling on track, and maybe for the championship, and there’s a lot of — Will Power, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Taku, Seb Bourdais, these guys are in their 40s and have been racing in INDYCAR for a decade or in some cases two decades. How do guys like you and Colton accelerate the wisdom curve or the learning curve to try and keep up with these guys?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, I can’t talk on behalf of Colton because I’m not him, but from just being teammates with him and just knowing myself, we like to win. We do this to be competitive. We don’t do this to be fifth and tenth and 15th. No, we want to do this and actually win races, be on the podium, be contenders.
The reason why race teams and race drivers do this is because that high and that feeling that you get when you win is unlike anything else I have ever experienced. There’s a lot more lows than highs in racing usually, but you keep going because of those highs, of just that feeling of winning.
Me as a person, I like to win. I’m very competitive in everything that I do. I ask a lot from myself, that being, you’ve got to be competitive, man. If I’m not in contention or if I’m not on the pace, I won’t be happy. That’s just something that’s how I naturally am. That’s how the team is, as well. We all want to win.
What’s nice is that every single member of the team has their job, but everyone is pushing and rowing towards the same goal, and that is winning races or challenging for championships.

Q. I wanted to ask, obviously I don’t think anyone could help but just layer praise on you for how your campaign went last year. We would suggest there’s not a whole lot you need to do better. But I would assume you’ve identified places where you can improve. Can you give us some idea where those areas are?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I rewatched every race where we were in contention, both Iowa races, both Gateway races, Road America. Just from things that I learned last year, you qualify up front, you make your life so much easier.
Another thing is that pit stops are huge in INDYCAR racing. I lost a lot of my race wins because we didn’t execute in the pits, and that’s huge. I feel like our pace was very, very strong. I think we were very strong in many places that we went to all year.
But where we need to push this year, and we may need to make sure if we have a mistake it has to be minimized, is in the pits, and me as a driver just do my job. I know that if we can accomplish that, we will get race wins because if the pace is there, just like last year but maybe even a little bit better, qualifying further up front should make it easier on us, every single pit stop, execute, execute, execute. I think that’s what’s going to make us be in contention by the end of the year.
Last year getting to St. Pete, I think second was the best we could have done. But we want to get to Long Beach knowing that there is a possibility of being able to win the championship. That is the goal.
We set a bar very high last year. I agree. I looked back and I said, That’s a mega year. My first full year in INDYCAR and I even exceeded my expectations. But that put a very high bar, and now we want to make that better.
Is it going to be easy? No, it’s going to be ridiculously hard. But I think if we just take everything step by step and everyone does their job, minimize mistakes, we should be in the fight in the end.

Q. There’s an old saying that in order to be the best you’ve got to beat the best. At a time when from top to bottom the series is probably as great as it’s ever been in history, to be this competitive against this type of competition, how good does that make you feel?
PATO O’WARD: Man, obviously it makes you feel good, but something that I feel like we naturally just do is that we always want more. Last year going into the season we didn’t really have any expectations, we just wanted to try and do our best, and we set the bar really high.
Now that is the low point of what we want to accomplish this season. I mean, we want to do that or better, and we always strive for more.
I feel like last year we left a lot of unfinished business. We were close to winning four races, and we didn’t get it done. We didn’t get it done. There were tough pills to swallow, and I felt like that left everyone in the team so hungry. I can see it from the off-season, just how much work has been put into the development of trying to make the cars go faster at the speedway and road courses.
Me as a driver, I truly don’t think I’ve ever been fitter, more ready to try and win the thing. I have lots of faith in the team. I have lots of faith in what we can accomplish as a group. It’s going to be ridiculously hard, but it is possible.
I have lots of faith that we can make some great stuff happen this year.

Q. How much do you believe this is your time?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I go into every year thinking that this is the time to do it. You have to — I mean, at least this is how I approach it. You have to approach every single weekend, whether you’re racing with Scott Dixon or Lewis Hamilton, you have to get there every race weekend and you have to believe as a group, not as a driver but as a group, that you can beat them. You have to believe that you can beat the best. If not, you’re always going to be a step behind, and you don’t want to be a step behind. You want to compete against them.
I think this year we just have to take everything step by step and not get ahead of ourselves. But I think if we follow our mentality of what we did last year, be consistent and just all the results, just one-up them, every single place, that should put us in very good position.

Q. With the goals that you and your team have set up for the season, does the fact that there are lots of good Mexican drivers this year, does that add some pressure or is it just extra motivation to get the results?
PATO O’WARD: Man, I get that question so many times, like, Hey, do you feel the pressure? Man, pressure is whenever you go into a race weekend and you have no idea what’s going to happen with the rest of your career. That’s pressure.
I feel so fortunate to be in a position and so grateful for the opportunity that Sam, Rick, Zach gave me starting last year. As a driver, I feel honestly the least pressure I’ve ever felt in my whole life because you know what you’re going to do. You have something to look forward to. You know that what you’re doing is to improve on whether it is INDYCAR or whatever it may be, but there is something to look forward to.
It’s really hard whenever there isn’t much to look forward to and you’re just in the waiting room seeing what’s going to happen. To me that is pressure. This to me is just, man, enjoy and love what you do.
I love what I do. I wouldn’t change it for anything in the world. I love my team. I love where I’m at. Great group of people. Lots of very, very smart people. I have so much faith that we can get some really good stuff done this year.
I don’t think pressure is the right way to say it, but I just think there is expectation and there is the will and the determination to get things done.

Q. How was working with Juan Montoya earlier this week in the Laguna test?
PATO O’WARD: Mega, man. This guy is a legend. I had so much fun with him.
I think Juan, Felix and I, I feel like all three of us make a really good team because you’ve got Juan Montoya, 45, got all the experience in the world. Then you’ve got Felix turning 30 this year, driven so many different series, so many different cars. Then you’ve got the young one, me. I just feel like we all make a good combo.
I think we’re all willing to work together to create a very strong package wherever it may be, and I think that’s going to be so valuable, especially at the 500. Montoya has won the thing twice, so he knows what it takes to have a winning car there, so I want to learn as much as I can from him.

Q. The continuous piece of the team in terms of the drivers for the season, how much do you feel like the team can step forward with the kind of unique format that you have with the kind of people back at McLaren’s place in the UK and obviously none of the other INDYCAR teams kind of working in the same way? How much benefit do you see that being this season with having a year of that under the team’s belt and kind of learning where all these pieces fit?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, man, thanks for the question. I think — good question. I think the best way I can explain it is that last year was such an odd year, not just for motorsports but just in life in general. You had to be very flexible with schedules.
Last year was actually the first year, especially McLaren, had an insight of what INDYCAR is like and where you can gain or lose a lot of time. I think that’s where I hope this year we see some big improvements, because to be completely honest with you guys, last year we raced with 2019 cars. There was nothing different. It was identical to what the team had learned in 2019.
I think having a year under our belts and the engineers knowing what I like and how I go about things, I think that just helps everyone work better and more efficient. I have lots of faith that all those small guys behind the computer doing all the analysis and the developments of either it can be a road course, street course, superspeedway for drag, aero, whatever it may be, I feel like in this off-season they had a direction and they had more of a clear picture of where they had to work, to work at or see where there was massive improvements to be made.
Hopefully this year we’re going to see it, man. I don’t know what to say because I don’t see all the stuff that goes behind the scenes. But I know there has been a lot of just hard work, hard work and trying to find anything that they can to make the cars go better, make my life easier, and then it’s my turn to return it in results this year.

Q. You’ve kind of talked about personally trying to get in a better position to win races, but are there any certain tracks you feel like you could improve on?
PATO O’WARD: I think I’m still a long ways to learn in superspeedways because it’s new to me. You just don’t learn it from one night to another or from one race to the other. So I think that’s where I can see myself improving. I want to improve, and just I want to be better in just knowing what to expect a little bit more.
Heading into one of those races, for example the 500 for Iowa, it was like driving into a black hole. It’s just like, let’s see what this has for us. I think that is somewhere where I think I can improve on, and I will be working hard to try and learn as much as I can.
I think it’s just a learning process. You don’t learn it all in one year or two years. It can take 10 years. But I just think the more you can learn, the faster, the better you’re going to be off in your career.
Man, in certain other tracks, for starters, Mid-Ohio, don’t crash in practice. Man, I think we had the pace in many places, we just didn’t either take advantage of the qualifying or there was an issue with the car and we couldn’t really extract everything that we could have. I think those little details of just making sure everything is good and ready to go is going to pay off in the end.
Man, starting up front, if you’re starting within the first two or three lanes compared to if you’re starting like 12th, 14th, man, the difference that it makes for how the car feels, strategy, fuel saving, your windows just open up so much more when you’re up front.
It’s crucial. It’s crucial. Qualifying is really important to have a good race day.

Q. You mentioned 2019 cars you guys were using last year. Will these be 2021 brand-new cars you guys are going to use this year?
PATO O’WARD: No, the same ones that we used last year. We’re just going to start improving on what we want to improve on in certain circuits. It can be entry, exit, depends on the track.
I just think the issue that we run into now is that testing was so limited that it doesn’t really give you a lot of time to test different items, and you can’t fully rely on simulators because they’re just — frankly, it’s just not the real car.
There is some sort of like risk versus reward when you go into a completely different philosophy when you arrive to a weekend. It can either be a hit or it can be terrible. That’s where having two or three cars comes into play, where one of them can try it. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, you just go back to what the other two cars have and the other guys can give you kind of like a reference idea of where the car is at.
I think just in that sense it’s difficult to see where all the improvements have to be made. You just have to wait until you get there and you test it all out, feel it out.

THE MODERATOR: Pato, we appreciate your time. Best of luck to you this season. Enjoy the rest of Content Day.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO.22 TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FORMER SERIES CHAMPION AND INDIANAPOLIS 500 WINNER:

THE MODERATOR: Simon Pagenaud, driver of the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet.
Welcome, good morning.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Good morning. How are you?

THE MODERATOR: Good. What’s the outlook this year? What are the expectations, preparation? How have things been going in testing?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, I’ve been grinding, let me tell you. It’s been a very interesting winter. I’ve worked on more details than I’ve ever worked before, which is great. And with more and more data, technology, you can really dig deep and just perfect your craft even better than in the past.
Obviously Team Penske has been able to provide me all the information I needed to get ready for the season, so personally I feel like I’ve really worked really well. I feel very ready for the season and very excited. Like I said, I’m a grinder. I’ve been working hard, and I’m ready for the challenge.
Obviously number one priority for me is the 500, trying to get a second ring. Obviously like I did in ’19, we got so close to winning the championship, as well. Well, we’re going to try to do it this year.
The team, on their side, they’ve been working really hard. Gaining speed for the Speedway mostly was number one for them as well. Lately there’s been a huge push on the road course and street course, and I feel like we’re gelling really well as a team with my teammates and everybody on the team. It’s a pretty exciting time.
When we go testing it’s probably my favorite time of the year.

THE MODERATOR: You worked an awful lot after ’19 because of winning the 500. We all know the extra work that comes with winning 500. What’s been the big focus during this off-season? Has it been training? Has it been engineering debriefs? What’s consumed so much of the time?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, a lot of the time was going through every single practice and qualifying and race and trying to understand how to gain time in every single thing that you do as a driver.
There’s a lot of people around me, of course, that takes care of the race car, the pit stops and so on and so forth, but there are a lot of things that you do as a driver that you can’t just let it aside. I can’t say the details because I don’t want to give any hint to the other drivers. I will write a book after racing.
But I did go in very fine details, more than I ever have. I believe it will give me the edge on some things, and I believe it will allow my performance to go up in general.
2020 was interesting. Honestly it’s a combination of things that didn’t work out the way I wanted. Obviously the car change made a big difference. The lack of testing made a big impact on my season. Yeah, we ended up where we did. Not happy about it, so it gave me even more desire to do well for 2021.
That’s where we’re at.

Q. I wanted to start with you guys announced that Ally car is going to do the endurance races. How do you feel about that, and what did you like about the Rolex?
SIMON PAGENAUD: I feel great about it. The more I drive, the better. It’s great to be able to go from one car to another. It just keeps me fresh, mentally speaking, and it allows me to adapt to one situation and another, which is a really good skill to have.
Working with Jimmie has been a lot of fun. Jimmie and I — I feel like Jimmie is my big brother quite frankly. It’s like looking in a mirror over 10 years of time. It’s been really cool. It’s obviously an honor, quite frankly, to work with him. Seeing the traits of a great champion, because there are champions, but he’s a great champion. It’s been really nice to see the inside of it.
Kamui Kobayashi has been fun to work with, a very different culture. That is very interesting as well. You keep learning as you meet people, and I’ve really enjoyed that. That’s four races, four more races, and that’s going to, I think, help me to be even sharper for the season.
Daytona has really helped me with assessing mentally and physically where I was, and very happy with it so far.

Q. Is that a winning car? Can you guys win in that car?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yes, yes, definitely. I think we can. I think we showed it at Daytona. We have to iron some kinks and work on some details, a bit like we just talked about in the intro. But it was also because that was a new car, a new team within Action Express. But it was a very strong showing for the first race.

Q. I asked Will this yesterday, I’m going to ask you, as well. Are you in a contract year in INDYCAR?
SIMON PAGENAUD: That’s an interesting question, obviously the kind of questions that you would expect from reporters.
At the moment I don’t see why there would be a need to talk about it. The season hasn’t even started.

Q. I ask it because I don’t know if it puts pressure on you this year. I don’t know how you are approaching the year from a mental standpoint.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, my personal opinion is just go out there and do the best you can, race hard and be in the moment. The contracts will take care of themselves when they do.
It’s too early to tell anyway. But yeah, I always race as hard as I can. My motto is having no regrets ever, so I work hard, and I want to have no regrets. So if I have no regrets, there’s no reason it shouldn’t continue.

Q. What did you think about the final lap of the Daytona 500?
SIMON PAGENAUD: (Laughing). Yes.
Q. As a Penske driver I’m wondering what you thought.
SIMON PAGENAUD: What did I think of it? Well, it was midnight. I was in my bed, and I couldn’t stop watching. I was waiting. Okay, let me back up a bit.
I watched the entire race, and I could have recorded it, but I was so eager to learn the move. And Denny Hamlin was showing stuff that I really liked. I was waiting to see him come back and all that. And then Joey and Brad got to the front, and that was extremely good strategy from the team on the pit stop. Especially on Brad’s and the way the Fords pitted all together when they did was extremely well-timed, and that changed everything. All of a sudden I was hooked. It was like, Okay, what’s about to happen here? What happened is racing in my opinion.
I had a lot of chats with a lot of people about this. I put myself in the situation at the Indy 500, for example, when I was in that last lap with Rossi. Obviously he wasn’t my teammate, but you’re going for the win, you’re going to race, you’re going to race hard. And if Rossi raced me harder, I would have raced harder and maybe we would have ended up in the wall quite frankly because I wasn’t going to give up because you want that win so bad.
I think in Brad’s case, he went for it. There was a gap he prepared so well. You guys need to watch what he was preparing for a few laps. Phenomenal work. He went for it, there was a gap, and Joey wants to win the race because he’s leading the 500. That’s the nature of racing right now in those races.
You can blame whoever you want. To me that was a racing incident. Both drivers have to go for it, otherwise they shouldn’t drive for such a great team.

Q. If you watched the whole race, did that include the Days of Thunder documentary?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, of course. That’s one of my favorite movies of all time. I really enjoyed the documentary and I think that was an amazing way to fill up the gap.

Q. You know The Barn is across the street from Hickory Tavern.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I go there. I mean, I go by there all the time. I’ve taken pictures actually.
Q. Speaking of pressure, you’ve been in this series now for a while, so you’re a savvy veteran, but can you ever recall from top to bottom a more stacked series? There are no strokes out there.
SIMON PAGENAUD: No, it’s very competitive right now, and I think every team has a good handle on the race car, as well, which makes it even tougher because the cars are so similar. There’s no margin for error.
Even though we have paddle shift, even your upshift points is very important in qualifying. You miss it by five-hundredths of a second, you might miss the Fast Six and find yourself starting in 12th position, which is crazy. Changes your whole weekend.
If you look at Rinus, if you look at Pato, if you look at Colton Herta, if you look at Scott McLaughlin now, he’s going to be stellar. You look at Romain Grosjean coming in. Obviously all these guys are expert in what they do, and it’s going to be a very interesting season.
The field is stacked. It’s incredible.

Q. Just to follow up on the Daytona question, did you kind of feel bad for Austin Cindric because he was getting ready to have a great finish in the Daytona 500 and he ended up getting lowered into the deep fryer?
SIMON PAGENAUD: Austin is doing phenomenal. I’m so happy for him. He’s a hard worker, and quite honestly he’s done it on his own. Obviously Tim is behind him helping, but mostly with advice. The rest is all Austin doing the job. It’s awesome to see.
Obviously he’s getting the support that he deserves because he’s doing a great job. He’s shown it in the Xfinity races, and he’s backed it up already winning the championship. He shows up next year, and bam, he’s right on it winning races. It’s fun to watch. He’s got that aggressiveness but also he’s smart and confident. I like that. I like who he’s become as a driver.
The 500, you know, unfortunately the way the racing is right now, you expect that you might end up in a wreck. He was in a good position for a long time and showed his name up front.

Q. To follow up on Daytona a little bit, were you surprised that Joey and Brad wrecked each other, knowing that the cardinal rule is team owners tell their drivers race each other hard but the one thing you can’t do is wreck each other? I’m sure Roger has probably preached that to you guys.
SIMON PAGENAUD: I’ll tell you what, when it happened, I was like, Oh, what’s going to happen Monday? It’s really bad for all the guys on the team.
They obviously prepared the fastest cars, and the strategy again was amazing. The crew chiefs did a great job, the spotters, everyone involved. You’re talking about 500 plus people working nonstop to get the speed and understand how to get their drivers up front.
Then we got two amazing drivers there doing the same. But I know the rules. I know how it goes at Team Penske and I know what we represent. We represent the brand. We represent our partners and we’re supposed to be in Victory Lane at the end.
I mean, if you think about it, I don’t want to talk for Roger, but if you own a race team and your drivers don’t go for the win, then what’s the point on racing? At the end of the day, that’s what it is.
As reporters I think you should be glad that’s how it goes at Penske, that we’re allowed to race still. They don’t tell you stay behind. They let you race and that’s fantastic to see. Sometimes it is an advantage to the team, yes, but how beautiful is it for the sport.

Q. Scott McLaughlin was here yesterday and he was telling us his expectations are rather tempered. You’ve been in that position and had a lot of success in your first year. What’s it like coming to Penske and being the new guy and trying to get acclimated and adapt? Are you going to help him at all with that transition?
SIMON PAGENAUD: First of all, he’s going to win a race. I guarantee it. He’s going to win at least a race this year. He’s a phenomenal driver. He’s got a great drive, and really good feedback, as well. I’ve really liked him coming on board.
It’s four drivers now. It’s a little bit more — it’s a good number working together. It helps having him, having his engineer and everybody that was added from the sports car program.
I think the INDYCAR program got a lot stronger suddenly because of that venue. Really excited about having him on the team.
I’ll tell you what, he’s going to be tough to beat in the future. He’s going to be a champion. He’s being tempered because he has to be. But I’ll tell you what, on the other side, seeing what he can do, expect great things.

Q. I’m curious with Scott’s addition, there have been times where this Team Penske crew has been at four cars and that typically doesn’t last too long. When you have four cars in this program, what do you see as the benefits of adding a driver like Scott, which I know you obviously have a lot of respect for? Are there any drawbacks, whether just adding a little bit more people to the mix or any more pressure from you guys to have just one more driver that you feel like you need to beat?
SIMON PAGENAUD: I think it’s only positives, quite frankly. I think three is an odd number because three, it’s always kind of difficult to get everything to work well together. Now there’s two — it can be two and two. It’s always quite well-balanced. That’s the word I’m looking for. It’s really well-balanced within the team.
We’ve added people from the sports car program that were stellar, stellar people, and it’s really reinforced the team because now we’ve got a little bit more people so we can diverse the task, whether it’s aerodynamics, whether it’s the damper program, whether it’s the simulator program or all that kind of stuff. We’ve got more people working on all these tasks.
It’s helped. It’s helped massively. It’s helped to have fresh blood coming in, also, and having another vision on things. Sometimes it’s good to get refreshing ideas.
It’s always been very positive. I don’t see how it could draw anything out of it — draw, withdraw? I’m pretty excited about this. To me it’s only been good to be four as long as I’ve been at Team Penske. This is year seven already.
Yeah, I think it’s going to be a very good season for us as a team.

THE MODERATOR: We thank you for your time. We wish you the best of luck.
SIMON PAGENAUD: Love it. Thank you, guys. Appreciate it.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

ED CARPENTER, NO.20 ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET (OVALS ONLY):

THE MODERATOR: Ed Carpenter, welcome. Glad you’re here.
ED CARPENTER: Me too.

THE MODERATOR: Ed is the driver of the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, in the oval program again this year. Just celebrated a birthday.
ED CARPENTER: I did.

THE MODERATOR: A big one.
ED CARPENTER: Yeah. I’m getting there.

THE MODERATOR: Does it feel any different?
ED CARPENTER: No.

THE MODERATOR: Any special gifts, big gifts for a big one.
ED CARPENTER: My wife surprised me and I’m going out to Colorado in a couple weeks with some of my buddies. That will be nice.

THE MODERATOR: Ski?
ED CARPENTER: Yes.

THE MODERATOR: Nice, very nice. How is the outlook for this year? Again, an oval program, so not only for you but for the entire team.
ED CARPENTER: Yeah, I’m optimistic. Last year was a challenging year for me personally. We started off strong at Texas, and then from there just could never really get it going or stay in a rhythm. As the year went on, I think we got stronger as a team.
Very confident with the off-season we’ve had. The guys have done a great job. Thus far testing has gone well. I feel like our preparation is well. I feel like we’re stronger within the team. Excited to get back on track and put 2020 behind us for a lot of reasons.

Q. We had Rinus in here earlier this morning. Talk about his development just from the first race at Texas last year, which was well-documented you were a little less than pleased with your driver, your employee that day, that weekend, to just how he developed. Did you expect after Texas that he would rebound like that and just put together the kind of year that he did?
ED CARPENTER: Well, I mean, you never know fully what to expect. Based on what we had seen with his talent and ability prior to Texas, I was fairly confident in where his potential was.
That’s what was so frustrating about Texas for a lot of reasons. We had talked about a lot of things, and that definitely didn’t go to plan. The best part about that was I had my public reaction, which was actually better than my private reaction to Rinus. But his ability to respond, to realize his mistakes, have ownership of his mistakes and move forward, I think you saw him get stronger and stronger as the season went on.
He’s still 20. He’s got a lot to learn. He knows that. But he works extremely hard on the track, off the track, and I have no doubt we’re going to continue to see his ability to show his talents on a more consistent basis. Hopefully we’ll be winning races together soon.

Q. Was Texas the come-to-Jesus moment or was there another race in which he really made a big step?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, that was a public come-to-Jesus meeting, and I think a major eye-opener for him. There’s things big and little that happen over the course of a year, big mistakes, little mistakes that you’re constantly learning, race weekends, now getting a little testing again. It’s a constant evolution of things that we’re trying to get him to do, us as a team learning how to better communicate and manage him as a driver.
It’s one of those things that it doesn’t stop, whether you’re 20 or 40 like me. You have to continue to push yourself and improve because that’s what everyone else we’re racing against is doing. You just have to keep pushing, and that’s one thing that he’s not afraid to do.
I wouldn’t say there was really one point or the other. I think for sure he’s getting more comfortable, more comfortable within the team, more comfortable within the car, but there’s still a lot of work to do.

Q. The stability of your team, you’ve got everybody back so it had to really make for a good off-season to be able to do a lot of planning and things of that nature. How important is it when you get everybody back like that?
ED CARPENTER: It’s nice. I mean, it’s the first time really in a long time where we haven’t had any driver turnover. Maybe ever. Within the team itself there wasn’t a whole lot of change, either. A couple changes, but those were all, I think, for the positive. And I think we’re seeing that already in the short amount of time we’ve been on track.
It’s exciting. Continuity is important, when you have the right group, and we feel like we have that.

Q. If you want to look at it, in a lot of ways Conor Daly and you are all part of this big extended family when you look at it. He’s Doug’s stepson. You guys used to be involved and own the speedway. Do you look at him a little bit like a little brother in some ways, a guy that is part of your extended family?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, I’ve known Conor a long time. Going back further, I was a test driver for Panther Racing back when Doug was one of the owners there, so I’ve known their family a long time. Just being a part of the same motorsports community.
I think Conor has done a good job maintaining home life versus a professional life, and that’s always one of the balancing acts. I can understand and empathize with him about that maybe other people don’t see.
We’re definitely pretty close. We train together every day. I’m probably more of a big brother in the aspect of keeping him straight and trying to develop him like I do my own children to avoid some pitfalls of life more so than his relationship with IMS and Doug.

Q. You’re always kind of low key and professional. Conor has a tendency to be a little outrageous from time to time, especially his latest hairstyle. What do you think of all that?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, it’s not me. You’re not going to see me do that. But at the same time that’s what I love about Conor and why he’s so popular in the paddock and with fans, because what you see is what you get.
His enthusiasm for that mullet yesterday during his tour through media day, it’s the same enthusiasm when he showed up at the gym the first time and showed it to me.
What you see is what you get with him. He’s a lot of fun. I think he’s also a lot more serious than what he shows to all of you. He’s working hard. I know that it makes it easier to just enjoy his personality knowing that that’s not actually what he’s focused on. He’s trying to improve and be the best driver he can for the team.
He’s definitely fun to work with. You never know what he’s going to say or what he’s going to do next.

Q. I wanted to follow up on Rinus. He was feeling more comfortable in his second year, and he can say what he needs to say and not worry about any repercussions. Talk about being a leader more on the team, and obviously it’s your team, you’re the leader, but can you talk about how you’ve seen Rinus grow as a leader and what he means by saying he kind of understands what the team needs from him?
ED CARPENTER: Yeah, I think coming in last year as a rookie, as prepared as you are, it’s still always a giant jump from Lights to INDYCAR. He had been to a lot of the tracks, hadn’t been to a lot of the tracks, getting to know the team. The cars are more complicated. There’s a lot more things that we can do to these cars than anything he’s ever driven. A lot of that first year is just learning to communicate and for him to speak our language within the team.
All of that he’s comfortable with now. He’s been involved in knowing what we’re developing and what we’re trying to accomplish with areas of improvement as a team and for him personally, having had a season to evaluate all those things for him.
I think that’s what he means, is just he probably feels more a part of it now than he did last year where he was just trying to establish himself and make sure there was a year two.
I think that’s natural as you develop as a driver, to have some more command. That comes with being comfortable in your own environment and just understanding the flow of the season and what we’re trying to do.
He’s definitely showing growth, like I said earlier. That’s great. There’s still a long ways to go. Hopefully we’ll have a successful year.

Q. He doesn’t lack for confidence about what he thinks ECR can do. He said he feels like you guys can finish top 5 and win every race, weekly. What’s your assessment of that? Do you feel like your team is ready to take that step?
ED CARPENTER: I definitely think we have that performance there. I love Rinus’ confidence. He truly believes in himself and the team.
I think for me, my expectation, I do think that we can achieve those things, it’s just a matter of being consistent. That’s really what separates out Josefs and Scotts from everyone else right now, is just the consistency that’s required to stay at the top of the championship.
That’s as much what I’m focused on is the ultimate performance because I know we have that potential, it’s just unlocking it week to week.

Q. You mentioned a couple minutes ago about the uniqueness of you guys maintaining this driver group from last season to this year compared to what you guys have undergone in the past. You’ve talked a little bit on Rinus and Conor specifically. But as a whole, what did you see from both of them and just this team in general that made you really want to keep, as you said, virtually everyone intact and move forward into 2021 with this same core group?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, I think we believe in both guys. They’re both highly talented and have a lot of untapped potential still.
It’s hard when you’re changing even just one driver because it takes time to get them integrated with the team, for us to understand them, them to understand us, because every driver is different, they like different things, communicate different ways.
Having had that learning, I think we can do a better job for them as a team versus having to reset and kind of establish that relationship with someone else again. It allows the two drivers to work closer together just because they’ve had a year together and know what each other is good at. They know what the other is working on to be better. It’s all positives.

Q. In terms of continuing the build and the progression of you guys’ race team from an owner’s perspective, what do you feel like you guys gained from 2020 and how do you just see this progression continuing into the 2021 INDYCAR season?
ED CARPENTER: You know, I think it was definitely a building year last year. We had highs. We definitely had some lows. I think, like I said earlier, we feel like Rinus is a special talent, and Conor is very good, too. He’s really, really shown well in preseason testing thus far. That’s got me really excited for his season, as well.
Really since Josef had left for Penske, we’ve been kind of searching for someone that we believe can be a consistent race-winning driver and championship contender. We feel like we have those drivers in the equation now, and that’s exciting.
Last year was a building year, and the expectation is always to win, but I think the expectations are a little more high this year than they probably were last year just having less unknowns.

Q. Obviously the 20 car struggled for pace at the Speedway last year. Is that something you guys found out what it was or is it something you’re working hard — have worked hard over the off-season to correct?
ED CARPENTER: Yeah, you never really know if you’ve answered all those questions until we go back. We’re constantly working hard to be better there. It was just one of those years where things just weren’t going as well as they could have.
We learned from it and come back stronger. So we’ll be on track April 8th and 9th and hopefully be able to put some answers to those questions and have a little more clarity.

Q. Does it help that the other car was quick?
ED CARPENTER: You know, it does. It does because it shows that it’s still there. It can also be frustrating personally in the moment to try to understand why one guy is able to do something and I’m not.
I think it was a weird month. I don’t think we were as bad as what it seemed at times. The race was kind of over for me before it started in a lot of ways. I think we still could have had a strong race had we stayed clean. That’s the way it goes. It’s a 500-mile race, and didn’t do what I needed to do to keep us in it until the end.

Q. You’ve got another birthday coming up. This is the 10th year of Ed Carpenter Racing. How much has ECR grown in the last 10 years and what do you hope to accomplish over the next 10 years if you still want to be around?
ED CARPENTER: I’d love to be around for another 10 years. It’s crazy how fast it’s gone. It doesn’t seem like we’ve been here 10 years.
I love what we’re doing. We’ve got a great group of people, a lot of which have been with the team for the whole 10 years, which is something I’m very proud of. Looking forward to — it’s been too long since we’ve won a race together. Really looking forward to celebrating some wins this year and just continuing to establish ourselves as a team everyone has got to worry about in the series.

Q. What kind of challenges have you faced not only in the cockpit but out of the cockpit as a business owner for 10 years, maybe things that behind the scenes none of us would know that goes on?
ED CARPENTER: It’s definitely not an easy industry to have your core business in. It’s very volatile, especially in a year like we just went through. Can’t wait to have a year that feels a little more normal and put more of the enjoyment back in and have some fan interaction and worry about things like that more so than where we’re going to be able to go, when we’re going to get there and who we’re allowed to bring, things like that.
It’s not an easy — it’s not the easiest of lives making sure we can keep all the people employed and keep the racecars on track, but we’re definitely doing what we love to do.

Q. The past couple years INDYCAR has kind of been moving more towards road and street courses and less towards the ovals to the point that this year you only have four races scheduled for you to drive in. Is that still an optimal arrangement for you, to just keep doing the ovals even when there’s only this few on the schedule?
ED CARPENTER: Well, certainly I’d like there to be more, but the Indianapolis 500 is still here, which is important.
I think as a series, I do believe we’d like to be at more ovals. We’re going to have an opportunity to go to — return to an old one and kind of a new one with Richmond last year. That was interrupted. So really sad to see Iowa not on anybody’s schedule right now.
But I think the series would like to be (indiscernible) in what we are, just a matter of having the right situations, and hopefully that number will shift back. I’ve been around long enough that I’ve seen the number go down and up. This is about as low as it’s been in a long time, but that’s part of the volatility of motorsports, especially with the global crisis we’ve been managing this past year.

Q. Have you given any thought to running one or two road courses just to get some more time behind the seat?
ED CARPENTER: Not really. It’s been seven years since I’ve done that. I don’t think that would really benefit myself or the team at this point. It’s just different. I don’t feel like it’s hurting me not doing it, and it would probably — it could potentially hurt more than it could help at this point. Just stay focused on the events I have and be prepared and do the best I can.

Q. Compare yourself as a racer from your rookie season to now. What is something you know that you wish you knew as a rookie?
ED CARPENTER: I wish I had the patience then that I do now. That’s one of the great things about being a parent. I think that a gift that my kids have given me beyond just their existence, is teaching me how to be patient. If I could have developed that trait earlier, I think it would have served me well.
I’m here now, so you’re probably teaching the same lessons to your parents, Asher, and you don’t even know it.

THE MODERATOR: Ed, thank you very much.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: We’ve Dalton Kellett. He is the driver of the No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, driving the full season. It’s his second season in the series.
I opened with the same question to Rinus, but you did a story this week for INDYCAR.com with Zach Horrall where you talked about your first Content Day and how your eyes were open. Let’s stretch that out to the whole season. How much more prepared and just settled do you feel right now than you did 12 months ago?
DALTON KELLETT: Quite a bit more. I think even just looking at 12 months ago, our deal was just kind of coming together and we were just going out for the first test. I think this year we’ve got already three test days under our belt, and we have a few more before the first race.
Everyone is really excited with how the off-season is going, and I’m feeling a lot more up to speed, a lot more kind of settled with the car, the team and everything. It’s a good position to be in.

THE MODERATOR: As a rookie, though, last year, were there just deer-in-the-headlights moments that you’re not going to have this year because you’ve kind of been there, done that?
DALTON KELLETT: Well, the first race last year was definitely — that’s a good way to put it, deer-in-the-headlights moment where I think it was 30-minute or 40-minute practice, right into qualifying, and then bam, first time on Firestone reds having never experienced that. And testing was like everything, was new and it was happening so fast and there was no testing and it was hectic. Schedules were condensed for COVID reasons.
Sounds like it’ll be a little more normal this year, so it should be a little bit more manageable.

Q. There seems to be a lot of hope and optimism at AJ Foyt Racing amongst the whole team, Sebastien Bourdais running full season, you running full season, some additions on the staff, engineering and all that. What do you see the reason for that, and how much improvement should we expect to see this year?
DALTON KELLETT: You know, I think the reason behind that optimism and sort of the — our thoughts going into the season, we feel we’ve had some pretty strong tests, but obviously we’re coming from a tough position last year and we’re looking to make incremental gains.
I wouldn’t expect us to go out and be totally flipping the narrative. It’s going to be a progressive improvement. And I think we’ve put ourselves in a good position to be able to do that this year.

Q. Last year you had such a disjointed schedule, the way that the schedule was set up sharing that car with other drivers. How much do you think it really kept you from developing a rhythm?
DALTON KELLETT: You know, I think jumping into that other car with, like I said, sharing it with Tony and Seb, that made it difficult. But the big thing, it wasn’t so much that we were sharing the same car, it was just not doing all of the races. I think having that continuity makes it easier.
I think the drivers hopping in and out of the car is more of a pain for the mechanics, having to get everything set up because we have different height and weight and all that and pedals and whatnot. So it adds a lot more work that could have been spent on other stuff. It will help the mechanics a lot to have that kind of consistency throughout the year.
For me, just knowing that we’re always working on our program and making those iterative improvements, it’ll be a little easier this year.

Q. Are you the Indy crew or are you the Texas crew?
DALTON KELLETT: I’m Indy based with the 4 car, yeah.

Q. Just from your last rookie season, your biggest takeaway from that season, and I know the season is just starting now, but how is that helping you to think about this year in terms of improving the car and everything like that?
DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, I think the biggest takeaway from the rookie year is just gaining experience with the car, with the Firestones, with both the blacks and the reds, and then the oval compounds, knowing sort of what you want out of the car and then looking to this year.
Having Seb onboard and the experience of being with him at test days has been real eye opening to see how confident he is in terms of this is what I want out of the car and this is — I want to drive it this way and it kind of needs to be doing this.
Seeing kind of his experience, allowing him to do that has been very helpful. That’s been a good learning opportunity.

Q. How beneficial is it to you to have Seb alongside you full-time this season?
DALTON KELLETT: It’s really beneficial. You know, I’m very thankful for the opportunities that I’ve had with Foyt to be paired with not just Seb but other very experienced teammates in TK and Charlie last year. There’s a lot of experience at that team.
Having Seb this year is going to be a great learning opportunity for me. I think his experience and his talent is unquestioned. And as a young driver, it’s very beneficial to have someone that’s kind of a known quantity that you can benchmark yourself against.

Q. In terms of Nashville, how excited are you to be heading there this year?
DALTON KELLETT: I’m excited to go to Nashville. That circuit looks really cool, and going across the river on the bridge, I think that Music City Grand Prix is going to be really awesome.

Q. You’re a graduate of the Road to Indy. What part of that series prepared you best to come to INDYCAR?
DALTON KELLETT: You know, I think when you look at the Road to Indy specifically, I think their development program is very well thought out in terms of the progression of each step of the cars, from USF 2000 to Indy Lights. The cars get progressively faster, more complicated, races get longer. You really get experience on the tracks that you’re going to be racing at in INDYCAR. I think that is in itself very valuable.
You can obviously learn these tracks on simulators, but to actually get race experience in real life there is really beneficial.
Also it gives you a chance to be in the INDYCAR paddock and exposes you to teams, helps you network, get to know people, which is a big part of the sport, as well.

Q. You’re from Canada where the hockey mullet is a thing. Did you see Conor Daly’s mullet yesterday on social media?
DALTON KELLETT: I did, and I’m a lot shorter than he is. I believe in hockey they call it “flow,” you have like lettuce coming out of the back of your helmet.

Q. Does that get the seal of approval? Is it good flow?
DALTON KELLETT: He had really good flow. He would fit right in. It’s not my style, but kudos to him. I thought that was awesome, yeah.

Q. I just had the idea that maybe last year was a kind of transition year for the team, and you were a part of that. Can you explain to us if there are some things that the team is changing and we can understand what’s happening on the team?
DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, specifically we’ve made some changes on the engineering side. We’ve brought in a new lead engineer for the 14 car, Justin, and a couple junior engineers have come on.
Specifically the engineer, the depth of the engineering talent has definitely increased with Mike Oliver kind of moving to a technical director, overseeing both cars. So I think the shop and engineering side of it has gotten stronger.
Also with not having the COVID restrictions and being able to test, we’ve had a chance to actually go to the racetrack, to the simulator, shaker rig and all that and actually do a lot more testing than we had the opportunity to last year.
So I think those changes in terms of like specific items are going to be very beneficial, stuff like your damper programs and all that. Now we have a lot more ability to make good decisions there and make the car faster.

Q. I was looking at the testing times, and we know it’s just testing, but you were within seven-tenths from the top time, which to me indicated you really made a jump forward compared to where you were last year. What was it you and the team focused on this winter?
DALTON KELLETT: You know, on the specific test when we went to Sebring, I had two days there, so the first day obviously you’re kind of getting back up to speed, at least for the first couple sessions in the morning.
For that test and then for the Barber test, we definitely had a long list of engineering items and test items that we had to get through. It was just a lot of testing and development, trying different damper options, trying different spring and damper, kind of chassis, sort of overall like methodologies to kind of hone in on something specific.
From a personal side, I think just really now that I had the half a year sort of from last year under my belt with this car and with these tires, knowing a bit more about what to do to actually get the speed out of them, specifically with that, one of the things that compared to Seb was working on was kind of optimizing the braking, and not just so much the initial brake point but it was kind of the trail-off and actually carrying speed through the middle of the corner. I think that was a big jump in terms of lap time, and that’s an area where I’ll be continuing to focus.

Q. You mentioned Seb, but you also have Charlie Kimball in the paddock, and he’s also a person with a lot of experience. Where do you see he might be able to be a resource for data and other information in terms of setup, and also just working on the track?
DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, so having both Charlie and Seb on board is a great tool for me as a young driver to kind of learn from them both. Even just looking at how it went last year in May, Charlie has got a lot of experience at the 500. And I really appreciated that before the race he actually — we took some time and kind of sat down and he sort of talked me through the month and explained how it was all going to go. I think having his experience, as well, will be very beneficial for the race that he’s onboard.

Q. Do you see any crossovers given the matrix on how you judge a car and the way he seems to be running his car? Any data points there that might be helpful?
DALTON KELLETT: You’re referring to Charlie or Seb or both?

Q. Charlie, or both.
DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, when we’ve looked at data and kind of compared the two cars, Seb and I seem to be maybe a little closer on driving style. I think in my experience, it seems like we both kind of prefer a more stable car. I think that’s somewhere where maybe Seb and I are a bit more on the same page.
On the oval at the 500, what was working on the 41 car was also working on the 4 car, so I think we — and vice versa. Charlie’s oval experience is definitely going to be really helpful for that month, the month of May.

THE MODERATOR: Dalton, with that, I think there are no more questions, and we very much appreciate your time.
DALTON KELLETT: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: We wish you the best of luck this year, too.
DALTON KELLETT: We’re looking forward to a good year.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sportsby ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 CARLIN CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to Day 2 of our INDYCAR Content Days. Thank you, everybody, for being here yesterday. Our first guest, first driver, is Mr. Max Chilton, driver of the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet. Max is driving the road and street courses and the Indy 500, if I’m correct.
MAX CHILTON: Correct.

THE MODERATOR: Max, thanks for joining us. Appreciate it.
MAX CHILTON: Thank you for having me. I know it’s early morning over in the States. Obviously the way the world is, it was a bit of a challenge for me to get out for the Content Day just on itself. Thankfully INDYCAR have allowed me to do this from home in the UK.

THE MODERATOR: What’s the outlook for this year? How are things looking for you and for the team heading into 2021?
MAX CHILTON: Yeah, so it’s really exciting to be back with Carlin. This is our fourth year. I know I say it every year, but I do think we’ve learnt a lot last year. Last year was a huge challenge, probably more challenging than our first year if I’m honest because it was our first year of just running as a single-car entry.
Also the way the world was, we got very little testing and everything logistically and organizational wise was a challenge. I think we’ve done a great job considering and we’ve done more of a development program over this winter than any of the other previous.
So I am confident that the car has improved. I’m also confident that I’ve improved in myself. I’ve taken on a sports psychologist, I have started doing weekly simulator sessions, changed my training a little bit, just to try and stir things up and see if it helps because there’s just as much time in myself, the driver, as there is the team.
Hopefully those two things combined we can regularly get into the top 10 and hopefully once you are regularly in the top 10, you get the odd podium. It’s just at the moment we’ve struggled to get those regular top 10s. We’re looking forward to going into this year with a bit more confidence.

Q. What was it like last year, not only as a race driver but as a human, just to kind of cope with the ever-changing nature of the schedule and really of the world due to the pandemic?
MAX CHILTON: I think it’s humankind in general, but obviously particularly sports, athletes. You have to be open to things constantly changing. You can’t predict the future, so you have to adapt and learn to change your schedule at the last minute and just be prepared for whatever is around the corner.
I think everyone learnt last year, even in just general day life, that you didn’t know what was coming from one month to the next.
I think INDYCAR did an amazing job. We only had a couple of months’ delay and then we were back at it. It was a real shame not having the fans there last year, but it’s really great to see we’re going to have the fans back at Barber and then St. Pete, so that’s a really good sign.
The INDYCAR interaction between the drivers is fantastic. Just watching Romain Grosjean’s Instagram the last few weeks, he’s really sort of enjoyed that open book that the drivers have which from where he came from is a little bit different. Yeah, hopefully he’s enjoying that American side of just access all areas.

Q. I’m curious, you said the way the world is right now, it was difficult to get to the U.S. Could you not or was it just too many hoops to jump through for Content Days?
MAX CHILTON: We could have got there, obviously, because I’m going to get out there for the racing, but the challenges are just for one Content Day, I would have to get a negative test 72 hours before I fly, then I would have to obviously do the Content Day, then I would have to find a negative test before flying back to the UK, and then once I’ve gotten back into the UK, I would then have to quarantine in my house for 10 days before leaving.
Training wise on the buildup to the season I didn’t think it was worth it for a Content Day when I can do these Zoom calls and we can get the photos done at the track nearer the time. Thankfully INDYCAR were open to allowing that to happen.

Q. You mentioned you’re seeing a sports psychologist. I presume that’s new this year?
MAX CHILTON: It’s new for this year as in the person that I’m using. I have used a sports psychologist for five or six years. I did have a year off, but I’ve changed the person now, and I’m getting on with them really well.
They’ve got a great proven track record. She also works with Jack Harvey, so I know Jack has made some good gains in the last couple of years.
It’s nice to just have a different approach to it than I’ve had before. We’ll see. A lot of it’s about preparation. I’ve always known it’s about preparation. We’re doing more simulator sessions. I’ve now got a new engineer this year called Luke Mason. He was my strategist last year and he now hosts the simulator sessions. And he’s actually a very keen sim racer himself. We can practice against each other, which I think is just practice and seat time.

Q. Is the sports psychologist mostly helping you with preparation, how you prepare yourself?
MAX CHILTON: Yeah, basically sports psychology, that is the main part of it. It’s not necessarily going, You’re the best and you’re just going to go out and do better because let’s face it, you’re not going to go out and do better because you think you’re better than you are.
It’s all about getting fitter, better nutrition, about organizing your engineers to have more communication so you can then push the team forward more. And then by doing those things, the simulator sessions going better, the training going better, you then start to believe in yourself more, which then changes the on-track experience.
It’s not very much like, Look into my eyes and you’re the world’s greatest. That’s a very old-fashioned look at sports psychology.

Q. I wanted to follow up on that, as well. I was curious about the psychology aspect. Is it sort of just more — makes you more efficient and more organized? Is that sort of the goal, what you’re saying?
MAX CHILTON: Yeah. It also, when you’ve been in motorsport, I’ve been in it for 20 years and I’m not the first and I won’t be the last to say you become a little bit complacent thinking you know what you need to do and you actually end up not doing what you not need to do because you’ve done it so many times before.
But you look at these young kids that have just started off in the series and they’re doing everything to try and improve.
It happens just in everyday life. As you get older you become a little bit complacent. It’s just checking in with what you should be doing compared to what you have been doing and moving forward.
I think we’re now talking more communication-wise between myself and my engineer, and we’re practicing more, which hopefully that leads us in a better stead going into the season.

Q. I know you said it tongue in cheek about it’s not the look into my eyes thing, but I think when people think of psychology that’s what they think of. Is there a little bit of a stigma in motorsports when drivers say they’re doing this, and are more drivers doing it than we realize?
MAX CHILTON: I don’t think it’s talked about a lot. From what I’ve learnt and speaking to people, most drivers on the grid have a sports psychologist. I don’t know why it’s not more open, but I’ve always been open book about it.
Even when I was in F1 I remember doing — we always on a Thursday did a press conference with five other drivers, and I mentioned that I did visualization. So when I was having like a massage before getting in the car, my masseuse, who was also my PT, would start a stopwatch and I would have to visualize a lap, then I would say ‘stop’ and look at the time and see how close we are.
Sometimes, not every time, regularly I was within the second, but sometimes I’d get it within the same tenth of a second that I’d then go out and qualify.
That stuff, that’s what it’s all about. Preparation is everything. But yeah, there’s definitely other drivers on the grid using them for sure, and it’s just part of being an athlete.

Q. About the team, it seemed like some big gains were made last year in some places like the season opener with Conor and the pole he had. Does it feel like the team maybe is on the cusp of maybe not graduating to first tier up front all the time, but maybe just taking another step?
MAX CHILTON: Yeah, we’ve definitely improved the car. The short track car with Conor, we just seemed to hit the nail on the head and improved. We started to improve the road course, which I’m hoping obviously that’s more of a schedule that we’ve got on top of, and also Indy. Indy means a lot to us.
We’ve learnt over the last six months looking back we did a vital mistake and went the wrong direction, and that’s now explained everything why we struggled last year.
Hopefully again we can go into Indy knowing that we’ve learnt from our mistakes and we can qualify higher up. We know we’ve got a very smooth, slippery car and it’s efficient, so we should have done better at Indy. But we’ve now worked out what we did wrong, and hopefully we’ve learnt from it.

Q. The level of progress that Carlin — I know that when you and the team moved up to INDYCAR, there was some high hopes, expectations this was going to be a team for the future. How would you gauge the level of progress at this point? Are you on schedule, behind schedule, a lot of work to do? How would you gauge that?
MAX CHILTON: If I’m honest, I think we’re behind where we wanted to be going into our fourth year. But there’s a lot more hurdles, too, that you learn. It’s like anything, there’s always more to it than you originally planned.
We’re up against teams like Ganassi, Penske, Andretti have been doing it for 25 to 50 years, and they do have a huge difference in budgets, and that’s a huge part of the INDYCAR.
So I think with what we have and especially now being a single car, I think we do as good a job as anyone else at being a single-car entry. We’re very focused on the things that we can improve with what we’ve got, and I think especially this winter that’s something which hopefully we can prove to everyone in the opening races.
I wanted to be fighting for podiums, and we haven’t been, but that doesn’t mean we’re not going to be. That’s my outlook going into this year, and looking forward to it.

Q. When Trevor set up the shop in Florida, he thought it was a good recruiting tool to bring European mechanics and engineers over to the United States because Florida, nice place to live, all of that. Do you think that model has worked out, or do you still see where it might be advantageous to consider a move to Indianapolis?
MAX CHILTON: No, I fully back that decision. We’ve got the youngest pit crew, probably engineering team, on the grid. Our pit stops time prove that. There’s a lot of older generations still jumping over the wall, and we wouldn’t have been able to do that if we didn’t move the team to Florida. If we had it in Indianapolis we wouldn’t have gotten the people over that we wanted.
I fully back the decision. It’s a few extra miles for the truck drivers, but again, there’s quite a few races in the South where it benefits us.
I think that decision was completely worthy. Some people might think otherwise, but I back Trevor’s decision. And we got some great people over we probably wouldn’t have been otherwise.

Q. You mentioned about a single-car team. Have there been any talks of bringing a second car out this year?
MAX CHILTON: There’s a possibility of running another car at the Indy 500. We’ve definitely got another fantastic car built, ready to go, and we’re in talks with some other people. But at the moment it’s definitely a single-car entry for this year, and that’s the focus. But we’re ready if we have another person ready.

Q. For whoever it is to share the oval seat with you, is there somebody you have in mind, a driving style that you notice somebody likes that can help you out for the other races? I know it’s completely different tracks, but anything that can help?
MAX CHILTON: Yeah, so obviously this year there’s only three other races which I’m not doing. That’s two at Texas and then Gateway. We’ve got quite a lot of interest in that seat so we’re just trying to work out which route we go down.
I’m not part of that decision process. I purely focus on what I need to do, so that’s between Trevor and the management. And I check in regularly to see how that’s going, but I’m confident we’ll get a good talent in the car for those few races.

Q. As a quick follow-up about your travel. Obviously the more condensed schedule. Are you commuting from overseas to here? After St. Pete I know there’s Texas, the 500 stuff after that. Are you just going to stay in the States between that break?
MAX CHILTON: So the plan is to commute less, but I will still commute. Last year actually was unbelievably easy. The planes were absolutely desolate going across the Atlantic. There was never more than 40 people on any of the crossings I did last year. We didn’t need to take any negative tests in either direction.
This year is a lot more complicated, negative tests in either direction, and at the moment the UK has been in lockdown for over six months. Nothing is open, and we have to quarantine when we come back. I’m hoping that’s lifted.
At the moment the U.S. isn’t on the red list as we call it so I don’t have to land and go into a hotel for 10 days, I can just quarantine at home for five days and then take a negative test. Again, that takes up a bit of my time. So we want to do that as few of times as possible.
I think I can do the whole season in five trips. If they put America on the quarantine list where I have to stay in a hotel, then I’ll do a couple of long stretches. That’s the plan.
Again, as I said earlier, the world is quickly changing. Hopefully the amount the UK and America are getting the vaccines out, they’ll start to lift things soon after or soon before the Indy 500.

Q. Carlin obviously has a long history in the junior formulas. How important is it to see that team back in Indy Lights, and does that benefit the INDYCAR program down the road where you can bring people over and they get accustomed to racing in the U.S.?
MAX CHILTON: Yeah, I think that’s a really good point. It’s something we did really well at, and we closed down a couple of years ago. But the grid is looking great for Indy Lights. We’ve got a really good couple of drivers on board, and I do think that that could feed into the INDYCAR program, which maybe will mean we’re not a single-car entry going forward. That would be nice. It would be nice to have a teammate.
I don’t think it will affect the INDYCAR schedule. Colin Hale manages the teams and is super, super experienced and I’m sure he knows how to manage two teams. He did it perfectly fine when we first started, so it’s definitely something we can do.

Q. Have you seen any benefits from being a one-car team last season, given with everything that was going on last year?
MAX CHILTON: I like your positive question. I never, ever get asked that. And yes, there are plenty of benefits by having a single-car team that some people aren’t aware of.
You can very much — the benefits of multiple-car teams or multiple cars is obviously you can file through some issues and go, Yep, that’s the direction, let’s go down there, and you’ve also got driver data overlays. So they’re the benefits.
The downside is every time you add a car to a team they become less efficient. People’s minds are split between two, three, four, five. When it starts just getting dangerous is where you can’t focus on what needs to be done.
So with a single-car team, the setup is purely focused on what I want. And at the end of the day the best setup, even if it’s the worst setup, is what I want. If I’m happy with it, that’s when the driver will be the quickest. Everything is focused around myself, which is a benefit. Everything is super efficient.
Yes, you have to have technically more people employed than you would need to for two because you can’t just split everything. That bit isn’t perfect. But whenever there’s a problem, it gets resolved I think really, really quick.
There’s also other ways between engine manufacturers that you can look at data. So I’ve got data. It’s not like I’m not looking at anyone else’s data, so that helps. I’ve been a single car before, and it kind of works for me.
I know there’s people on the grid that think it has its downsides, and for sure I know it has its downsides. But does it mean you can’t do well? I disagree. I think you can definitely get some good results being a single-car team, especially with a team like Carlin that have great engineering behind it and they know how to extract the most out of the driver.

Q. We’ve had an addition of a lot of new rookies, including Helio Castroneves coming back with a new team, new car, new everything. Technically he’s a rookie, too. How does that factor in to the way you might attack the track because even though Jimmie Johnson has been a great driver he doesn’t have the background and experience that you have and come through the feeder series and so on? Also, Romain Grosjean. You have good drivers who have built credibility and now they’re getting into the formula. How is this going to, say, address your approach to this track this season?
MAX CHILTON: Yeah, so it’s a great question. Personally it won’t change anything that I do. Sometimes I’m a little bit alarmed by sometimes a rookie comes in that I know has got a bit of a checkered background and they’re always involved in accidents or they’re a bit kamikaze when they go for a move that isn’t there, especially INDYCAR racing on ovals can be quite dangerous.
But the ones coming in this year are highly experienced. Helio, as you said, is not really a rookie. Romain is a fantastic driver. He wouldn’t have lasted 10 years in Formula One if he wouldn’t and he won the GP2 championship.
So yeah, it doesn’t change anything. Jimmie Johnson has got some of the best race craft that has ever existed. NASCAR is all about race craft. For me it doesn’t change anything. It’s actually quite exciting.
I think INDYCAR is doing a fantastic job at the moment getting some big names in the series. I think that’s so beneficial, and it’s the last — I call it the last pure single seater formula out there. Loud, fast, and whatever other word they use, it’s definitely loud and fast. They’re doing a great job of that.
I saw an article that Kobayashi is potentially looking at coming over, as well. I know me and Alex were the first, and then you’ve got Marcus that’s come over, and now Romain. I think there’s going to be more others. And especially European drivers, some of them are not big fans of the ovals like myself.
The more we reduce those oval races off the schedule, which we have done the last couple of years, naturally more people are coming over, which is what we’re seeing.
I think we’ve got some great times ahead of us in the INDYCAR Series.

Q. I know that a lot of Europeans are not fans of ovals. In fact, even Will Power wasn’t a fan of ovals, but once he broke through, he literally broke through, he became a champion and just a can’t-lose type of driver. Of course he qualifies crazy. Have you ever given thought of maybe developing an expertise in ovals even though it’s not, say, comfortable for you?
MAX CHILTON: I definitely gave it a good shot. I did it for — it’s the only race I’ve actually won in America was in Indy Lights on the oval. So I prepared in the best way possible doing Indy Lights. And then I gave it three or four years, a couple with Ganassi and a couple with Carlin, and we definitely — I nearly won the Indy 500, the biggest race in the world. I led it for 50 laps, more than anyone else, and lost it with six laps to go.
I definitely think I’ve got the expertise skills to succeed on it. It’s just for me it was a life choice. Did I really deep down enjoy it? No. I know for a fact, I wish I could name all the other drivers that agree with me, but I’m not going to throw them under the bus.

Q. We already know who they are.
MAX CHILTON: Yeah, they’re in a position where they can’t do it. I was in a position where yes, I could do it, but then I was still putting myself out on the line. But I back myself for doing that, and I think I was being honest to myself and true.
I would have hate for something to happen and me not done something about it. I’ve done something about it. That’s the way it is. I now really look forward to getting into a race car on the road and street courses, and yeah, I’m enjoying life more now.
Obviously the 500 is a different beast. It’s a race in itself. The thing that makes me willing to still do the Indy 500, everyone treats it with respect. Everyone gets a whole week or two practice, and everyone builds up to it in the way that you should.
The ones that I didn’t enjoy is when you got an hour’s practice and then you had to go flat at night on qualifying and then race a couple hours later. It was just too kamikaze for me.

THE MODERATOR: Max, we appreciate your time. Thanks a lot for dialing in today, and we also wish you the best of luck this year, and we’ll see you in Barber.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET-2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES ROOKIE-OF-THE-YEAR:

THE MODERATOR: We have Rinus VeeKay, 2020 INDYCAR Rookie of the Year. That still sounds nice, doesn’t it?
RINUS VEEKAY: It does, yeah. It’s quite dubious to be called that way.

THE MODERATOR: He is the driver of the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, running a full season, no longer a rookie.
Rinus, compare where you’re at now as to where you were at a year ago at this time sitting in an interview room not knowing what you were getting into. Now you have a full season under your belt, a successful one as Rookie of the Year. How has your mentality, your approach changed this year compared to last year?

RINUS VEEKAY: Definitely changed a lot. I’m a whole different driver now. Of course I only had Road to Indy experience before my rookie season started, but now I have I think it’s 14 INDYCAR races under my belt.
Yeah, it’s something I’m very happy with and I can really — I could already see last season that throughout the season I made so much progress. Yeah, I think we had a very steep learning curve last year, and my job is to make sure that steep learning curve keeps staying as steep as it is now throughout the season.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.
Q. Rinus, I’m curious, I got a chance to really evaluate your season last year, and if you noticed anything about your race craft maybe that you could have changed between a rookie and your second year?
RINUS VEEKAY: Well, I found out that finishing a race is quite important, so I will always race as hard as I can, as fair as I can. But definitely don’t take any risk, any unnecessary risk.
Beginning of the season I was just really aggressive. Came away with it a few times, but also in Texas it was just too much. I definitely learned a lot from those races, and yeah, it made me a complete driver.
I think now, yeah, I’ll have to make sure I keep it all going, and yeah, finish as well as possible every race.

Q. How do you balance that as a driver? I know INDYCAR is so tight, to balance the aggression, because if you slip a little bit it could be a difference between a podium and outside the top 10. You also don’t want to push too hard and find trouble. How do you balance that?
RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, it’s definitely tough. You can’t always do it 100 percent well. But yeah, it’s mostly intuition, like your body does everything for you. Mostly if I do any moves in a race and I look back afterwards, I have no idea how I did it, but it happened. I think that’s a good thing, don’t think, and let everything happen how it goes.
Seems like it all went well last year.

Q. I’ve got a question about the current rookie battle that we’re going to get this year because you’re the reigning Rookie of the Year, but this year’s battle couldn’t be more different than last year’s. Last year it was all youngsters like yourself. Now we’ve got all these veterans coming in as new INDYCAR drivers. How do you look at that? What are your thoughts about that coming battle?
RINUS VEEKAY: Well, I think first of all, it’s great for INDYCAR publicity-wise. But yeah, it really shows even more rookies it’s going to be a great fight. We’ve got Jimmie Johnson, who has accomplished a lot in NASCAR. Then we’ve got Scott McLaughlin, who of course did all that in Australia.
Yeah, it’s going to be big. Also with Romain Grosjean, he’s going to bring over a lot of viewers from F1. I think it’s going to be very good for the publicity of INDYCAR, but also just the whole rookie fight is going to be something people are going to watch and going to pay more attention to.

Q. Rinus, last year obviously as a rookie it seemed like you were kind of finding your way and you were trying to keep up with the team. Year two, does that equation flip a little bit, now you’ve got all the experience and the team is trying to take that next step? Is it kind of about them trying to match where you are and try to get you forward in your second year?
RINUS VEEKAY: Well, we’re also working together all the time to make each other better. Of course, I’m not a robot, so I can do a lot of stuff better. We’re all working together. It’s a really nice team in terms of cooperation, so it’s very free. I can say whatever I want, and everyone wants to get better at everything.
I can already see that the team has made progression in the off-season, and I’m getting more professional. I now expect more what the team wants from me, so I can anticipate more of that coming into the race weekends and make sure I prepare better for the coming races.

Q. What are some of those things that the team wants from you this year, do you think?
RINUS VEEKAY: Well, I think of course full commitment. It’s not just something that you’re driving INDYCAR. You just really have to give it everything, in your personal life, but in any way possible.
Coming into the race weekends, it’s not just another race weekend. We’ve got to make sure I’m fully prepared. I know everything that the engineers know from past years, even though I’ve maybe done no races on that track. But there’s data from before.
So yeah, it’s just all that working ahead towards the races that, yeah, I can improve this year more on.

Q. You mentioned that level of aggression when you started out last year. You sort of had to learn how to moderate that. It also seemed as if you had some really good respectful battles with some other drivers, especially toward the end of the year like you and Herta at Gateway. Did the other guys have to learn you as much as you were learning them about how to race around each other?
RINUS VEEKAY: Yeah, I think so. Of course I had a lot of fun racing hard against some guys, but they didn’t have as much fun as I did (smiling).
Well, it happens. But you get a certain respect with other drivers. You start to know them. Once you start a season, you know nobody. It’s an unknown person you’re racing against.
Now that I’ve met all the drivers, it’s getting more like I’m another driver. They know I’m going to race hard. I’m not going to make it easy for them. It’s a thing now. It’s not something they have to be surprised of.
I think that’s a good sign, and I think it’s worth the effort. So yeah, let’s hope to keep that on this season.

Q. You talked a little bit about kind of what you expect out of this next year from a big-picture perspective. More specifically, what are your own personal expectations for your second year as far as on-track results? What do you think is realistic and what would you say you’re shooting for that would make year two in INDYCAR a success for you?
RINUS VEEKAY: Well, first of all, I want to do better than I did last year in any way. I think we can be a frontrunner regularly, like we can be one of the favorites every race. I’m thinking about top 5.
Once you’re in that position, I think there will — in those 17 races, there will be an opportunity where you can go for that race win where everything goes your way. We just have to make sure we have the pace. I know we’ve got the strategies, and just me being the driver I am that got a podium in Indy, and yeah, well, the driver I was last year.
I think if I just keep doing what I’m doing and have the team keep putting in the work that they did in the off-season, I think we can really run at the front, and yeah, hopefully go for podiums.
Hopefully that first win, that’s something I really want to go for. We’ll see how that goes. But yeah, I’m fully committed for the season.

Q. Do you feel like in any way the way Colton was able to grab a win so early in his career, I know Pato hasn’t won yet but he’s been really, really close, do either of their performances highlight how consistent they’ve been able to be early in their careers? Does that in any way give you any confidence in feeling like that’s possible for you?
RINUS VEEKAY: Oh, definitely, yeah. I think it’s definitely possible. I know the team is capable of it. You’ve got to be lucky to win.
Yeah, I’m going to go give it 100 percent, and I’m confident that we can do it, but just the opportunity has to arise. We’ll give it our all and see when it comes to us.

Q. I know you work with Arie Sr. What exactly is his role with you?
RINUS VEEKAY: He was kind of like my personal advisor. He has had a lot of experience in INDYCAR, his whole life as an INDYCAR driver, where he can give me so much advice like business-wise but also as a driver. Just with all the experience, he’s made a few mistakes, which he talks to me to make sure I don’t make those mistakes. It’s just great to have him around, and it’s a privilege to work with him.

Q. What kind of mistakes did Arie tell you he made that he shouldn’t make?
RINUS VEEKAY: Well, being a little too aggressive on an oval. It’s basically always that because he’s the king at that. And yeah, just little things that — little tricks that save you a lot of time on ovals, like with setting up the car and feeling what’s the car going to do, because you don’t have a lot of time when you’re coming to the race. And obviously setup is so important. If you can really maximize that time, yeah, it’s super valuable.

Q. What have you learned from your first season in INDYCAR that you can bring forward to this year, either both good and bad?
RINUS VEEKAY: Well, I’ve learned that INDYCAR is one of the most competitive series in the world and you have to give it over 100 percent to be competitive and to get results. So yeah, that’s definitely something I’ve learned.
I expected it to be super tough, but this is next level. Yeah, as a driver, just experience. I’ve just learned about everything last year, every procedure, strategies, pit stops. I’m still learning a lot.
I’m feeling like a veteran now, so coming into the next season I will have a lot more time to think instead of time finding out what’s happening around me.

THE MODERATOR: Rinus, we’ll get you get to the next station. Thanks again.
for your time and we wish you the best of luck this year.
RINUS VEEKAY: Perfect. Thank you very much. Bye-bye.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found www.chevrolet.com.