Category: NTT Indy

Pataskala, Ohio (15 April 2024) – After a strong start to the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, Meyer Shank Racing is back in action on the streets of Long Beach after nearly a month between points-paying races.

Felix Rosenqvist started the season in St. Petersburg by earning the team’s first front-row starting spot since 2021 with a track-record setting run, and followed that with a podium at the exhibition race at Thermal. The team is also coming off of the the IMS Open Test which was reduced to one day of on track action due to weather in preparation for next month’s Indianapolis 500.

Now, MSR heads to Southern California for Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which is the longest-running street course event on the series’ calendar (Sunday, 3:00pm ET, USA, SiriusXM Ch. 218).

Rosenqvist, who finished seventh in the season opener, will look to maintain the strong qualifying form he has shown in the No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda after earning front row starts in both St. Pete and Thermal. A repeat performance this week would give the Ohio-based team consecutive front-row starts in points-paying events for the first time since 2020.

Rosenqvist isn’t alone in showing qualifying speed for MSR this year as rookie Tom Blomqvist (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) earned the first top-20 start of his young career in St. Pete on his way to a career-best 17th-place finish. This weekend’s event at Long Beach will be the first venue where Blomqvist has previous experience at, having competed at the 1.968-mile street course in 2022 and 2023 in IMSA competition with MSR.

MSR heads to the iconic event with eight previous INDYCAR Long Beach starts under its belt, including a solid 2021 effort where both its drivers (Jack Harvey and Helio Castroneves) led laps in the race, marking the first time that both MSR pilots paced the field in the same event. Rosenqvist also has a solid history with the race, finishing on the lead lap in each of his four starts, scoring a pair of top-10 results with a best result of seventh coming a year ago.

Sunday’s 85-lap Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will air on USA Network and Peacock starting at 3 p.m. ET. Saturday’s qualifying will be shown live on Peacock beginning at 2:25 p.m. ET. SiriusXM will also host live IndyCar Radio coverage of both sessions on XM Ch. 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Felix Rosenqvist: “The whole team has done really well to kick off the season strongly, and now we’re finally back to a points scoring round and I feel like we are way more prepared than we were a month ago. We trust that we have a good package for Long Beach and have every chance to continue our strong form there.”

Tom Blomqvist: “I’m actually really excited for this one, it’s a track that I know really well from my years in IMSA. Every outing I’ve had in the INDYCAR I am slowly starting to become more comfortable in it. I’m pumped. I feel so much better going into Long Beach compared to how I felt going into St. Pete. Felix has also been doing incredibly well and we’re starting to prove that we have a competitive package. I’m excited and ready to go and feeling a lot more confident and eager to see how we get on.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS 500 OPEN TEST
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TESTING DAY ONE RECAP
APRIL 10, 2024

JOSEF NEWGARDEN AND KYLE LARSON LEAD A RAIN-SHORTENED FIRST DAY OF INDIANAPOLIS 500 OVAL TESTING AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

• Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden, and Hendrick Motorsports/Arrow McLaren driver Kyle Larson, led the NTT INDYCAR SERIES field during the rain-shortened first day of Indianapolis 500 testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in first and second, respectively.
• Larson, who is attempting “the double” that includes both the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26 with Chevrolet-supported Arrow McLaren and Hendrick Motorsports, showed strong pace in today’s test with his fastest lap at 226.384 mph.
• Team Chevy saw five drivers finish in the top-10 on the first day of testing, including Newgarden (first), Larson (second), Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin (sixth), Ed Carpenter Racing’s Ed Carpenter (seventh) and Christian Rasmussen (ninth).
• A total of 1,327 laps were turned at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during Wednesday’s rain-shortened testing, with Team Chevy drivers and teams having 569 of the total laps on track.
• Weather-permitting, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES plans to return for a second day of Indianapolis 500 testing on Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the first session taking the green flag at 10 a.m. ET.

TEAM CHEVY TEST RESULTS, DAY 1:

1. Josef Newgarden
2. Kyle Larson
3. Scott McLaughlin
4. Ed Carpenter
5. Christian Rasmussen
6. Santino Ferrucci
7. Rinus VeeKay
8. Will Power
9. Pato O’Ward
10. Conor Daly
11. Sting Ray Robb

26, Romain Grosjean

27. Callum Ilott
28. Alexander Rossi
29. Agustin Canapino
30. Ryan Hunter-Reay

What They’re Saying (Quotes):

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“It was a good day. It’s great to be back at the track. Glad we got some laps. A little unsure about things looking at the weather beforehand, but really comfy to start out. I think good signs going into the month of May. Excited to come back here with Team Chevy and everybody at Team Penske. I think we’ll have a good package to fight with. We’re ultimately going to be looking for more speed than last year, which I think will help us on race day. I feel confident we can find that in qualifying trim and be one step better than we were in 2023.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“Unfortunately, we were rained out today but had a good little bit of running. I feel like we have all three pretty good cars, but it’s nice to get reps around Indy again. The Chevy power feels good. Excited for Long Beach and then coming back here for May.”

Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“It’s nice. It is nice when it’s easy getting into it with a nice cool track (temperature) and a lot of grip. We had a pretty straightforward morning to be honest, wasn’t running in traffic. Going through some items, little details looking at the data the engineers want to see. (The car) felt good. It feels good, but it always feels much worse when you’re riding behind someone in that dirty wake. I’ve said it every year I believe we can challenge for pole but I really believe it this time. If not, we’ve done everything we can do. We’ve worked hard. I think the racecar is great. It has been. We’ve been fast.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“We try not to get too excited because it’s such a long process, and that involves a lot of testing. A lot of patience is required because half of the things you’re going to try are not going to work, half of the things you try might work or might be a no read. There’s still a lot of process to go, but so far this is the start of our Indy 500 so we want to make it a good one. It feels amazing. This place speaks for itself. I don’t have to sugar coat it, we’re just happy to be back.”

Callum Ilott, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“It’s good for the team, because I think in some ways, the continuity and running the last couple of races. Also, for my personal confidence, to get some time in the car in case it’s necessary to run the (Indianapolis) 500, I’m ready to go. It’s been great. A lot of the time… but Arrow McLaren has done a great job to integrate me and they’ve done super well. To be fair, the pace we showed in the last couple of segments has been really good, so they’ve done a good job. I feel really comfortable in the car.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“Every day here is awesome. It’s the best race track in the world with the best package that we have. Really excited to be back here. It was really cool to be here, obviously, for the eclipse and to get back on track. These tests are pretty low stress, just trying to understand what this year’s car is doing compared to last year’s. It’s just really enjoyable to drive the car. You don’t really have any pressure or concern about performance. You’re just trying to gather the information you need. The car is great, it rolled off strong and it’s been (smooth).”

Kyle Larson, No. 17 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“It felt good. Just good to get laps and get in some traffic, and to visually see what that looked like, to feel the runs and the dirty air a little bit. I feel like I learned quite a bit there and still have a lot to learn. It’s been a good morning so far. By yourself, (the car) has a lot of grip. In traffic, it was good. The first time I got in traffic, the balance felt normal. I didn’t feel like I went into a big transition from clean air to dirty air, but the last time I was super tight. It was good to experience to feel what that felt like. The packs I’ve been in have only had two or three cars, but it’ll be way different when the field is out there. I’ve just got to keep getting laps, and as the packs keep getting bigger, I think I’ll learn a lot more.”

Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“Obviously, a bit of an abbreviated day with the weather, but still a good start nonetheless for the team. We got Christian (Rasmussen) comfortable and through ROP. For myself and Rinus (VeeKay), we were able to evaluate the first steps of what we wanted to work on heading towards May. Hopefully we’ll get more time but we’re happy with where we started.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“It was great! It’s great to be back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But it is April, so it rained! We got the car out there this morning and had a smooth session. I was getting comfortable in traffic pretty quickly this afternoon and was looking forward to running more. But now we wait for tomorrow!”

Christian Rasmussen, No. 33 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“I had a blast turning my first laps around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an NTT INDYCAR SERIES car! Glad I was able to finish my ROP but I do wish we had been able to run more. There at the end I got to drive in traffic a bit and had a lot of fun with that. I can’t wait to get back here in May!”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“Today, our Sexton Properties Chevrolet felt good. It’s always nice to be back on the oval at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and the team has done a great job to prep for the month of May. Chevy definitely has some solid improvements, and I can’t wait to drive some more, hopefully, tomorrow as long as the weather holds out.”

Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“We’ve started our preparation for the Indy 500. Everything went well. The weather has not been on our side, but we managed to get some outings and some running there, so happy with the baseline and excited to come back for the month of May.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 23 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet:

“You really have to focus on your own program and try not to get carried away with what others are doing, maybe teammates and how they’re progress is doing. Just keep the blinders on and focus on your objectives. That’s the big thing and I’ve learned over the years, that’s the most important. This is very similar to last year, cool on Wednesday and on Thursday last year it rained. We only got one day in. This is an opportunity to go through the paces, make sure the car we’ve got all the electrical things sorted, make sure the fit in the car for the driver is right, and then the pairings of people and how they’re working on the engineering side. Just kind of getting through that process so you can hit the ground running when you come back when it really counts in May.”

Conor Daly, No. 24 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing-Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet:

“Honestly, the guys have done a great job at Dreyer & Reinbold Cusick Motorsports. Everyone at Chevrolet has been really helpful on getting back into the swing of things. This team hasn’t ran since (last) May, so a lot of things changed. There are new components on the car. I think a lot more new components than people might be aware of. There’s also how many parts did we get in time? The supply chain is also tough certainly as being an Indy-only team. But everything has been great so far. Just a few technical things we’ve had to deal with, but we’ve used the morning to sort through a few electrical things. The car felt great. No issues with the car right out of the gate. Pretty happy honestly right out of the gate. It was confident driving it, and I feel Ryan (Hunter-Reay) will feel the same thing.”

KYLE LARSON, DRIVER OF THE NO. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET — End of Day Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up day one of the Indy 500 open test here at the capital of racing. We’re joined by the driver of the No. 17 HendrickCars.com Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, none other than Kyle Larson. Day one kind of in the books, rain shortened, but during the time you were out there, what did you think?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, it was a good day, good to — like you said, we didn’t get a ton of laps or at least laps in a pack or anything like that, but it was still good for the amount that I got in something, just to visually kind of see what that looked like and feel the runs and all of that. It was good.

I feel like for what I needed to learn and check off my list, I thought it was a successful day, and yeah, hopefully the weather could get better for tomorrow and check some more things off.

I feel like rain follows NASCAR, so it’s probably my fault.

Q. Is it almost a little bit like a tease that you were going to have all this track time supposedly and you really weren’t able to get that much? In some ways, how do you balance that? There could have been a lot done today if the weather had cooperated.

KYLE LARSON: Honestly I kind of feel the opposite about it because I feel like I’ve been checking the weather for a week, and it’s looked worse. I wasn’t expecting to get on track at all. No, I feel like I’ve gotten more out of this week than I anticipated getting.

I was happy to get the solid couple hours that we got in in the morning. So I would rather have gotten something rather than nothing.

Q. Do you look at tomorrow as — it looks pretty grim tomorrow. If you do get on track, it would be bonus time?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I guess so, definitely. Any laps is good for me. Any laps is bonus at this point.

I just hope that it gets better, and I doubt it, but we’ll see.

Q. Obviously with the schedule that you have, any track time you need is good for you, obviously. With the obvious damper on the weather, losing possibly two and a half days of track time, how much does that change for you with trying to prepare for this race knowing that you need as much as you can get and obviously with the weather that takes away a big part of the opening session to help you get ready for May?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I don’t know. I think there’s a couple ways you could probably look at it. I think laps would be great. I would obviously like more laps. But I think in conditions like this, I don’t know how well of a representation it would be for the month of May, especially race day.

Maybe it’s best that I don’t get that many laps this week because then I would have a false sense of what’s real and what’s coming in a month.

I won’t be sad if we don’t get laps tomorrow just because I know that the conditions aren’t hopefully going to be anything like what it will be in May. I think there will be a lot more to learn once we really get into the two weeks that we’re on track here.

Q. Dating back to October when you were out here, it’s probably been information overload. What is something that has surprised you out on the track that you’ve had to adjust to, and what’s something that maybe has come a little bit more natural than what you expected?

KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. I mean, again, I don’t think anything is quite real out there in practice like to what I’ll experience in the race. I think I’m going to be overloaded during the race trying to process information — not only information, just learning during the race.

But for practice, like the few laps I got in the second session, there was a lot of checking up for whatever reason like getting in the corner. I think that kind of helped me realize that I needed to look further ahead than the one car that’s in front of me. Like I think I was like fourth or fifth in line at that point, and I probably needed to look a couple more cars in front of that person. When I say that person, also it’s like, I don’t know who I’m out there around because in a stock car somebody turns the corner you can see a door number or there’s a number on their back bumper. I’ve got no clue who I’m out there around and learning off of. That was surprising. I thought it would be easier to know who was out there around me. Yeah, it’s difficult.

Then I don’t know, just the cars to me feel very similar to a stock car, in a way. Everything that I feel out there is like what I would expect from a 9:00 a.m. practice session in a stock car at the Brickyard 400. Cool conditions, got grip, all that. We wouldn’t be running around here wide open in a stock car. The way the tires feel and all that feels relatively similar.

Q. Curious about your thoughts at ROP last year, the experience you had at Phoenix Raceway? Have you been able to build one on another or is each one of them separate in its own way?

KYLE LARSON: No, I think for sure doing the ROP — I wish it wasn’t so spread out. I wish we didn’t do it in October and then in February and then in April. I wish it was days apart or weeks apart.

But I think had I had to do the ROP today, I would have been stressed out and really nervous and just not able to focus on something or anything. So having it spread out like helped me kind of take my time with, all right, I wanted to feel the car at the ROP and just feel like little stuff, what the steering wheel felt like, visually, what all that felt like. Like okay, that was good. Then go to Phoenix, now I want to feel the car and it slipping and moving and work on ins and outs of pit stalls and things like that. That was good for that test.

Now today I could move on to the next thing, like all right, now how does it look like around cars. How does what I’ve learned in the past translate to now being behind cars, where I think had the weather been good today, I would have been stressed out about the ROP and what that was going to look like and then now you’re past that, now you’ve got to go out there and run wide open behind somebody. Like I don’t know if mentally I’d be ready for that.

I’m fortunate that I was able to do the ROP last year and then be allowed to run that little bit at Phoenix for sure. I think it’s definitely going to help.

Q. When Jimmie Johnson was in our series, he was pretty honest about the differences going from the NASCAR car, the Cup car to the INDYCAR. Did you talk with Jimmie before you came out here and did this?

KYLE LARSON: Just briefly I think a few months ago. He just said I was going to have a blast, honestly, really. I’ve tried not to ask too many questions to people. Like I feel like the way I’ve learned in the past is like I just need to learn on my own a little bit, and don’t get me wrong, I’m leaning on Tony Kanaan a lot and was in there during the couple-hour break talking to my teammates and stuff. But I think to a point, I just need to almost just feel things out on my own sometimes.

Like Jimmie didn’t — hasn’t ran a NextGen car that much, so I don’t know how well he could compare to what I currently feel in a stock car and how that would relate to this. Any information is good. I just don’t want to overload myself with too much information from too many different people and just confuse myself. I think there’s just a — although we’re on track a lot, it’s a small window of time to learn, and I think if I overwhelm myself with too much info, I can get lost.

Q. Going back to what you were saying about like a 9:00 a.m. practice for the Brickyard, I think you said earlier that the Next Gen has made the transition similar to INDYCAR. Can you elaborate on that? How is the Next Gen, which obviously looks nothing like an INDYCAR, how is it maybe more similar now that it feels like —

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I don’t know exactly what the components are that has made it feel like an INDYCAR or whatever. It’s not exactly like it, but just the feel that I feel in my hands with the front tires — not that I’m feeling the rear tires here, but like at Phoenix, just feeling the rear tires and kind of the lateral grip or lack thereof grip felt more similar to a Cup car.

The old style car you could slide it around more. It was a bit lazier feeling, where now the Next-Gen cars are closer to like a sharper edge of having grip and then losing that grip, where the sensations that I get in the INDYCAR, it’s like — like at Phoenix, I got that feeling a lot, and then just the way the front tires kind of load and you get your hands to a point and then you can steer past the slip of the tire and all that. I don’t know, just something maybe I’m feeling in the sidewall or whatever. But it feels very similar to like what I would feel in my hands if I got tight or understeer in the middle of a corner.

So yeah, it just feels — the Next-Gen car is closer to the edge of grip and then losing grip, which I think the INDYCAR is even sharper but similar.

Q. You said in your Peacock interview, you were talking about how you wished you had the SMT data that you have in NASCAR. What’s one thing — is it just knowing where those guys are lifting in the corners, throttle traces? Is there one driver in particular whose data you would love to see just based on what you’ve seen today?

KYLE LARSON: I would look at anybody’s, honestly. There’s not one driver. I think it’s difficult at a place where it’s so big and there’s drafts and stuff. If I could just go and look at — like when I’m in a drafting pack of like, okay, this is what I look like I’m doing, compared to what guys typically do, like overlay on the same corner — I can’t sit here and describe SMT to these people because they’ve never seen it but you have.

It would just be nice to see myself — ghost car on top of mine from somebody that was running around and what that all looked like, where they’re grabbing gears, where I’m grabbing gears, line shape, all that. Everything about SMT would be amazing to look at and be so helpful for myself and for anybody who’s a veteran in there. I think they would love to see it.

SMT is just a great tool that we have in NASCAR that I guess I’m thankful for as a rookie, but I guess at times in NASCAR I wish we didn’t have it.

Q. How did you find your first experience running in traffic? How did the car behave differently compared to when you’ve just been running alone?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, so when I was able to go that faster lap or whatever, we were just — I think that was my first run on that set of tires, and there was a few cars in front of me, and I’ve been hearing about how the dirty air is and all that and how bad it is. In that run I was like, man, it doesn’t feel that bad. It didn’t feel that different from clean air, and I was wide open behind them, and it was no problem.

Then we did some ins and outs and got towards the end of that set of tires, and I was by myself just kind of running and building lots of understeer by myself, and we stayed out there to kind of allow Newgarden to catch me, and he ended up passing me, and I totally lost the nose. That was pretty crazy kind of feeling that and all of that.

But I think I could have done a better job, as well, when he passed me timing the air and the run and all that. Once I kind of lost the nose, it was hard to recover from it.

It was so sensitive that, again, I don’t even know if that’s real, but I would assume that’s more real than me not feeling a balance change in traffic. But yeah, that’s why it’s just kind of hard to learn right now when the conditions are like this and the packs are smaller and all that. There’s still a lot left to learn. But that’s what I felt in those couple runs.

Q. I think you’ve spoken before, as well, about maybe not knowing where you stack up against other drivers, not having a benchmark on track. How encouraged are you after today when you have been on track with other cars and you can see that you are very competitive with them?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, it’s tough to really say because I just think I got like a magic draft and laid a lap down. So I really don’t know. I don’t even know how to answer that.

I think I still have a lot of time to learn, so I’m excited about that. But yeah, I’m not sure. I saw Twitter was going crazy because oh, Kyle Larson was second in his first INDYCAR practice with people, but there’s a lot of people that weren’t drafting out there or didn’t have the draft that I had. I take the credit, but it’s really not a big deal, either.

Q. You’re very familiar with the guys that you race with every week in NASCAR and you’re really probably pretty familiar with the guys you race with in sprint cars, but this is a group of drivers you haven’t raced with before. How important is it to really learn their nuances and their traits and their characteristics so that you can recognize that when you’re up here running for real?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I think it’s very important for sure. I just kind of think back to when I started racing late model stuff. I had to do a lot of studying on draft — I literally watched no dirt late model races before I raced or got the idea to go race them.

See, I had to study and it’s much easier to study a dirt race than it is a 500-mile INDYCAR race or whatever. But yeah, I don’t know. I think for me and Indy, I’m probably just going to have to go off of what other — my teammates tell me about other drivers and all that.

But I haven’t really heard much about other drivers and their aggressiveness or who’s really aggressive, who’s crazy, who’s not, who can you take advantage, who can’t you, stuff like that. I don’t even know if that really translates to an oval.

I think I wouldn’t be surprised if like guys are maybe aggressive on a road course or maybe not quite aggressive on an oval. It would be hard for me to watch Long Beach and be like, man, that guy is going to be crazy at Indy.

So I don’t know. I just try to listen and soak up as much of that sort of information as I can, too.

Q. (No microphone.)

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I know how — and I’m probably the most aggressive when it comes to sprint cars, so I know I’ve got that.

But on this, I probably won’t be very aggressive. Or at least not for a while. But we’ll see.

About Chevrolet

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INDIANAPOLIS (Wednesday, April 10, 2024) – Josef Newgarden must like the view from the top at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as he was fastest Wednesday in the rain-shortened first day of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge Open Test.

Reigning “500” winner Newgarden turned the fastest lap during the morning session on the 2.5-mile oval, 228.811 mph, in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden also led the Indy 500 Open Test in 2022 and last year, when he returned in May to earn his first victory in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” after a scintillating, last-lap duel with 2022 winner Marcus Ericsson.

“We’re not trying to do it because I had no idea,” Newgarden said of leading the Open Test for a third straight year. “I didn’t know it was three years in a row. We want to check off things on our list. Obviously, it’s been right at the front, which is a good sign.”

The first day of testing, which featured separate sessions for veterans, and Rookie Orientation Program and refresher tests, was halted numerous times by passing raindrops, including one midday delay of 67 minutes. Heavier showers arrived shortly after 2 p.m. ET to end on-track activity.

Testing is scheduled to resume from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. ET Thursday, with live coverage in the United States on Peacock and live international coverage on INDYCAR LIVE.

While it was little surprise to see NTT INDYCAR SERIES oval master Newgarden atop the speed chart, the second-fastest driver raised eyebrows and anticipation in equal measure. 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Larson clocked in second at 226.384 in the No. 17 Hendrickcars.com Arrow McLaren Chevrolet as he prepares for his first start in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” while also attempting the “Hendrick 1100” double of racing at Indy and in the Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Sunday, May 26.

“Getting in some traffic and feeling the turbulent air,” Larson said. “The first time I got in traffic, I think my tires still had good grip, so I was surprised. It didn’t feel that different in traffic. Then the last time, I was building understeer, and Newgarden got by me and I was super tight behind him.

“I’m just trying to learn all that and process all that and knowing what I can do in the car to cope with that. I’m just trying to figure out any bit of racecraft today, which I know is tough. Just get notes in my head and all that.”

2008 Indy 500 winner and six-time series champion Scott Dixon was third at 226.346 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, followed by reigning series champion and teammate Alex Palou at 226.201 in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Colton Herta rounded out the top five at 225.907 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda. Herta was the only driver among the top five to turn his best lap in the brief afternoon session before testing was washed out.

All three veterans requiring refresher tests – Marco Andretti, Pietro Fittipaldi and Katherine Legge – completed that program. Christian Rasmussen, Kyffin Simpson and Nolan Siegel each finished the three-phase Rookie Orientation Program.

The 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is scheduled for Sunday, May 26. Practice opens Tuesday, May 14, with PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
PREMA RACING ANNOUNCEMENT PRESS CONFERENCE
APRIL 10, 2024

JAY FRYE – President of INDYCAR, PIERS PHILLIPS – CEO of PREMA Racing, RENE ROSIN – Team Principal of PREMA Racing – Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, racing capital of the world.

As everyone knows, yesterday PREMA Racing, winners of some 80 driver and team single-seater championships through the years, announcing they’ll be joining the NTT INDYCAR SERIES in 2025. It is a full-time two-car effort with Chevrolet power and a shop that will be located here in the state of Indiana.

Joining us this morning, PREMA Racing, Rene Rosin. We welcome back Piers Phillips, who is the PREMA Racing INDYCAR CEO. As well, INDYCAR president Jay Frye. Good morning to all three of you gentlemen.

We’ll begin with Rene. The growth of the team over the last 40 years now, certainly well-documented, the drivers that have come out of your program read like a who’s who in INDYCAR and Formula 1. What makes the move to INDYCAR the right move at the right time for you?

RENE ROSIN: Good afternoon, everybody, and good morning.

For PREMA, we always looking to new challenge. Having the possibility to compete here in the U.S., in the most important championship in the most important American teams, is something that we are really proud and looking forward next year.

Is a new challenge for us. We always looking to find new adventure, new possibility to expand not only for our drivers but as well for mechanics, engineers. Given the opportunity to grow up within our structure and our business is something that we always looking forwards.

THE MODERATOR: Welcome. Great news.

Piers, through your various INDYCAR roles, welcome back. Certainly you know a setup is not easy. As you’ve gotten into this, what has excited you about this opportunity?

PIERS PHILLIPS: The first thing that obviously excited me was working with Rene and his organization, PREMA, amazing organization with amazing history.

The challenge is something we all live for. Everybody that is a racer gets out of the bed to go and win, the challenges associated with that.

For me, starting from what is effectively a blank page, being able to incorporate what I know from my time here in the U.S., in this amazing championship, and my previous experience in obviously the PREMA experience from Europe, being able to blend that and really produce a different sort of culture, really progressive-thinking organization, along with our partners at Chevrolet, really excites me about putting a consistently competitive team together.

THE MODERATOR: Jay, you bring in Meyer Shank, the list goes and on. The majority stakeholder that McLaren has had over the last couple years. Some four teams really since 2020 that have joined the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. How did this new relationship come about?

JAY FRYE: It’s amazing. You think about the rolling five-year plan we implemented in 2017. One of the goals was to recruit new and elite race teams and owners, that type of thing. Obviously 80 championships in 40 years, that’s pretty elite. We’re certainly thrilled to have them.

We’ve been talking with them for the last six, eight months. We worked on the plan, let them see what it looks like going forward. We’re really excited to have them.

By my count, this will be 29 full-time entries, so things are really good.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. Rene, you have produced some drivers that have done well here, Marcus, Felix, Callum. Did you speak to some of those guys before coming here to start an INDYCAR program?

RENE ROSIN: Honestly, even if we start talking together with INDYCAR in the last six, seven months, of course the discussion of opportunity to expand into America is something that is coming already between more than two, three years ago with some ideas, of course discussion.

We are still in very good contact with all these drivers that you mentioned. We just celebrate our 40th anniversary in December. Most of them have been able to join us in Venice in our event. We always very close to them and very friendly relationship with all of them. We always talk together.

They always say, Why not coming to America? Why not do INDYCAR? It would be something very good for you, very good for the team. That is something we are looking forward in 2025 now.

Q. Jay, obviously with 29 cars potential next year, there’s going to be some likely issues on a few of the pit lanes. Any thoughts so far on how you will take care of those issues, Mid-Ohio, Toronto?

JAY FRYE: We’ve talked about it before. There’s problems now with some of the places we go to, right? It’s something we’ve got to evaluate, look at going forward. Certainly a problem, but a really good problem to have, and something we’ll sort out.

Q. Will the driver lineup be drivers that are already in your pipeline or possibly drivers that are already in INDYCAR?

RENE ROSIN: The driver lineup is something we are evaluating. We are looking at how the market will lead first.

We have some ideas. Of course, we want to get the most prepared as possible, get a good lineup to perform. But of course is something we will discuss in the next coming months.

We are looking to get a competitive lineup within our self experience. Rookies, something we’re evaluating. Possible our pipeline, possibly not. Everything is open at the moment.

Q. Why INDYCAR and why did you want to embark on this project right now?

RENE ROSIN: I think, first of all, why INDYCAR? As I said before, is a great challenge. Is something that expand our business opportunity in another level, in another continent. We wanted to get out of Europe because, of course, we reach every possible category within the ladder of motorsport apart from Formula 1 in Europe, from karting till Formula 2. We have a technical partnership in World Endurance Championship and (indiscernible) DH. This is something we were looking to expand our boundaries to make sure we can create a global group within our entity.

Why in ’25? Of course, when PREMA join a championship, it’s not to join to be just a number or to be somebody part of it, we want to be part as a protagonist, we want to be part when we are ready to do something. ’24 to ’25 was the right time for us in terms of structures, all the other programs we are doing, to setting up a new adventure here in the U.S.

Q. Why two full-time cars to start off in a brand-new series?

PIERS PHILLIPS: That’s a good question. It’s to concentrate the effort more than anything else. There’s a huge amount for PREMA to understand. Obviously the core of the team will have experience, and I’m really comfortable with the individuals we have in line for that.

I always tell people INDYCAR is probably the most challenging series in the world. The diversity of the tracks, the street courses, the ovals. Every street course is different. Every oval is different. Every road course is different. We need to really hone in, concentrate our efforts and put a competitive program together as quickly as possible.

Q. In the release you mentioned starting in a shop in the Indiana area. Have you landed on that area yet, purchased it?

PIERS PHILLIPS: We are evaluating the options. We have various places at the moment. Right now that’s to be confirmed.

Q. You are coming into the series at a time where you could have the potential to have to qualify for just about every race on the calendar with the new charter system. Is that a tough thing for you to battle, new team, two full-time cars, potential to have to qualify to start races?

PIERS PHILLIPS: Obviously we’re aware of the situation, aware of the discussions that are ongoing. Yes, obviously in communications with INDYCAR on that. We’ll keep that in our focus as we move forward.

If I could speak from a competition standpoint. There’s some very, very strong, top-level teams in this championship. We know that. But it is our desire that we will come in and we want to be competitive right from the word ‘go’. I know that’s a big ask, but we will be working extremely hard in putting all our efforts from the start of the program.

Q. Piers, will the team members be comprised of a mixture of guys that you necessarily may be familiar with along with some guys that may be working for the team over in Europe?

PIERS PHILLIPS: Yeah, that’s a possibility. Obviously INDYCAR, it’s a very sort of, particularly the ovals, a niche of experience that is required. There’s a lot of people. Even since the release yesterday, I’m surprised my phone didn’t end up in a little ball of melted plastic yesterday (smiling).

We will be looking at blending the talents from both sides of the Atlantic. I think that’s a fair statement, yeah.

Q. Jay, when you began, one of the problems was there were a lot of good crew guys out there and not necessarily a lot of opportunities for jobs. Now it’s the opposite. How do you address that? Is that a great problem to have?

JAY FRYE: Yes, just like when you mentioned about the car count, it’s a problem, but it’s a great problem to have.

We have tried to do things like last year we set up a job portal, INDYCAR did, to help recruit, the teams do that. There have been a lot of teams that actually used that portal.

We are collectively as a group working with the paddock to recruit new and young talent coming into the sport. It’s a great opportunity for a lot of young people right now to come into the sport at a time when it’s growing rapidly.

Yeah, again, it’s a problem. It’s a good problem. One we’re all addressing together. I think we’ll get through it.

Q. You mentioned you competed in pretty much everything over in Europe. Coming to INDYCAR, how difficult do you feel this challenge is going to be next season?

RENE ROSIN: First of all, is a great challenge to have because is meaning that we are the top level of the motorsport worldwide, I would say. Of course, there will be some tough times in terms of organization, in terms of planning, in terms of engineering. With the patience and determination of everybody in the team, I think we can succeed.

Of course, it will be a learning year, 2025. We need to learn this difficult way of racing from road course, ovals and street circuits. I think we are looking forward to blend together the European and American mentality and bring some novelties within this championship.

Q. Rene, do you see INDYCAR as a special opportunity to keep some of the talents and bring them to INDYCAR to continue this relationship?

RENE ROSIN: This is for sure an opportunity that we gave to drivers. Of course, the motorsport market can offer different opportunity. But for drivers going after Formula 2, one of the opportunity, the place in Formula 1 are quite limited. Having the chance to explore the INDYCAR world is also something to consider and something positive. It’s something we can offer to our drivers in order to continue their progression and their aspire to professionalism.

Q. Piers, you talked about your experience in INDYCAR. How exciting is it for you to have something from a blank slate, being able to bring some people from Europe, from America, everyone meeting in PREMA?

PIERS PHILLIPS: It’s an exciting opportunity as I touched on before. I think having known Rene and his team for a while now, the enthusiasm, the energy that emanates from them, it’s unbelievable.

I think to come in as maybe nobody else has done, we haven’t done an Indy Lights team, haven’t bought anybody, really put our mark on this from the first day we open the workshop, is incredibly exciting.

I think to see that come to fulfillment, first race, first race win dare I say, will be an amazing journey for everybody that’s involved with it.

Q. Jay, we’ve talked about the car count. Do you envision one day a hard stop on the number of cars allowed to race or everyone can still come in and you will find the solutions, even 31 or 32 entries?

JAY FRYE: Probably a hybrid of all. We will do all we can to start as many cars as we can. But like you mentioned, obviously there are limits. There will be a time where that has to be addressed and we will address it.

Q. Rene, how hands on is your role going to be? More focused on the European side of things or…

RENE ROSIN: First of all, we need to continue competing and winning, of course, in the European side. My role will evolve into a more overlooking both sides of PREMA, both European and America.

In each group we have a responsible that is on the day-by-day management. Of course, I will be present in the most important events, then I will try to do my best to make sure that every team has all the needs and the possibility to well perform.

Q. In the last couple years you’ve seen a few teams form alliances and partnerships. Is that something you look at exploring to help your growth in the series?

RENE ROSIN: It’s something we are open to everything. We are open to evaluating. Of course, we want to do our team in the best way as possible. When will be the moment to discuss it, I think we will start discussing.

It is something that we want to do, to first analyze all the opportunities, then decide what is the best to do.

Q. Where do you think the health of the series is, getting another European name coming in? How good news is this for the series?

JAY FRYE: It’s obviously huge news. A team that’s won 80 championships in 40 years, that’s phenomenal. I can even do that math. Pretty good math, right?

This is for sure our vision of what could happen, is to recruit elite teams like PREMA. To have them here, we’re quite excited about it.

The car count piece, last year 27 full-time, which was a record. We have just added to that. We just added to that with an elite program. We’re obviously excited to have them.

Q. Are there any other teams potentially looking at bringing entries to the series? Could we see that number grow more in the next few years?

JAY FRYE: Yes. There’s ongoing conversations with two or three different entries or entities. Again, it’s a problem, but it’s a good problem to have right now.

There’s a lot of interest in INDYCAR. I think it looks back over what’s happened the last few years, going forward we got a lot of good things going on. There is currently a lot of interest in INDYCAR, yes.

Q. Mr. Rosin, you’ve built a virtual ladder in racing in the United States. Do you also plan to expand to INDY NXT? Is that a further consideration?

RENE ROSIN: Of course, we need to keep our eyes open and see what the market will require. At the moment we have quite enough on our table to what we are doing. We are looking to improve that and stabilize all our efforts and maximize the results.

Q. Piers, you’ve obviously got a wide ranging INDYCAR experience. You’ve seen some new teams that have come into the series. What do you feel are some of the most important things to be able to have success, be a long time team in the series?

PIERS PHILLIPS: I think the main thing in my experience is understanding the culture of American racing because it’s different to Europe. Having worked on both sides of the Atlantic, having had success on both sides, you understand the strengths.

But the racing is different. I think it’s important that you come in and respect the championship and respect the series for what it is, particularly this place. What an amazing facility for anybody to come and race at.

You need to understand the cultural differences. That’s back to what I was talking about earlier: being able to blend the best of both worlds and end up better than everybody else.

All the teams have different circumstances. I think we start from a really strong foundation with PREMA, their experience. It’s up to me to make sure that we guide it in the right direction and keep our eyes open and make sure that we don’t fall into any of the situations that those previous teams did.

Q. It’s been said that you might try to target an experienced INDYCAR driver, then someone who is currently in your development program. Is that the goal or the format that you’re target the right now or in flux still?

RENE ROSIN: If I can say for sure, ideally it will be good to have an experienced drivers and of course one rookie. On the other hand, as PREMA, we always work with rookie. We always maximize the result. We are not scared to even have two rookies.

We are really evaluating all the opportunity to maximize what is our potential. I think this is now the next step on what we will dedicate most of our time together to building up the teams in the best ways possible. That’s quite soon we will have some news.

Q. As INDYCAR is pursuing this new charter system, is it a goal to buy one or two of these whenever they become available or are you okay operating in the current status quo, potentially have to qualify?

RENE ROSIN: Of course, chartering system is something that is on the table. Is on the discussion of INDYCAR. First we want to understand how everything had go and then we will decide what’s the best way to do.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll leave it there for now. Congratulations.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. 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 at www.chevrolet.com.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS HYBRID ROAD COURSE TEST
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TEAM CHEVY HYBRID TEST NOTES & QUOTES
MARCH 28-29, 2024

CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES TEAMS ED CARPENTER RACING, AJ FOYT RACING, AND JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING COMPLETE TWO DAYS OF HYBRID TECHNOLOGY TESTING ON THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE

• Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course hosted two days of 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected V6 engine with hybrid technology testing, with six drivers and three teams representing Chevrolet, gaining experience and valuable time logged with the new NTT INDYCAR SERIES technology package on board.
• With 400 laps (975.6 miles) turned during Thursday’s test, Friday saw additional crucial laps and miles made on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course.
• Representing Chevrolet on track Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course include Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay, AJ Foyt Racing’s Sting Ray Robb, and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean.
• Friday saw the Bowtie brand represented by Team Chevy drivers Christian Rasmussen of Ed Carpenter Racing, Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing, and Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger Racing on track during the second day of hybrid testing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
• With this two-day test complete, all drivers and teams of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES have now tested the 2.2-liter twin turbo direct-injected V6 engine with hybrid technology.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“I love it. For my driving style in particular, it’s a huge help for me, the way you can control it to rotate the car. I’m a very oversteer-happy, rear-end happy kind of driver. My current issue with the car we have now, especially since we’ve put all the weight up top, has been when you come off the brakes and roll into the speed, the weight creates a massive understeer and front wash. I’ve really struggled to obviously adapt. It’s one of my Achilles heels. Having the hybrid system in is so much better, plus it’s really fun because it adds a depth to the driving and being able to think. You have the hybrid system and the overtake system, you have the way you’re regenerating, so many different things that I feel like it’s making it more of a drivers’ car. The series is already so tight between having this car for so long, set ups for every team are pretty good across the board, to add another aspect to where the driver can make a difference is huge.”

Do you feel the additional weight in the car?

“Yes and no. What’s nice about the weight is you can kind of feel it down the straight, because it doesn’t kind of feel like it’s going as quick, which is partially true. Also, today it’s really hard to tell because the air is also really heavy. Is it a fair comparison? Not really. But the weight is not an issue because it’s so low, and for me being so low, I can put the ballast back in the bulkhead of the car, so we can get the weight distribution where we’d like back. For me, I felt the aeroscreen affects way more than I have the hybrid. This is just a lot of fun, so I’m very much enjoying myself out there.”

In terms of restarting the car, how are you faring?

“I haven’t done it yet. I did do the new reverse, which is really freaky. It’s weird just letting the clutch out and then just hitting the car rolling back. It’s quite strange. It takes a lot of the driver error and stalls out of it. Honestly, for the safety side of things, it’s so much better. You won’t have the AMR Safety Team coming out over the wall to get out there, and their chances of getting injured are so much less. For us, to be put in reverse and not stalling, speeding up sessions and avoiding red flags is so much better. I think the way they’ve implemented the hybrid with both manufacturers have done a phenomenal job.

What was the pre-test preparation like?

“Chevy took their time and came to every team and sat us down. They had a full explanation. They got through and answered all our questions. It’s one of those things where they’re very positive about moving this forwrad, and then today, working through all of the systems. How to do the brake, on-throttle, off-throttle, the way that we’re saving and how we can use it throughout the lap. They’ve been incredibly open about it, and it’s been such an easy adaptation as a driver to move into this and be working in it. I’m not fully comfortable with it, but I am very much enjoying it, and I do wish and can’t wait until we have it in the series full time.”

Walk us through a lap and where you would use it, where it’s different than without…

“I’m using it to start the lap. I’m using it coming off of the banking to hold the car stable under the first initial hit; it’s really easy to lock. For all of your corners that are slightly more than 90 degrees where you have entry and stability to a front wash, the way you can transition in and out of the hybrid you can calm the car down. You’re really using it as a balancing tool, and the energy they’re giving you for a lap, it’s a lot of work to be using it every lap, depleting it and reusing it, you’re very busy mentally driving the car, not just physically anymore. So I think the races are now very long, very difficult, adding this step is going to add to driver fatigue and you’re going to have to train extra hard on everything that you do. It just needs to become second nature. Right now, for every team in the paddock, how we have the button layout, the steering wheel isn’t exactly fully adapted yet for the hybrid system, so there’s a little bit more thought process going into it. Where my button is, it’s right on my PLC. I’ve hit the PLC numerous times on my lap to deploy the hybrid on numerous laps. It’s going to become easier once we build the steering wheels around the system, but for testing, its honestly working just great.”

Christian Rasmussen, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“It was good. It’s obviously very new for us. It’s still nice to have someone (in regard to teammate Rinus VeeKay testing Thursday) to sort out the wrinkles a little bit, but it’s good. I think we gained some valuable data yesterday, and planned some today, then today it’s just continuing learning and doing the best we can.”

What was the pre-test prep like for you?

“We had the sim. We drove it in the sim and trained in there, then just getting into all of the procedural stuff so you know where all the buttons are that you’re going to use. It’s fairly simple. Then, a lot of hands-on stuff for me today, getting to use it, getting to know it a little bit better, see what works, see what doesn’t in terms of driving it and see where you can extract time out of it.”

How is it?

“It’s definitely fun. There’s definitely a little boost where you’re going to use it in a different place than you use the overtake. It’s a good little boost, you can definitely feel it. And then, running around Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an Indy car, is always a good day.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“Pretty bit of a chilly morning, but it’s nice to get started with the hybrid. It’s definitely a lot of new stuff for all of us as a team to digest and run through. Pretty good learning so far. We got more running in than I thought with the cool temperatures, but a good start.”

How different is the hybrid?

“It is fairly similar, there are just a lot more buttons I need to press, and a lot more stuff I need to go through. Usually, I have a clue about knowing what we’re doing, but this is all new so I’m still learning. I hated that I could not give the team much feedback on what we need to do.”

What do you notice about the balance, especially with the weight difference? Especially since you drove this weekend at Thermal compared to now, is that noticeable?

“It’s hard for now, since I haven’t really run my qualifying-ish… I haven’t really tried that hard. Also, we haven’t run the Indianapolis road course tire yet, so I can’t really tell. Of course, with the regeneration, there is some kind of balance shift on braking, but we’re still figuring everything out.”

What are you working on today from an automatic or manual regen or deploy standpoint?

“Making sure we run through everything, and we’ve got a good read on how everything works. Getting a read on what is better and what I prefer too.”

Were you able to get a chance to test out the restart on track?

“Actually, I did a restart out there on pit lane for the first time. It felt the same. The guys were a lot happier, and they were all cheering. It’s basically a toggle I put to the side, and it fires up.”

If you go long in a braking zone like in a practice session, you should be able to restart yourself?

“Yes, I think there’s going to be quite a few less yellows on street courses, that’s for sure.”

What was pre-test prep like?

“I started talking with the team about that yesterday, sort of like a normal prep day, to go over everything, making sure I understand what I am, or they are talking about, when I say change something. It is pretty clear. It’s not like a different kind of math we have to learn. It’s just new. It felt pretty good. My engineer Matt Barnes and I just went over some extra stuff that’s pretty standard to be honest. We’re focusing on hybrid and hybrid only, and making sure tomorrow when Christian (Rasmussen) jumps in the car, he can do a lot more hard running and I get most of the bugs out of the way.”

Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“It’s been good so far. We haven’t got to do the on-track restart yet, but some of the other cars have and it works. So that’s really good to see, because you can go long in a brake zone, stall your car and spin around, and we’ve got a way to restart instead of waiting on a safety crew to get to us. The innovation in the series has been good to see. I think it’s good to have a new hybrid unit going into the car with the help of Honda and Chevy both working together super well. The whole package seems to be doing its job quite well, and I think that’s just a testament to the 20,000+ miles that we’ve put into the car.”

Does it feel remarkably different today than what you were driving Saturday and Sunday in Thermal?

“Yeah, a little bit. I think part of that is the weight. It’s a little bit heavier. So, minimum corner speeds seem like they’re going to be a little bit different now, but the power down seems great coming out of the front straightway here at (Indianapolis Motor Speedway). I’m watching my deltas trickle away some time, which is good. The regeneration on braking, I haven’t felt any huge difference yet so that’s kind of good. I was a little bit worried that it would get to a point where the handling of the car would change. I’m sure that if we’re super aggressive with the regeneration, which we will try, we can see that balance shift in the brake zones, but for now, it seems like its doing its job just fine without having to change the setup.”

When we’ve talked to some at these tests in the past, we’ve discussed auto and manual regeneration. What are you working on today?

“This morning we tried in our install lap to do some manual regen. Still a little bit of work to there on our side, but the automatic regen seems to be the most usable because you’re not moving your hand on the wheel in the middle of the brake zone or corner to hold the button down which is hard on the drivers. It gives us more opportunity and more tools to work with as drivers. I think as we get in to racing, we’ll see some more of that manual regen, especially during caution flags. The auto regen is a map and preset from the team, so it’ll be more up to the driver to utilize those tools in the right scenario.”

How about the deploy options? Are you doing those today?

“It’s pretty standard right now. It’s been pretty cold this morning, so getting up to temp and doing install laps has been the main goal. Minimal deploy so far but seems to be working as intended.”

Do you see this changing the racing at all?

“I think so. I think that it allows different strategies to be applied. It’s a matter of how you regen, how much you regen, and how much you deploy. It’s seems to be similar in the sense of push-to-pass when you’re at lower speeds. When you’re at maximum velocity, it doesn’t have a lot of help. I’m interested to see what it’s like with the push-to-pass. I think with those two complimenting each other, and maybe trying to supplement one or the other to save one or the other during a race might be useful. I think that it could change the racing, but at the same time, everyone has the same package to work with so it will be who uses it the wisest.”

What was pre-test prep like for you and the team?

“We had varying slideshows we went through. It seems like they’ve done a lot of work ahead of time, honestly. I think part of that is letting drivers be drivers and not engineers, which is nice. I’m happy that we’re getting a chance to do this before it’s introduced. I think it would have really been tough initially for the drivers that for the drivers who ran the first half of the 20,000 miles versus the second half like we are now. Honda, Chevy, INDYCAR, all of the above, they’re all working on this package, and so they’re all trying to create the best opportunities for the drivers and the teams to perform and have those tools so there can be different strategies in a race. It seems pretty flawless at the moment, which I’m honestly really excited about. The functionality of the unit is working well.”

Is it going to lengthen the braking zones?

“I think the weight of the car might, but while I was out there today, it’s cold and I was on used tires from Thermal, and I was still braking close to the same spot that I was during the race last year. I will say, in the few laps that I have done here, I’m really excited about our Indy GP car. It felt promising, so that might be a different story separate from the hybrid unit. But I think that the regen could help braking, especially balance on entry, it’s just a matter of if you deploy at the right time and not have that capacity used up on the brake zone. If you use it up on the brake zone, that’s where it will change the balance halfway through. That’s where the issue kind of comes in for the driver where we have to pay attention.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“Honestly, I like it. It’s different. Of course, it was our first time with the system. It’s a totally different system. I like it because I love the technology. It’s impressive because of the way you have free extra power because the extra system gives you the extra power. Of course, it’s difficult to manage, but this is only the beginning. The good thing is it’ll give more interesting races in INDYCAR. I like it. It’s only the beginning, but definitely it’s a really good system, and I want to do many more laps to understand better the way to maximize the system and use more time to not only have more power, but I want to have more balance in the car. You have more power, but you can change the balance in the car. So, it’s wonderful.”

How much did you learn from teammate Romain Grosjean’s feedback?

“This is a good point. Every driver wants something different, I think. Every driver drives totally different than each other. I think this is another interesting part. For example, for me, the way to regen the power is different than Romain (Grosjean) so far. But, again, this is only the beginning. You want to have a better way to deploy and regen the power, for today for example, I prefer to use another way to regen than Romain (Grosjean).”

You mentioned the sim. Do you think this is something you can go to the sim and be able to decide, this is the best way to do that?

“Yes, definitely. It’s funny because the first (thing) I said to Ricardo (Juncos), we need to develop this in the sim, because this we could manage that and work on that in the sim. You need to do a really good job to simulate everything. The behavior of the battery is different, between the volts and everything, it’s very complicated. But definitely the sim is now with the hybrid system, is a really powerful tool.”

Romain Grosjean, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“It was a very fresh morning. We didn’t do much. We just had to wait for the temperature to rise. The car went out and we did a couple of runs just covering the basics.”

Why is it so important to have this test?

“It’s a complex system. It’s going to take a lot from what we could see this morning. There’s a lot of options available and it’s up for us to find out. Yes, it’s very early in testing compared to the knowledge of some of the others, but we’ll try to do our best.”

How different is it in the cockpit for you as a driver?

“It’s quite different. There are a lot of buttons to push. Again, it’s the beginning.”

Do you feel you catch yourself, or the team is in these one day, or couple days, trying to make up for that massive ground you guys have? What’s the thought process now that you have the hybrid unit?

“The thought process is to understand the system, and to understand to run it, and understand what it does in the car. It’s very heavy and (located) in the back of the car, so the setup is going to have to change a lot. We’ll try to do our best, and Chevy has been helping us on all of the project.”

Is it going to require more thinking from the drivers’ standpoint during a race?

“I don’t know yet. I can see a potential situation where it (could), but it’s up to us to stay on top of it, but yes, there will be more thinking in watching the dash.”

What do you think it does for the racing? Will there be more yellows? Will this affect the strategy?

“I guess you can argue that there will be less yellows because you can restart your car. The rest, I don’t know yet if it’s going to change a lot of the racing.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. 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 at www.chevrolet.com.

USAC Silver Crown standout set for INDY NXT Debut, will contest all four INDY NXT ovals in 2024 with ABEL Motorsports

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (26 March 2024) – With a strong three-car full season lineup in place, ABEL Motorsports will grow its INDY NXT by Firestone program with a four-car effort at the four INDY NXT by Firestone oval races.

USAC star Taylor Ferns will join the team to contest the Iowa Speedway, WorldWide Technology Raceway, Milwaukee Mile and Nashville Superspeedway rounds of INDY NXT this season as the 2024 schedule features the most oval events since 2013. Ferns joins the full-time ABEL Motorsports driver roster of Josh Mason, Jacob Abel, and Yuven Sundaramoorthy for the oval outings as the 28-year-old metro Detroit native looks to build on her strong record of success in USAC competition.

Earning numerous race wins and championship titles in a wide variety of race cars – and racing surfaces – Ferns came up through the USAC ranks, competing in Midgets, Sprint Cars, and Silver Crown. Along the way, she garnered a number of “firsts:” the youngest woman to win a sprint car race, the first woman to win USAC midget and sprint car races at multiple tracks, the most USAC Silver Crown starts by a woman, and the first podium finish by a woman in USAC Silver Crown history. Ferns was also the second woman to win a USAC championship (the 2011 Regional Midget Championship)

“I’m so grateful to ABEL Motorsports and everyone who helped put this together,” said Ferns. “Excited is an understatement. INDY NXT has been on my radar for several years and I’m so happy to have it come to fruition, especially with partners like Bradford Allen (a Chicago-based full-service real estate firm) believing in me and giving me the resources to fulfill a life-long dream. I know the team has been strong on ovals, with Jacob (Abel) taking pole at Iowa last year, so I know we will have a strong effort.”

The move is not the first for a USAC racer – Chris Windom, Chad Boat, and Jacob Wilson all successfully made the move from USAC sprint cars and Silver Crown cars into the INDY NXT series.

ABEL Motorsports team principal Bill Abel looks forward to getting Ferns into a Dallara IL-15 soon for a testing program ahead of the first INDY NXT oval race at Iowa Speedway in July.

“Taylor is a true racer,” said Abel. “She understands what’s involved in transitioning from Silver Crown and sprint cars to the INDY NXT car, and I’m confident that she’ll do well. It would be great if her experience re-opens the pipeline from USAC to this form of racing – we’ve seen drivers be successful in the very recent past. I know we’ll be able to transfer a good deal of knowledge about the car to her, but I’m sure we’ll learn a lot from her as well. We’re looking forward to getting her started on a testing program and see how things turn out – I’m sure she’ll do really well.”

Ferns knows the challenges that await as she makes the transition from a USAC Silver Crown car with over 800hp to the 450hp Dallara IL-15, but a weekend spent with the team at the INDY NXT season opener gave her a solid early foundation.

“I spent the race weekend at St. Pete listening to the drivers on the radio, making notes and asking questions so I can be as prepared as possible,” said Ferns. “The INDY NXT cars are rear-engine, while the Silver Crown cars are front-engine with the fuel behind us, and almost twice the horsepower. The INDY NXT cars seem more momentum-based and though they weigh about the same, all the weight will be behind me. So I think the best comparison is at the beginning of a Silver Crown race, with the heavy load of fuel in the back of the car.

“I took a few years off to focus on my studies, and worked as an operations manager at a law firm,” details Ferns. “But I came back because I thought I could do so much more – and I’m missing a Silver Crown win from my accomplishments!”

But Ferns’ accomplishments are not limited to the racetrack. In addition to her racing, she earned a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and Economics from Grand Valley State University where she graduated with honors, a Master of Business Administration (Finance and Management) from Wayne State University’s Mike Ilitch School of Business and will graduate from Wayne State University in May with a law degree.

Ferns is also an ambassador and founding/working group member of Women in Motorsports North America – and she counts WIMNA co-founder and racing legend Lyn St. James among her mentors.

“Taylor attended my driver development program when she was about 13 years old,” remembers St. James. “I saw something special in her and have continued to watch and help her. Her talent and self-confidence are off the chart, and her commitment to being the best she can be is going to serve her well as she climbs the ladder in open wheel racing. She’s charting her own course, and I recommend keeping an eye on her as she continues to achieve great things.”

Knowing the learning curve ahead, Ferns intends to make use of every opportunity to absorb as much as she can before the first race weekend.

“We have a few tests scheduled, and I’ll spend time at the Dallara simulator as well as looking at plenty of video,” said Ferns. “I know I can be successful, but I also know that I’m racing against drivers that have been racing these cars for several years, so my expectations are reasonable – though I do have high expectations of myself.”

ABEL Motorsports thanks partners ABEL Construction Company, Advance Ready Mix, Boyd Cat®, S Team Motorsports, OMP and Bradford Allen for their continued support.

Ferns will make her series debut with ABEL Motorsports and the INDY NXT by Firestone series in the Iowa 100 at Iowa Speedway, July 12-13. The race will be streamed live in the U.S. on Peacock, while international viewers can watch via INDYCARLIVE.com, with INDYCAR Radio available at indycar.com/radio and on Sirius XM.

About ABEL Motorsports: Team principal Bill Abel began racing motocross in 1972, earning numerous championship titles as he continued the family tradition. In 2017, ABEL Motorsports was launched, starting in the USF2000 series and building up the junior open wheel ladder. The team captured the inaugural Formula Regional Americas Championship with driver Kyle Kirkwood in 2018.

ABEL Motorsports currently competes in the INDY NXT by Firestone series, the official development series for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, led by third-generation driver Jacob Abel. The team made its INDYCAR debut in 2023 with driver RC Enerson in the Indianapolis 500. For more information visit the official team website at abelmotorsports.com.

About ABEL Construction Company: ABEL Construction specializes in general contracting and construction management, design build, IPD and facilities maintenance. Based in Louisville, Ky, ABEL is one of the largest contractors in the Kentuckiana region and has helped build some of the area’s most recognizable landmarks.

ABEL Construction was founded in 1938 and is now a fourth-generation, family-owned business, recognized for its experience, stability and capabilities, and focused on relationships and trust. That’s the ABEL way. abelconstruct.com/

About Bradford Allen: Bradford Allen (BA) is a commercial real estate and investment services firm based in the heart of downtown Chicago. Founded in 2003 by principals Jeffrey Bernstein and Laurence Elbaum as an office brokerage, the firm has grown into a vertically integrated commercial real estate company offering a full array of services and expertise across multiple U.S. markets to entrepreneurial, corporate and not-for-profit clients, including strategy, marketing and transaction execution for occupiers, investors and owners. For more information, visit bradfordallen.com.

ABEL Motorsports social media

Facebook: ABEL Motorsports
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Instagram: ABEL Motorsports

Taylor Ferns social media

Facebook: Taylor Ferns
Instagram: Taylor Ferns
Twitter/X: Taylor Ferns
YouTube: Taylor Ferns
TikTok: taylorferns55

Thermal, Calif. (24 March 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) continued to turn heads in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES this week following up a successful season opener with another strong performance at the series’ newest exhibition race – the Thermal $1 Million Challenge.

Felix Rosenqvist was a force all weekend in the series’ trip to the private road course near Palm Springs, California taking his No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda to a $250,000 payday after finishing third in the non-points event.

The No. 60 car that carried the livery of Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Bon Jovi and his SiriusXM Bon Jovi Radio (Ch. 312) roared to the win in the first heat of the day, getting away clean at the start and holding off Scott McLaughlin over the last of the 10 laps that made up the opening race. The finish put Rosenqvist on the outside of the front row for the feature.

The Swedish driver dropped back to third on the start of the opening 10-lap segment of the feature race, which became largely processional as many drivers opted to save their Firestone tires for the final 10-lap shootout that came after the halftime break. Rosenqvist started the final segment in that third spot and fought off advances to finish on the podium and earn a check for $250,000.

His teammate Tom Blomqvist (No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda) started fifth in his heat race after a strong qualifying run and spent the first three laps fighting off a trio of cars for the final transfer spot to the final. The rookie battled bravely but yielded a pair of spots on the fourth trip around the 17-turn, 3.067-mile road course and settled for eighth in his heat. Blomqvist does walk away from the weekend with a $23,000 payout.

The team will have a few weeks to figure out what to do with today’s winnings as the series is off for nearly a month. The INDYCAR SERIES resumes its season with a trip to Southern California with the April 21 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which is the oldest street-course event on the schedule.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Felix Rosenqvist: “It was an awesome weekend. We kept cool and did our own thing and maximized the weekend. We won the heat race but I couldn’t really follow Alex (Palou) and Scott (McLaughlin) but overall I’m super pleased for the team, this weekend was a big statement for us moving forward.”

Tom Blomqvist: “That was actually a hard race. I got a little love tap at the start of the race which messed me up a bit and I lost a position. I thought the format was actually quite exciting and there was definitely a bit of energy around, but it’s of course tough when you don’t make it through to the final round. Overall, it was a pretty fun weekend and we made some progress, now we’re ready to head to Long Beach.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
THERMAL $1 MILLION CHALLENGE
THERMAL, CALIFORNIA
TEAM CHEVY RACE REPORT
MARCH 24, 2024

CHEVROLET CAPTURES PODIUM FINISH WITH SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN AND TEAM PENSKE AT THE TRICKY THERMAL CLUB $1 MILLION CHALLENGE

• Earning Chevrolet a podium finish for the exhibition, non-points event, Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet team finished second in the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club in Thermal, Calif.
• With an exciting 20-lap, two-segment All-Star main event, the Bowtie brand was represented by four drivers and teams, with McLaughlin, Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi of Arrow McLaren, and Agustin Canapino from Juncos Hollinger Racing.
• Heat 2 saw Rossi transfer to the main event to additionally represent Team Chevy in the main race.
• Heat 1 saw Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin, along with Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Agustin Canapino, transfer to the main event.

THERMAL, Calif. (March 24, 2024) – Proving tricky for Team Chevy, The Thermal Club near Palm Spring, Calif. provided quite the challenge for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ $1 Million Challenge exhibition, a non-points-paying All-Star event.

Representing Chevrolet in the 20-lap, two-segment feature race, Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, finished second and led the four Bowtie-branded drivers that also included Alexander Rossi, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet (seventh), McLaughlin’s teammate Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet (eighth), and Agustin Canapino, driver of the No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet (10th).

Providing additional challenges for both qualifying Saturday and race day Sunday, the southern California desert dished up substantial wind and dust, forcing drivers to weather the event and showcase their race craft in adverse conditions.

“I better put some money up at the bar tonight,” McLaughlin joked. “Our XPEL Chevy. Just didn’t have quite enough for Alex (Palou). Congrats to him and his team. Once you get that clear air, it was good. I thought maybe that first restart would be okay, just to have a bit of a play around and see if we can get him, but ultimately just settled for my pace to make sure we come home in a good spot. I was pumped with my first restart. My first restart was a lot of fun. I got from fourth to second, and that really set up our race.”

In Heat 1 which started Sunday morning, McLaughlin helped lead the field to the green flag on the front row in second. With a chaotic first lap that saw an on-track incident involving Rinus VeeKay, driver of the No. 21 askROI Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, and Romain Grosjean, driver of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, the race eventually restarted for 10 laps and drivers settled in. Transferring to the main event from Heat 1 and representing Chevrolet in the 12-lap shootout were McLaughlin, Newgarden, and Canapino.

In an action-packed second heat that saw drivers getting racy on the 3.067-mile, 4.82-kilometer country-club-like course, Rossi was the only driver to transfer after 10 laps to represent Chevrolet in the 20-lap All-Star feature race.

With a main event that featured two ten-lap segments with a break between, strategy in the unique event was critically in play, where teams could only refuel and make wicker and wing adjustments to their Indy cars, with no new tires or additional adjustments allowed.

With ten laps remaining after the mid-race break, McLaughlin maintained his second-place position and restarted the event near the front, with Newgarden following in fifth, Rossi in eighth, and Canapino in ninth. Before the first lap of the second segment was complete, Rossi and Newgarden gave the crowd a show with an impressive on-track battle, with Rossi moving Newgarden to try and advance.

After the 20-lap event, McLaughlin crossed the finish line to claim a podium finish in second for Chevrolet and Team Penske.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES next head to Long Beach, Calif. for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, April 19-21, 2024, the long-standing 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit on the streets of Long Beach, Calif. Practice kicks off the weekend Friday, with a second practice and qualifying on Saturday. Sunday’s race airs live on USA Network at 3 p.m. ET. All practice and qualifying sessions will broadcast with Peacock, and on both INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 160.

TEAM CHEVY MAIN EVENT RACE RESULTS:

2nd Scott McLaughlin

7th Alexander Rossi

8th Josef Newgarden

10th Agustin Canapino

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“Just really hard racing there with me and Alex (Rossi) and kind of a microcosm of the two strategies you saw today. We didn’t quite go into the heavy tire conservation mode that he and others did over the first 10 laps before the break. You could tell it benefited him greatly and while the Hitachi Chevy was good today, I was just trying to hold him off. It was a great weekend here at Thermal. They rolled out the red carpet once again, and I think you saw today that this track could put on an entertaining show with more laps, tire degradation and pit strategies.”

Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“I saw the 77 T-bone someone, and I kind of went to the outside and went to the back. It was very close, very close. I was, man, I actually I was wondering where I was because of how many people that got knocked out (in the Lap 1 incident). If it’s tenths, you could make four up. I made a couple of up and caught up to the group that Colton (Herta) was holding up, but once the tires deg, the track is slippery, there’s not many places that you can make a move. I made two moves through those esses hammering through the two fast corners, and then just throwing up the inside because it’s a pretty wide entry.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“It was a challenging weekend for us. In terms of testing, we had a pretty phenomenal week. In terms of race format and results, I would call it the Bermuda Triangle of race tracks. That is what my engineer Kate Gundlach said, and I would have to agree. It’s a very temperature-sensitive track, very wind-sensitive, and we were on the wrong side of it in qualifying. That’s something that none of us could have predicted and is probably something that has never been seen before in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. We’ll learn from it, and we can apply it when we come back next year, but that’s it from us. I’m glad we’re heading to Long Beach; it’s a place that we know. All this work will be for something. I’m looking forward to getting back to our championship.”

Callum Ilott, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“The start today was strong and a bit scrappy, but then I was fighting with (Tom) Blomqvist quite hard. I had some contact with him, but we just didn’t have the pace from there. Pato (O’Ward) and Alexander (Rossi) got past me, and it was just a push to the end. Good job to Alexander (Rossi) to get into the All-Star Race; his team did a solid job.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“That was pretty anti-climactic. It’s hard to pass around here. The car was good, and we were able to move up from 14th overall to start the day to P7 in the final race. Now we move on to Long Beach.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“It was a solid two-day test for us at AJ Foyt Racing. We learned a lot. We kind of came in on the backfoot from our Barber test. Got the car sorted, and in qualifying, we kind of missed it a little bit. I kind of missed it a little bit. When we started the heat race, and honestly, we were super competitive. We should have transferred. Just got caught out on that Lap 1 incident. Hats off to the boys. Solid three days of work. Looking forward to heading to the hybrid test next week with Chevrolet.”

Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“The start was crazy. For a non-points race, I did not expect that. I was thankful for the free spots even though it’s a sad day for anyone involved in that. The team did a good job this week. It was a long week for a race that I think was consequential to our championship run. We learned a lot and we’ve got some work ahead of us. I’m excited our Pray.com team got to be with us here this week, and kind of got to have a quiet race weekend, which was fun. I’m excited for the next one.”

Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“I got hit on the braking. I haven’t seen the footage, but I got hit really, really badly in the back and then the car spun. It’s… It’s… Who’s going to pay for the damage? We come here with no points on the line, we do nothing wrong, and the car is completely smashed. What is that? It’s not what I signed in INDYCAR for.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“It was a good finish in P10. Really, really happy with the progress with this weekend. Honestly, we are improving a lot and we are still in the battle, the top-10. It was our first top-10 in INDYCAR. I am really happy, of course. Unfortunately, from the main race, our car has a big vibration for some reason. I’m not sure what happened there. But anyway, we finished in the battle in the top-10. Thanks to the whole team, and we’ll focus on Long Beach.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET– Podium Press Conference Transcript from The Thermal Club:

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge here. We are joined by Scott McLaughlin for Team Penske. $350,000 richer. We were discussing how you were going to spend all that.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Pay off my mortgage.

THE MODERATOR: Tell us about the day.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Look, it all started I think with my heat race. I think I had a really good start. I was lucky not to get caught up with the kerfuffle with Grosjean, him going backwards. I could see it in my mirror. Me and Felix both went wide. Interesting to get his thoughts on it. I saw him. I’m sure he did. This is not going to be good. Obviously hit Rinus behind us. I got away with that.

Settled into a rhythm. Felt like we had a good speed in the heat race. In the final race, we were pretty conserving, looking after our tires at the start, being smart, knowing there’s guys that were going crazily slow, almost too slow I feel like, from a racing perspective. Anyway, looking after their tires.

Yeah, the start of race two, I tried to have a go at Alex, but ultimately he was just a little bit faster with that clean air. It was always going to be clean air was going to be king this weekend. I settled in, tried to maximize what I had. That was second today.

Proud. It was a solid week. Testing was great. I played a lot of golf. I’ve gone away 350 grand richer. A great week. I’m happy.

THE MODERATOR: Take us through the lap 11 restart.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I had a really good run actually. I sort of felt that’s where Alex was going to go. Felix actually went at that same point the run before. I sort of preempted it, hoping he would go to the same spot. That’s exactly where I would go at the start of the restart as well.

Got a decent start but couldn’t get close enough to make a move. It is what it is. But I was proud of the day. Thought we maximized what he we could. We’re happy.

THE MODERATOR: What did you see in your rearview mirror in the first heat?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I was talking about I saw Grosjean smoking going backwards in my mirror. I felt like me and you both went wide. That could have been just me.

Q. This was a race, but also it was supposed to be for The Thermal Club people. You guys had members embedded with you. What do you think they got out of it?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think from our standpoint, Team Penske, we had two lovely people. Gigi, she’s a ball of fun. She was on her stand the whole time. Her and her husband. It was an amazing week to have them there. They were there from when we started testing. They had headsets on. They could hear everything we were saying. Hopefully they’re not engineers because they have a lot of our secrets. Everything was open.

I guess it’s an idea of inner sanctum to INDYCAR racing, something I think was a really good idea and good to have people part of it. Thankfully we had two good people.

Q. Obviously applaud INDYCAR for trying something new. What would you think needs to be tweaked with maybe some of the format or the issues? The first half of the final was a follow the leader, conserve tires, wasn’t quite as entertaining as people were hoping.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think this is a good opportunity to try, like, completely different things. I think the qualifying was cool with the push to pass. I think that’s awesome from a standpoint of you have to nail the lap on that lap. I’m used to that from Supercars back in the day, shootouts. You had one lap and get it done. I think that’s a really good opportunity – good and bad – for you to mix up the grid. You just have to nail it. This field is so tight that if you miss it by a 10th or two, could find yourself at 15th if it was a proper shootout.

I think it’s definitely something we could think about for the Fast Six, qualifying format, not just here. I feel like we’ve done the same format for a long, long time. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great. But could we add something different to what we’ve done in the past to spice up the action.

Everyone is going to be on used for the most part in the Fast Six. Send them out, give them a little bit of push to pass, see what happens. I think that would be pretty cool.

Q. From the beginning when there was a media preview here in the fall of 2013, this track with lots of runoff, so on, was derided a little bit by the motorsports press as a gentleman’s track, subsequently as a paper clip track, not a real racetrack. We’re wondering what you have to say about that?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think from when we were here last time to now, they’ve done a really good job with improvements, safety improvements, whatnot, to get it up to standard.

From the get-go, I think I’ll speak for myself, not for these guys, I generally have enjoyed the track. It’s a challenging technical track. It takes a lot to get the lap right. When you do, it’s very rewarding. Love the area like eight, nine long, sweeping corners. It’s a big commitment in these cars.

Yesterday you saw two people shunted there from pushing the limit too hard. You want that on the track. You want some technical spots.

It’s got a little bit of everything. It’s definitely not a gentleman’s track. I think people are jealous of not having a track in their own backyard, I guess.

Q. If we’re going to continue to have non-points exhibitions, should it rotate or this be the sole place we keep it?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I mean, I think it all comes down to the support that we get from the club and other tracks. I think Thermal have just put their backs behind INDYCAR for this and created an awesome event, the opportunity for all teams to come out here and earn money, which is an absolute bonus, but also to put on a show, have a test day for two days.

I think it’s just ultimately up to other people that want to be a part of it. But you got to give props to Thermal to do that. I don’t think you’ll see anything else unless people put up the investment that Thermal have done for us.

Q. There’s so many different things that made this event different: limited spectators, food trucks. What would you say your favorite thing was?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Having an ice cream after the race.

Q. Have you had it already?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah. Me, Alex, Felix, we all had one.

Q. Scott, that ice cream is not good for your diet.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: That’s all right. It’s a cheat day.

Q. With clean air being king on this course, was it a little bit of a helpless feeling when you were seeing Alex just disappear into the distance?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Look, for me, echoing what Felix just said before, it was big picture. I mean, I knew that I’d have a chance. The first 10 laps was about trying to get some position, which I did, to get to the second, maybe set myself up for a pass after the restart. Alex is a pretty smart driver, as we know. I knew he’d be doing exactly what I was doing.

I just sort of tried to have a little crack on the first lap. Didn’t quite get it. Then it was settling in, making sure I pulled away from Felix. Ultimately I didn’t have enough pace for Alex either.

It is what it is. We’ll keep working. Alex has been fast all week and they deserve the win.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. 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 at www.chevrolet.com.