Category: NTT Indy

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2022 MEDIA CONTENT DAYS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
JANUARY 18,2022

ARROW MCLAREN RACING SP DRIVERS PATO O’WARD AND FELIX ROSENQVIST met with members of the media during 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series Media Content Days. Full transcripts:

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

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Felix just came in here and said there isn’t anything we don’t know about you because you give us everything you have. So let it roll.
PATO O’WARD: I’ll let it roll.

THE MODERATOR: Talk about your excitement for this season; you’ve got the McLaren organization that seems to be riding a big wave of momentum. Just talk about the excitement.
PATO O’WARD: It’s cool, man. It’s really cool to be a part of this new McLaren acquisition with the team, and we’re all one team, Extreme E, Formula 1, INDYCAR. It’s really, really cool to see, great to be a part of it. There’s been a lot of hard work in the off-season, a lot, a lot of hard work. I know we say that every year, but I sure hope that all these long hours and long days are going to be for something, and yeah, we’re ready to get rolling.

THE MODERATOR: What is your routine? You talk about long days. I assume that’s all in meetings and sim work and so forth?
PATO O’WARD: Thankfully I haven’t been in the sim yet. But specifically the engineers, I’m not taking all the credit on this because all I’ve had to do is just maintain myself in shape and as ready as I can mentally and physically, but in terms of actually having really long days and hours, trying to find little bits and pieces of time here and there. It’s all the engineers.
Hopefully the end of our championship last year lit a fire under their butts that hopefully pushes throughout this year.

Q. What has to change or improve this year for you to win the championship?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, in short, I just don’t think we’ve had a very consistent car. Where we’ve been strong, we’ve been very strong, but where we haven’t been strong, we’ve been very weak, and that’s where we’ve lost a lot of points. I feel like there’s no sugar coating it. It’s just not good enough.
I have to try and maximize what I can control, and I know the engineers are going to do their part. We’re not up to where Penske, Andretti and Ganassi are. We sure as hell are trying to and working hard for that, but they are Penske, Ganassi and Andretti for a reason.
Yeah, I think we’re definitely on the way. It’s been a path, but I think we keep getting better and we keep putting the bar higher and higher every year. This year we’ve got it pretty much as high as you want it to be. We were close to the 500 win. We were very close to the championship win. Yeah, there’s just — the big cookies are left.

Q. We’ve seen you do a lot of stuff this off-season with the McLaren Formula 1 team. It almost felt like you were a part of that crew already. Does it kind of feel the same to you?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, they’ve been so welcoming. Man, it was such a cool experience in Abu Dhabi and just all the preparation that I had before then, it was definitely just something very new. But I think it’s just going to make me better in every way, and definitely trying to learn as much as I can from that side and try and bring stuff over here to try and just boost everything up because I feel like the little bits and pieces we can get from here and there are just going to help our performance and make us all better.

Q. Is that an end goal for you to be able to drive those crazy fast cars around the world?
PATO O’WARD: For sure, yeah. That is definitely — I mean, my dream to be a race car driver started with that, so I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t.

Q. The fact that you got to drive that, does it almost kind of — it’s like here’s a new toy for you to try out, but now you’ve got to kind of focus on what your job at hand is. Is it almost like, do you see yourself sometimes sitting there thinking, man, I’d like to be back in that McLaren?
PATO O’WARD: Oh, man, it was so cool. You can tell that those cars are literally designed to go as fast as possible, within regulations, but it’s designed to be as quick as possible.
I think last year’s car was pretty much the fastest Formula 1 spec ever for a very long time. That was pretty cool that I got to test that and drive that. I can assure you it was ridiculously fast. Yeah, really cool feeling inside of the car.

Q. But for a driver who’s in a series where you basically have a chance to win almost any race that you’re entered in, how do you manage the expectation level that if you were in F1 you could be driving top of your game and maybe not winning?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I mean, I feel like honestly the motto that anyone can win in INDYCAR is — if you take the safety cars out of the equation, then that is not possible at all.
When you get safety cars that end up basically throwing away a leader’s race or many of the leaders’ race, then yeah, it turns into people from the back being able to win, but from outright pace, there is still a difference from top teams to smaller teams to medium teams. There is still significant differences. Maybe not so much in qualifying sometimes, but in terms of just so many things that are factors that play into the race, pit stop, in laps, out laps, strategy. There’s so many things that aren’t car pace that go into the race, which a lot of the times in F1 there’s just I think a lot less of that because the races are not as fast — sorry, not as long. There’s usually let pit stops, which makes the overcut and undercut windows less opportunity just because there’s less pit stops.
But there is obviously a lot bigger differences from teams to teams. Yeah, in F1 we’ve seen that if a strategy call that a yellow flag or a safety car really gets into the place where it really would send the leaders to the back, we’ve seen that that can happen and people that you would never expect to win will win in a car that people will never bet on because strategy — that’s what safety cars do. They mix everything up.
But we have a lot more of that in INDYCAR for sure.

Q. Also, this team is more McLaren than it’s ever been since they’ve taken more ownership stake into the team. You as a driver, it’s going to be the same guys you worked with when it was McLaren SP. They’re still there, but do you feel that sense of expectation level that basically it’s mostly McLaren now that owns the team?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, for sure you can see the push and you can see the objectives that McLaren is trying to achieve. I think what we’ve been able to achieve already is pretty stellar in terms of how much true development that has been going into it. But you can see the push that everybody wants to do what I want to do. We want to win. We want to win championships. We want to win 500s. That’s why we do this. We wouldn’t be doing this if it were for something else because it’s too much sacrifice and too much time away and too many hours for this to just be, oh, I just want to be on the podium. No, we want to win.

Q. I’m wondering how your neck is doing; was that what you worked on most since Abu Dhabi?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, this big boy is ready. I’ve been working on it since the day that I got back home. Yeah, for sure.

Q. Have you worked on everything else or was that your priority?
PATO O’WARD: No, everything else. I mean, I’ve stayed very active, just trying to stay as active as I can because weirdly that’s how I recharge, just being very busy and active, having fun with my cousins and family. Just staying home and doing nothing at home maybe is good for one or two days maximum, then I stir myself crazy.
Yeah, I’ve been working on everything. I’ve just bumped up the amount of hours that I’m training just because I have to sneak in quite a bit of that of neck, but I’m not taking away from anything else.

Q. I’m curious where you stand with the super license and what do you have to do to get one?
PATO O’WARD: I have no idea. That’s a great question. I mean, to me it’s ridiculous that someone that’s been fourth and third in the INDYCAR championship can’t get 40 points in the super license. To me that’s — yeah, I think many drivers agree with me.
But from what I understand, fourth would give you 10 points, third gives you 20, so I’m assuming I’m at 30 points of the super license. Yeah, I haven’t really stressed on that side because as much as I say, oh, maybe you can get a few points here, points there, at the end of the day you have to leave it to the people that want to give it to you. If they don’t want to give it to you, then sorry, bud, you’ve got to have another year and get 10 more points, I guess.

Q. You talked about the consistency that you felt like the No. 5 team is really needing to fight for that championship; is that something that in any testing or work in the shop this off-season, something you feel like you guys have pinpointed a couple items that you can come into 2022 a little better or are you guys still needing some races to either confirm anything or find any more data that you’re searching for?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, it’s hard to tell right now. I haven’t jumped in the car. I haven’t done any testing because testing is very limited. We’re going to have one day before St. Pete. It’s going to be in Sebring, which I mean, is not really enough time to fix all our issues, but it’s definitely at least one day to be able to test things out.
Yeah, I really don’t know. You look and analyze things here and there and you’re like, oh, this is going to help us and this is going to help us, but I think that’s just you being positive and trying to find what was going on, but until we actually test them on track and I get to feel them, I think that’s when we’ll truly know if all our work in the off-season is going to pay off or not.
It’s not going to be just from one race to another. It’s going to take all year to keep getting better and better and better. I sure hope we can roll off the trucks better than what we had last year at certain tracks.
I think that’s the biggest thing. If you roll off well, you’re in a pretty good position to have a good race.
Like I mentioned, there’s other times where you qualify on pole and you always get burned by yellow. There’s so many other factors that you can’t control, but what we can control is our car performance, what I do in the car and how we go about things and how we deal-with-them.
We’re trying to really maximize all of that, but it’s really hard to pinpoint and see what’s going to help us or not because we weren’t very far off.
I mean, we were whenever we didn’t have pace at all, but yeah, it’s really hard to tell if we found it or not. Just really have been testing different things here and there and hopefully two or three of those things give us what we need.

Q. I know Felix is really hopeful that this can be kind of a breakthrough season for him with this team in year two. With still kind of waiting to see what he can be for you as far as a teammate and this team already looking at adding a third full-time car for 2023, do you have any concern as someone who I know wants to be in this championship hunt just about the progression of the building of this team when you guys are still trying to hone in on that second car to be as competitive as you were last year?
PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I mean, I think he’s going to have a good season this year. I sure hope he does because we both need each other out there. We both want to be in the championship hunt. We both want to be winning races.
I really hope that it happens for both of us. I really want to — I’d really like to share a couple podiums with him. I feel like that would be really cool for all of us as a team.

Q. I know you’re someone who’s really aware of media and the global perception of INDYCAR moving forward. We’ve lost some big faces this off-season as far as guys that won’t be returning in full-time capacities, have a lot of young new guys that maybe a lot of casual fans don’t know. What do you feel like INDYCAR needs to do to take advantage of these 14 races they have on network TV to try and build some of these younger names and younger brands in this sport to start to rival a NASCAR, Formula 1 in the American racing series for fans?
PATO O’WARD: Man, it’s a tough one because with all these things that you can be doing marketing-wise, it all comes at a cost. It all comes at a price. The budgets are different. The budget that Formula 1 has is going to be stratospheric compared to what INDYCAR can do. Same with NASCAR. Every series has its own things.
But I think first off, we need to hop on the train of having a show because racing itself is not going to do enough. People need to see what’s behind that in order for them to get interested because it’s like any sport. Like for example, I didn’t watch golf at all. I didn’t watch NFL. But I met someone that plays in the NFL, and I met someone that plays in the PGA, and now I am interested in watching from time to time because I have a friend there and I have someone to cheer for.
I think that’s the biggest thing. People need to meet the faces behind the helmet, and for me that’s the biggest thing. Whatever the cost may be, that is, I think, the biggest return that they’ll ever get.
You’ve seen it in Formula 1. Formula 1 is growing insane, and it’s all because of the Netflix series. I think an important thing is that it has to be done in a platform that people have and people watch, not just spend it and have it somewhere where it’s not really reachable by many people.
There’s so many different factors, but to me that is the biggest thing. I have heard that it’s definitely in the plans of doing it. I haven’t heard any updates.
I feel like that would be a game changer for our series, and not just doing it, but it has — the bar has been set high where I think everybody within the series has to be willing to work together. Everybody has to be real and show the emotion, and it can’t be fake. It can’t be fake engineering meetings. Whatever you’re going to be showing, it has to be real.
Apart from INDYCAR doing their job, which is going to be getting the show, but I think us as teams and drivers, we need to be on board with just agreeing with the fact that this is going to pretty much be a reality show. There has to be some drama. There has to be something for people to watch.
Everybody has to try and be real, because if it’s not, it’s not going to be good enough, and people won’t watch. It has to be like it is, like just real.
But I know sometimes — not that teams want to make it fake, but teams don’t want to show certain aspects of the team. There’s many different factors that I feel like play into making this very successful, but in general just having a real show of real people, real emotions and just giving something to the people to just watch, and to entertain, I think that’s going to skyrocket the series.
The racing product is already there. I don’t think we need to focus a lot on the racing product. I think it’s what’s outside of it to bring people into the sport.

Q. Last year we saw you having a great year. This year what do you have in mind? We saw you in Formula 1 at Abu Dhabi, but do you like to go to that series or keep yourself in INDYCAR?
PATO O’WARD: Do I like to what?

Q. To stay in Indy, or do you prefer to go to Formula 1 in the future?
PATO O’WARD: I mean, right now I have one focus, and that one focus is in INDYCAR. I want to give these guys their first championship. I’d love to give them their first 500. This is what my focus is right now.
Who knows if F1 will be an option or won’t be an option. Obviously if it comes about, I will 100 percent take it and every single driver in my position would do it because it’s Formula 1. That’s what I grew up watching and that’s what I grew up dreaming of. That same dream that you have as a kid will never go away.
Right now, like I said, I have a challenge here, and I want people to enjoy. I want people to enjoy me in INDYCAR. I want them to know what INDYCAR has to offer, I want them to enjoy me in INDYCAR, the racing. There’s so many cool things about it that so many people — oh, Pato went to Formula 1. Well, I will tell you whenever I go to Formula 1 if I ever going to Formula 1, but for now enjoy me in INDYCAR.
It’s just cool. I’m just really enjoying myself, really enjoying with the team and enjoying that everything is pretty close by. It’s different, but yeah, the same mentality I’m going into it, I want everybody to have the same. Just enjoy it.

THE MODERATOR: Remind us, the football player, Kenny Moore. The golfer is…
PATO O’WARD: Abraham Ancer.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN RACING SP CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: Driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Felix, a new season. I know it was not the season you wanted last year, but the team has upgraded the engineering staff. It’s a new year for you.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It is. It’s nice to have a clean start. Obviously learned a lot last year. It was a tough one to go through. I’m not going to lie about that. I think those seasons are what — they make you stronger. When you’re winning, things are easy, but I think those really define you, if that makes sense. Yeah, it’s good to have a new start.
I think plenty of things have changed, but mainly everything is the same in the team. I mean, we’re growing as a team. We have some new people on board on my car and in the team in general, but the foundation is the same, which I think is good, because I got to know everyone really well over the last year.
It’s also good to keep doing what you’re doing because I think end of the year we definitely picked up the pace, and not exactly where we wanted to be, but it’s good to keep building on that where we ended last year.

THE MODERATOR: Talk about the optimism in the team.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: (Audio interruption.) There are going to be a lot of players in the mix in the front. So yeah, I’m excited to see what it’s going to be when we hit Sebring.

Q. Now the team is more McLaren than it’s ever been. Even though it’s the same guys at the shop putting everything together, it’s just kind of living up to the McLaren brand. How much do you feel that inside as a competitor?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think you definitely feel it, especially after the announcement was made last year that they’re acquiring a bigger stake of the team. I think there’s a change in how we think and how we operate, but I think the good thing, what they’ve done well, is to keep what we had before, as well. It’s not like we’re just a completely new team. We kept our philosophies, which has worked. We’re a very competitive team. We’re a successful team.
I think McLaren has led us to just keep doing what we’re doing with added support both on the engineering side or financial backing. I think in every area there’s a lot of stones to be unturned during the off-season, and we’re just trying to improve a little bit everywhere.
I think that’s where INDYCAR is at this stage. You can’t just find a massive gain anywhere. You have to keep working at the little details. I think that’s what McLaren has allowed us to do.

Q. Because of what happened in Detroit, it really set you back to what you were hired at that team to do in the first place. How important is it for you to get off to a really fast start in 2022?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s for sure important to start the year not in the way that I did last year. I think it’s also important to not try to overcomplicate and overachieve. I think we just need a solid start to the season to kind of get it going in a smooth way. That’s the way you want to do it in INDYCAR. You don’t want to risk it all in St. Pete and then have a lot of catch-up to do.
For sure we can’t have a season like we had last year. I don’t have to explain all the things that happened. I think Detroit was only a little part to be honest in everything that was going down.
We’re excited and we have no reason to think that’s going to happen again. As I say, if we can get off to a smooth start that’s going to help a lot, as well.

Q. With your new engineer Craig Hampson, does it give you a bigger confidence level than you had before this?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I’ve known Craig for quite some time now, and I think personally we get along. I think that’s what makes me most excited to work with him.
He was on my radio already last year. He was calling my races for the last bit of the season.
But I like to talk with him about the car, and in general we spend quite a lot of time just discussing different things about setups and life in general, which I think is good. You kind of need that almost like father-and-son relationship with your engineer, and we spend a lot of time together. I feel like we really get along on a personal level, so I’m excited about that.
His record speaks for itself. He’s been in this business for a long time, and INDYCAR is a category where you need that kind of hands-on experience. You can’t just win by being let’s say the most clever engineer. You have to kind of feel the sport and you know what’s going on and see it with your own eyes. I think that’s what Craig really has.

THE MODERATOR: To clarify, Craig was your strategist last year or he was just on the radio?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Whatever you want to call it. He was in my ear. I don’t know the official term for it. It’s so different from what you see in Europe. In Europe you would say he was my engineer but here I guess you would say he was my strategist or calling the race.

Q. I wanted to know if you could explain in simple terms how different your car felt at the start of the year compared with how different it felt at the end of the year, and was it just a feel thing and a confidence building thing or was it simply actually making it faster?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think a bit of both. I think it was never an easy car to drive for me or Pato for that matter. It was definitely something to get used to in the beginning, and somewhere along — we had a Portland test in the middle of the year and I think that’s where I actually found — we make some big grounds in the setup for my liking, and I think that gave me some confidence with the car, and it all kind of spiraled in the right direction, let’s say.
As I said before, it’s just details. It’s not — you’ll never find something that is like, oh, now we’re winning every race. It’s always the small things.
But I think that’s actually the time we found something that worked, and the results went a lot better from that point, so just that little added confidence just took me to another level really.
Those are the kind of things you want to find, and now we had an off-season to really look at things, and you sit back and go through all the data, go through all the races, and I’ve had some time to really work on myself and feel prepared in a different way compared to what it was at this time last year.

Q. Is it safe to say that your car is now set up so that you and Pato have diverged a lot more for 2022 in terms of car setups?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, that’s a target at least, but with the amount of driving we get these days, nothing is for sure. I mean, we have one day of testing before we hit St. Pete, and there’s a lot of expectation and a lot of things we’re going to have to get done in that day at Sebring.
I’m not going to make any promises about what’s been done or what’s going to be done, but let’s say we’re pretty confident that we made some big grounds when it comes to drivability, which was the main issue for me last year.

Q. Just wanted to ask about Craig again. Wanted to ask how much of an initial impact you think he can have because obviously it’s been a big topic of conversation about him joining you and I wonder if people can overestimate the impact on what you’re going to be doing this year really.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: (Audio interruption.) Focus over the off-season. I’d say I have great hopes and expectations working with Craig, but I don’t think — that change alone is not going to change the world, but there’s much more in the background going on let’s say.

THE MODERATOR: What has been your off-season? Any big accomplishments or boxes checked or vacations taken?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: No vacations actually. There was quite a lot of time spent with family that I didn’t really get to do last year, so that was nice. That felt needed after a tough year.
I’ve been spending quite a lot of time on the simulator doing some virtual championships over the winter, so that’s been fun. It’s not really for nothing more than fun really, but that’s been eating up quite a lot of time.
Just kind of had some time to reflect on things and get some good old energy back into the system.

Q. Can you tell us something about Pato that people don’t know.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think everyone knows everything about him because he’s not really a closed person, is he.

Q. What is he like to have as a teammate?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Great fun, man. I mean, you can see I’m smiling right now just thinking about it. I think we have a perfect combo because both of us are pretty open with each other. We’re not really hiding stuff. In general we have a good time. Like it makes the day go quicker when you have days like this or long days with filming or media or whatever. It just makes time pass quickly when you have fun with each other.
I guess that’s more than you can expect sometimes in racing. You can’t pick your teammates. Most of them are fast, but many of them are not maybe the guy you want to spend the day with.
No, it’s good fun. We spend quite a lot of time outside of our professional hours, as well, and dinners and just hanging out. It’s really good fun.

THE MODERATOR: Were you suggesting that today is a long day?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Let’s see. Let’s see. It started early, that’s for sure.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2022 MEDIA CONTENT DAYS
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
JANUARY 17,2022

AJ FOYT RACING DRIVERS DALTON KELLETT, KYLE KIRKWOOD AND TATIANA CALDERON met with members of the media during 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series Media Content Days. Full transcripts:

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Dalton Kellett. Welcome.
DALTON KELLETT: How’s it going?

THE MODERATOR: We spoke to you the other day, you had one teammate. Now you have two.
DALTON KELLETT: As of this morning, two. It’s exciting.

THE MODERATOR: Let’s talk about your role in this. Probably going to do a little bit of advising and coaching and leading as the senior member of this organization. Seems strange to believe 24 races in, a senior member. How does that role suit you?
DALTON KELLETT: I mean, I would put some air quotes on that. The team and I have talked. Realistically I’m not Seb with four championships and all the wins under his belt. The relationship between myself and Kyle and Tatiana won’t be the same. I think it will be a communal engineering. The experience I do have, haven’t had a chance to have yet in INDYCAR, I’m sure when those moments come up, there will be questions. I’m more than happy to lend whatever experience I can to help them along.

THE MODERATOR: Better to have experience than no experience.
DALTON KELLETT: 100%.

THE MODERATOR: You must have some empathy for what they’re about to go through. It’s a challenging road.
DALTON KELLETT: It’s a big undertaking even for the most prepared drivers. Kyle certainly is one of the most successful drivers to come out of the Road to Indy in a while. It will still be an adjustment for him I’m sure. When you get into INDYCAR, there’s a lot that you have to learn as far as the feedback you need, Firestone reds, the schedule, the cadence is different than it is in Lights. There’s a lot more going on as far as the engine, dampers, feedback, all that.
That will be certainly an adjustment. It’s exciting to see how the team gets on.

THE MODERATOR: You referenced Bourdais, maybe not specifically things he did for you, but what a difference having a real veteran in an organization does for a young driver.
DALTON KELLETT: I think for me it was great to have sort of — whether his way of doing things is the right way or not, it still gives you a direction that you and as the rookie can kind of riff off of. It took some of the decision making out of my hands, sort of put it in his. I was able to focus on driving technique, the bits of feedback I was giving to the engineer.
For me coming into it green as far as INDYCAR is concerned, that was a good thing. Then specifically just looking at, like, sort of Seb’s braking technique. Things I caught onto that we talked about that were helpful.

THE MODERATOR: How much undertaking is that going to be for the new drivers going to a new venue?
DALTON KELLETT: It’s always an adjustment when you haven’t been somewhere. Thinking back to Detroit, Nashville, I think those were the only two new ones for me last year. To be honest, I felt like those two events were actually strong for us, for our program.
I think a big part of that is doing the preparation on the simulator and the team looking at video. I think as long as they’re the type where they can get something out of the sims, I think that will be a good preparation tool for them. Obviously that’s kind of like specific to each person, whether you like simulators or not. For me I thought that was a good tool preparing for those races.

THE MODERATOR: They say in sports the jump from year one to two is the biggest jump. Did you see that jump in your improvement? I assume you would expect that to carry over into year three.
DALTON KELLETT: As far as what I felt personally, I felt there was a tangible, sizable jump there. The results weren’t what we always wanted, but we had some highlights at Gateway, some races that were going well. We had some consistency issues that I feel like we’ve dealt with from the mechanical side that shouldn’t hamper us.
Coming back at it with the experience of sort of that year and a half is going to be really helpful.

THE MODERATOR: Your oval program, obviously that’s where your biggest strength had been previously. I was going to note Gateway, you finished 12th. You must feel Indianapolis, maybe Texas, good places for you?
DALTON KELLETT: I think so. I think the ovals were sort of less of a question mark for us last year. I think still kind of the theme of last year was that qualifying was a bit of a struggle. Track position is just so important in these races, if you don’t get that good starting position, it can be really difficult to make the positions up. It’s really to work on the qualifying side. That puts you in the position to have sort of a place that you can kind of strike from, not just — when you’re starting towards the back, you’re already in a bad spot as far as the first pit cycle with the leaders coming up close. Being up the field at the start is goal one, no matter what track you’re on.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. You mentioned ovals, last season being a bit of your strong suit. Qualifying something you need to focus on. What in particular with qualifying do you need to focus on? On the back end of that, what have you been working on the most during the off-season?
DALTON KELLETT: I think with qualifying, really it’s getting the most out of that. You really have one or two laps to kind of get it done, ensuring that the first lap you’re up to speed enough where you have a lap in the bang. Once you already have that safe lap, really just going to 100% and maximizing everything you can to get every last hundredth out of the car and yourself on that last lap that counts. I think that’s really the focus.
It’s really to the point where it’s more of a mental game than a technique, all that. You know what you need to do, it’s kind of executing it without making mistakes, or if you make a small mistake just moving on and not being too affected by it. It’s really getting that mental approach down where you can attack qualifying like you need to.

Q. You mentioned your two other teammates, which makes A.J. Foyt now a three-car operation. Do you think this will help your development process? Will there be too many cooks in the kitchen?
DALTON KELLETT: That’s a good question. Obviously anytime you add another entry to an existing program, there’s going to be a learning period and a time where we’re all getting used to how the work flows together.
The good thing is that there’s two fresh faces, so it’s kind of like a fresh start. Not like you’re throwing something into an existing program. The team has done a great job as far as putting the necessary personnel together. I’m confident from that standpoint in my limited time with Kyle and Tatiana it seems they’ll be great to work with. We’ll have to see how things work out.

Q. Tatiana tested with A.J. Foyt last season. She obviously knows her stuff within the team. How beneficial is that going to be to you with her bringing in a fresh perspective, also with Kyle as well?
DALTON KELLETT: Certainly. I think they’ll both bring some fresh aspects to what we’re thinking from a setup standpoint. That is kind of the good thing about rookies, I felt it in the last couple years, there was a time with Seb where he had a preconceived notion of what the car should be and what it could be before the aeroscreen. You add in the aeroscreen, it totally affects, changes what the car can even do. Sometimes it’s beneficial to have that blank slate. I think that will be a good thing.
Obviously Tatiana is coming with a pretty wide background as far as her experience in different formulas, different cars. Same with Kyle. He’s racing Daytona in a couple weeks. He’s obviously been doing pretty well in the Road to Indy. They’re both coming in with a lot of great experience. It will be exciting to see what they bring to it as far as the setup and technical standpoint.

Q. What would be a strong, solid season for you? Top 10s or further up?
DALTON KELLETT: I think given where we were last year, we want to be incremental, right? You want to focus on breaking the top 15, do that consistently, then kind of go from there.
I think for the first quarter of the year, definitely the main goals are improving in qualifying and consistently finishing ahead of where we were last year. If we can be getting towards that 15 to 12 mark where we finished up at Gateway for our best finish last year, if we can best that at this point this year and be a little more consistent around that range, that would be a very strong step up for the team and myself.

Q. Last year you were the teammate of Sebastien Bourdais. What have you learned from him?
DALTON KELLETT: To give you a really specific example, I think something that we see in junior formula, sort of the way you attack the brakes is prescribed in a very specific way. Seb without going into specifics was maybe doing things a little bit differently, just the way he was ramping up the brakes, kind of leading into it, was a bit different to what I’d done previously. I thought that was a good — it wasn’t like I applied it everywhere because sometimes what works for one person doesn’t always work for the other. It sort of made me think about rechecking what I was doing, think about the technique that I hadn’t really considered.
When you see someone doing it a bit differently, you kind of think back and sort of reevaluate what you’re doing, see what works and what doesn’t. Moments during the year he was doing things differently, we talked through it. That was a good learning opportunity for me.

Q. If Paul Tracy and Greg Moore were racing now, you be just an INDYCAR fan from Canada, who would you be looking for more?
DALTON KELLETT: I would probably be Team Greg. I love P.T. He’s certainly a Canadian legend in the INDYCAR world. I think Greg was definitely a fan favorite as well. I would be Team Red Gloves. Sorry, Paul.

Q. Now that you’re taking a leadership role, which advice would you give Tatiana and Kyle? Which advice would you give to each of them?
DALTON KELLETT: I think the best thing you can do as a rookie really is to take things step by step, whether you’re experienced or not. Coming into an INDYCAR is going to be a big adjustment, there’s a lot going on. Focusing on what you’re doing, trying to excel at one thing, maybe not getting too lost in the big picture, really focus on what you can control at that moment.
Then just making sure you’re staying on top of preparation, being kind of ready when you get to the track. These weekends go a lot quicker and are a lot busier than you might have been in, say, Indy Lights or different series. Where you thought before you might have had the time to do some prep, video or data, you’re probably not going to have the time to do as much of that stuff as you did before. Making sure you’re kind of ready when you get to the track is a good way to start every event.

THE MODERATOR: It changes from teammate to teammate, but how quickly do you establish a bond?
DALTON KELLETT: Depends on personalities. Some you click with right away. Some it grows a little bit. Seb and I weren’t best buddies right off the bat. After the year we spent together, that relationship got better and better. Might be an age thing, too. When you’re younger, have more common interests, you might click right away.
As far as working together, I think we’re all professionals. As far as the engineering room goes, I think that’s going to come together certainly by the end of the first event or so I’d say. The initial sort of gelling, then from that you’re getting more and more in tune with each other.

THE MODERATOR: You’ll be with Tatiana and Kyle at Wednesday’s test. Will you spend more time thinking about the changes that are made, how that applies to your program, or more attentive to their needs?
DALTON KELLETT: My engineer asked me to bring a camera, take some video and stuff, so I have some assignments as far as stuff they want to get. The focus is obviously on the two cars that are there at the test. That’s the objective for that day.
From my perspective, I’m certainly going to be also spending time just hearing how they talk with the engineers, seeing what the changes are, what the effects are. It will be an interesting exercise to kind of see the other side of it, see how the team is working together. I’d say a little bit of both.

Q. Your third season, now you’re the seasoned veteran. How strange is that, the longest tenured driver out of this group of three?
DALTON KELLETT: It’s a unique position to be in. It’s certainly exciting. I think we talked about it a bit earlier, but it’s important to emphasize. I think the relationship is different when you have a rookie like myself the last year and Seb, a seasoned veteran, a known quantity, versus what we’re going into this year, which is a semi veteran and then two rookies. I think it will be maybe a bit more of a communal aspect.
On the flipside there’s definitely experience I have had doing a year and a half in INDYCAR that the other two won’t. Certainly in any situation that I can help and offer my experience, I’ll be certainly doing that.

Q. Last week fellow Canadian announced he’ll be running an entire IMSA season, Robby Wickens. How proud are you of being able to see him be able to get to the point in his rehab to return to racing?
DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, I’m confident to say there were a lot of tears shed that day by a lot of people in the racing industry. An inspiring story. I train at Pit.Fit, where Robby does a lot of his rehab. To see him work that hard in the last few years is inspiring. I know Robby back from the karting days. To see Brian seem give him a chance to get back in it, it’s an amazing thing.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 ROKIT AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:
THE MODERATOR: Welcome Kyle Kirkwood. You’ve had some time in the car. Will you have more before St. Petersburg? Excitement so far?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I’m ecstatic. Finally starting now. Got through the holidays. Seems surreal for me. I thought there would be a moment where I’d be able to take a break, look back at my career over the junior formulas. Now I’m ready to get into it, start racing. Yeah, there hasn’t been time to relax. We’re all gas right now trying to get ready for the start of the season here in February.

THE MODERATOR: We learned the other day that Kyle is big on spear fishing and spending a lot of time around the ocean. We’re sorry for your luck this morning being in Indianapolis.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, it’s definitely colder here. You don’t want to get into the water here. Most of the lakes are frozen, that’s what I’ve found out. I’ve only seen snow like 10 times. Flew up here Saturday, there was snow. Making snowballs out in front of Chris Wheeler’s house.
The water stays warm in Florida, spend a lot of time in the water surfing, spear fishing, diving. That’s kind of how I grew up.

THE MODERATOR: 10 times of seeing snow?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I rarely ever see snow.

THE MODERATOR: Where would your experience have been?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: In the snow? I’ve seen it once in Canada, once when I went to France for the FIA award banquet, started snowing, which I thought was incredible, right before I went to the awards ceremony. Saw snow a couple days ago. I’m kind of forgetting where else I’ve seen it. Not many times.

THE MODERATOR: Second time here this season. Pretty lucky.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Oh, really?

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. You came up through Road to Indy. Had quite a bit of success in each level. Are you tempering your expectations at all or are you expecting to be right up at the front?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Of course it’s going to be a tougher crowd racing in INDYCAR. I fully expect that. That’s what I’ve known coming up through all the ranks. Most of the drivers in Road to Indy are rookies. I’m coming into INDYCAR as a rookie where there are veteran drivers that have been here for 15 years I think some of them have been.
It’s all new to me. Of course, I have to take a step back, know I need to learn some things. Most of the time, most of the categories, I came into it knowing I probably had the most knowledge. Now I’ve got probably the least.

Q. Another advantage of the Road to Indy is you race on a lot of the same tracks as INDYCAR. There are a few you haven’t been on. Any you’re looking forward to?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I would make it easy and say the Indy 500. I’ve never driven on a superspeedway. Never driven a car with speedway trim on it. Did a test with Andretti. I have a feeling for how fast the car is going to be, but I’m really looking forward to getting on some ovals.

THE MODERATOR: Tony Kanaan mentioned this is his 24th INDYCAR season, 24 in INDYCAR.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: That’s incredible. That’s incredible. It shows I’m a rookie coming into it. He’s been racing it longer than I’ve been alive.
Q. You have a veteran driver starting his third season in INDYCAR, two rookies. When you think about A.J. Foyt, the dynamics of that team, it’s pretty interesting, especially when you put A.J. in the middle of it all. Almost like you’re learning from the man who created it.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: That is very true. I have not had the honor of meeting A.J. yet or being able to speak with him. I’m hoping to very soon. That guy is a world of knowledge, right? He’s been around this sport for so many years, seen everything. Hopefully I can hone in on him and get as much as I can from him.
Being around A.J. Foyt Racing has been phenomenal. They’ve been super open, brought me in as their family, been awesome with sharing data with me, making sure I’m super up to speed with their tests.

Q. Can you talk a bit about your off-season. I know there were heavy rumors about possibly getting into Andretti, then it became Foyt. Talk about that process.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I have to jog my memory how much I can talk about it.
I know Michael did come out at a press conference speaking about the F1 deal, whatnot. Just bounced off of him. They did have the option for a period of time. Once they found out they couldn’t fill me into a seat, they opened up that option. We made some calls. A.J. Foyt Racing was the best fit for us.

Q. You get one track in the world to race on, what would it be? What are you driving?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: That’s a good question.
There’s two races that I’ve always loved. I’m going to name two off. It’s going to be the 500 in INDYCAR, something I’ve watched ever since I was super young. Then Monaco in F1. Two pretty easy go-tos there.

Q. Slightly awkward question. Obviously we’ve seen Foyt struggling over the last couple of years. Does that take any pressure off you in your learning season, that less is expected of you than if you had been thrown into a Ganassi or Penske car?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: It does. It does take pressure off of me. At the same time I think it’s beneficial for me because, like I’ve said, the team has been super open with me. They want to learn, too. I’ve been able to bring some kind of experience over from my history, try and hone in and try and get something out of our car here.
I think we’re going to grow together as a team. I think the chemistry has been working out perfectly.

Q. Obviously Dalton has some experience. He’s made the same transition as you. Obviously Tatiana has no experience. Is that also difficult to have one relatively inexperienced and one totally inexperienced?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: That’s kind of been my entire history in junior formulas. I’ve never really had somebody to base stuff off of. It’s nothing new to me. I wish I did have a mentor coming up through Road to Indy, F4, F3. I really didn’t. It’s nothing special. I’ve kind of been in this position my entire life.

Q. A.J. should be useful there.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Very much so.

Q. You can’t hit the motor with a hammer. Didn’t work for him.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Right (laughter).

Q. Other than the Indy 500, what track are you most looking forward to?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I’m going to say Mid-Ohio. Mid-Ohio has been a track I’ve had the most success at. Actually I would say Mid-Ohio and St. Petersburg. St. Petersburg is like a home race for me, somewhere we always start off the season. I really enjoy that place, a lot of good memories there. But Mid-Ohio is a place that I’ve driven so much at over every single one of the categories I’ve been in. I’ve won it in every single category I’ve driven in. That’s somewhere that I always look forward to going back to and racing at. Like I said, it’s a place I have the most experience at.

Q. I know you said you haven’t talked to A.J. yet. You probably do most of your dealings with Larry. Eventually you will cross paths with A.J. What do you hope to learn from him or experience?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah, the biggest thing I want to ask him is stuff about ovals because that guy is a legend around ovals, right? Even though it’s something so far back in history or in the past, it definitely translates over to today.
As much information as I can get out of him for ovals. In the Road to Indy, we only did a few ovals, we ran at St. Louis, then Lucas Oil Raceway. My oval experience isn’t that vast. I think having him on my side is definitely going to help that.

Q. You’re one of many INDYCAR drivers that are going to be in the Rolex, not a new event for you, but a new class. I know Lexus wants to win it very badly. How much could a big weekend in Daytona sort of launch your year?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: That’s a good question because every single one of my seasons have all been based off of kind of momentum it seems like. Usually my worst race is the first race of the year, then I build on top of that, I start getting strings of wins by the end of the year. Obviously it’s going to be a lot harder in INDYCAR. That’s my tendency.
Starting it off early with the 24 hour, trying to get into that race mode, is super important. I did it last year. It was a huge help. Being with the Lexus guys, Vasser Sullivan, has been a blessing in my career because I’ve learned so much with them in sports cars that actually translates over to INDYCAR.

Q. This team has been up and down the last couple years. As a rookie joining a team where you don’t have a ton of experienced teammates on a team that has been still working hard to get a podium or a win these last several years, what will you use to gauge what you would deem a successful season?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I think that kind of comes with us in the team, how we perceive us doing well. I think that is just capitalizing on what we can do, right?
If we come into a weekend, we know we can do well, we don’t do well, that’s not a good weekend for us, we haven’t maximized what we can do.
Our goal is to progress the car as much as possible. I need to learn myself as a new INDYCAR driver, as a rookie. Like I’ve said, I think we can build off of each other and maybe grow something great. There’s some big things happening with the team, a lot of new people onboard, some new development going on.
I think we have the good chance of turning some heads this year.

Q. You would say maybe more of a subjective thing or feeling, internal way to grade your season rather than off of podiums and wins?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: That’s correct, yeah. You can only do as well as you can, as well as the equipment is, how well I’m driving, whatever it might be, what the conditions are. It all comes from within. I don’t think you can look from the outside, you can’t be in third person trying to figure out how you’re doing. That just comes from within. How you feel as a team is more important.

Q. Three Road to Indy championships. What has that program meant to your career? Would you be here without it?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: 100% no. Not 100%. It’s made it so much easier for me because as everyone knows finding sponsorships, funding, junior categories, is nearly impossible. The return on investment for sponsors is pretty much non-existent because there’s none of this broadcasting, being able to put things out. A lot of sponsorships aren’t visible.
Having those scholarships from the Road to Indy has been absolutely crucial for my career. That all started from 2012, my first scholarship was with AJ Allmendinger, a couple years later Team USA scholarship. After I would be the P4 scholarship, Honda had a scholarship to go to F3. All the Road to Indys, leading up now to what is INDYCAR, a 1.25 million dollars scholarship into INDYCAR. I don’t think I would have made it here this quick.
I think there’s a possibility I would have still made it to INDYCAR without the scholarships, but this has obviously made it a much easier transition.

Q. At the beginning of your career, maybe you were aiming for Formula 1. Do you think getting into INDYCAR is a step towards Formula 1 or do you think INDYCAR will be it in your progress?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: That all depends on kind of what happens, doesn’t it?
I think every young karting driver when you’re five, six, seven years old, you look at Formula 1 as the pinnacle. But there is kind of a transition in my mind when I was probably 10 or 11 years old where I started watching the Indy 500s. This is what I want to do.
I think INDYCAR is very enjoyable. I think there’s been some past F1 drivers that have come over here and said if you have the chance, come do this 100%.
I kind of look at it as where I want to be in my life. I like to stay over in the States, to be honest. That keeps me over here. I love INDYCAR racing. This is the ultimate goal for me at the moment. I don’t foresee anything happening where I change my plans and move to Formula 1.

THE MODERATOR: Today is often a day of rookie trouble from the veterans. Any pranking going on?
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Nothing yet. Nothing that I’ve noticed.

THE MODERATOR: Keep your head on a swivel.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I was actually thinking that this morning in the hotel. This is Content Day. There’s definitely going to be some rookie pranks going on.

THE MODERATOR: You arrive on a day without Rossi, without Herta, without Conor.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: Without Conor especially, yes (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: You figured out the pecking order. Kanaan you might want to watch on.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: My head is on a swivel around him always.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

TATIANA CALDERON, NO. 11 ROKIT AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:
THE MODERATOR: Welcome Tatiana Calderon. Tatiana, this was announced this morning, your ride with AJ Foyt Racing and Rocket as the sponsorship. I know this has been in discussion. Give us some background on how long the process has been.
TATIANA CALDERON: Yeah, it’s been an amazing time that I have spent with Rocket for the last two years in Super Formula in Japan, but obviously when the chance came to test an INDYCAR last July and I felt really great with the team in the car, of course. We’ve been in discussions really since then, but good things take time, and we finally managed to put everything together last week.
I’m very excited, very thankful to both Rocket and AJ Foyt for this amazing opportunity and to really start this thing quite soon and get acclimatized with the car and the team around me.

Q. You’ve had the one test; what has been your other INDYCAR experience in terms of attending races? How many have you been to?
TATIANA CALDERON: Well, I started my career here in U.S. in Star Mazda 10 years ago. It’s been a while. So I know some of the tracks that I tried to remember everything. Of course a lot of things have changed. But I’ve always been kind of following INDYCAR because also I come from Colombia, Juan Pablo Montoya has been racing here in America for many years. He’s been kind of my idol, as well.
But in the garage it was only Mid-Ohio that I had the chance to really see an INDYCAR team from the inside. Yeah, a lot of things to learn for me this year.

Q. The Japan transition has been very good for — we saw last year with Alex Palou. Do you expect to be prepared for this endeavor?
TATIANA CALDERON: Yeah, I think Super Formula is a great preparation for any single seater series. I think it’s a super quick car, very tricky. Also I had to learn how to communicate differently. The culture was very different, as well. But I think that has prepared me more for this opportunity.
Of course I don’t expect anything to be very easy, particularly at the beginning, because I’ve only done one test day in INDYCAR. I think we’ll have probably three days before the first race.
A lot of things to take in, but I think it was a great preparation with Super Formula and sports cars that I have been racing the last couple of years, as well, to help with fuel save, with tire save and pit stops and all that. I think it’s been quite good for my career.

Q. Have you been to the team shop down in Texas yet?
TATIANA CALDERON: Not in Texas, but their one here. We spent last week doing some seat fit and getting back into rhythm with everybody. Yeah, I’m excited to actually drive for the first time here in 2022.

Q. You have such an extensive resume behind you; what is it about INDYCAR that caught your attention, and also, do you believe that INDYCAR does a good job with female representation in motorsports?
TATIANA CALDERON: I think INDYCAR has always been in my radar. I think I’ve always been very competitive, and I want to be where the best drivers are at, and I think INDYCAR is pretty high up there on the single seater ladder. I’ve always enjoyed single seaters quite a lot, as well.
It’s an honor to be racing in INDYCAR after I started my career 10 years ago, and I was just watching those races. Yeah, huge privilege in that sense, and I think here in America, in INDYCAR, there has been many female drivers coming through, so I think there is more opportunity at the moment for us here.
I will obviously make the most out of this opportunity, and I’m really hoping that I can do well and inspire even more girls to join in in karting, in single seaters, and that they know this is also a great opportunity to showcase that.
Yeah, can’t wait to get started and see where we end up in the first race, but obviously build up to it step by step, and I think as long as we improve every time we’re on track, then I’ll be happy.

Q. Have you had a chance to meet AJ yet?
TATIANA CALDERON: Sadly, no. We were supposed to meet very soon, but with all this COVID situation, with the weather, it’s been — it has not been easy. He had a birthday yesterday, as well.
Yeah, hopefully very soon.

Q. Do you have any idea what to expect?
TATIANA CALDERON: No, I think obviously I’ve read a lot of what he’s done, about the Indy 500, as well, everything that has won. I think it will be a privilege to be able to share some experiences with him, to look at him in the eyes. I think that’s one of the biggest things I would say sometimes when you have that connection, that feeling with somebody. Hopefully it will be very soon.

Q. Did you give any consideration to the ovals?
TATIANA CALDERON: Yeah, definitely. Obviously I’ve only tested the car one day back in July, so we thought to take things easy to start off with, the road courses, build up to hopefully test in an oval, see how I feel, see how my confidence with the car comes.
But of course who wouldn’t love to do Indy 500 one day. Yeah, we’re just taking it step by step.

Q. Are you still going to be a reserve driver, or has that come to an end?
TATIANA CALDERON: I’m not sure at the moment, but my full focus is obviously here in INDYCAR. I want to do the best job I can, and I think in order to do that, I need to be focused on one thing. We’ll figure out the next bit in the future, but I’m just super excited with this opportunity and to be present and focused on one thing.

Q. We’ve had a lot of successful drivers from Formula 2 and Super Formula recently coming to INDYCAR. You’ve done both. What do you think your experiences, how can they help you getting into grips with INDYCAR this year?
TATIANA CALDERON: Well, I think they will be very useful, all those experiences, particularly because there’s not much time that we have in the car in preseason, so only a couple of days of testing, so I’m kind of used to that. But yeah, all the tracks sort of will be quite new, especially with an INDYCAR. It’s quite a heavy, big car, just with the tires to get a feel for the degradation, as well, here.
Because I’ve been changing continents and cars and tire manufacturers, I think that’s definitely going to help me to speed up the process, but I still want to take step by step this steep learning curve.
Yeah, I don’t expect it to be any easier, but I definitely feel more ready than I was a couple of years back if I had the opportunity. Yeah, looking forward to making the most out of it and to learn as quick as possible.

Q. As I recall, now that I think more about it, weren’t you involved with Derek Daly and his driving academy years ago, so therefore you must have quite a relationship with the daily family and Conor even?
TATIANA CALDERON: Yeah, we were teammates with Conor when we were driving with Juncos Racing in Star Mazda, and I worked with Derek, as well, the first couple of years that I was here in single seaters.
Yeah, I’ve always felt really, really confident here. Everybody has been very open to help, as well, and yeah, I have a lot of relationship with many of the drivers that are here in INDYCAR. Yeah, it will be fun to see them back on track again after so many years.

Q. Who else in this paddock have you raced with?
TATIANA CALDERON: Well, I raced against Alex, a little bit against Pato in Formula 2 where he did only one race. I’ve raced with Montoya, as well, in the World Endurance Championship. Yeah, I need to think, but there are many others for sure. Lundgaard, Callum Ilott, as well.

Q. Quite a few.
TATIANA CALDERON: Yeah, I’m pretty sure I have more, but — Felix Rosenqvist, as well, in Formula 3. Yeah, a lot of familiar faces.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
116273-1-1004 2022-01-17 21:22:00 GMT
About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. 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.

Winner To Split $1 Million with Chosen Charity in 2022 Season

INDIANAPOLIS (Thursday, Jan. 13, 2022) – The driver and race team seeing the checkered flag first on all three types of circuits in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES can win $1 million in the 2022 season for themselves and a charity through the new PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge.

The PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge is part of a new partnership between industrial staffing giant PeopleReady and INDYCAR.

WATCH: PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge Video

The first driver who wins at least once this season on the three types of tracks that comprise the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule – road course, street circuit and oval – will share $500,000 with their team and donate $500,000 to that driver and team’s chosen charity.

“The PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge will help drive home PeopleReady’s mission to connect people and work as a force for good in the communities they serve while highlighting the skill of NTT INDYCAR SERIES teams and drivers and our collective commitment to helping others,” Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles said. “This program will keep fans engaged all season and continue to raise vital awareness for a variety of worthy charities.”

History shows there’s a very good chance of a driver, team and charity winning big in 2022 through the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge. One driver achieved the feat of winning on a road course, street circuit and oval for six consecutive seasons from 2015-20, with that streak finally ending last season (see chart below).

A Team Penske driver won on all three types of tracks in a season four times in five years between 2016-20, with Josef Newgarden in 2017 and 2020, Simon Pagenaud in 2019 and Will Power in 2016.

“Our partnership with INDYCAR will accelerate our ability to put work and workforces within reach by raising awareness with race fans,” said Taryn Owen, president and COO of PeopleReady. “We are excited to challenge all NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers to compete for the grand prize of $1 million and provide them with the opportunity to give back to a charity they are passionate about.”

There will be a winner in all 17 races this season, even if a driver can’t pull off the “triple crown” of winning on all three types of INDYCAR circuits. PeopleReady is offering an additional $10,000 to the winner of every race this season, also to be split with their selected charity.

“PeopleReady is committed to making a difference through our mission and by giving back to the communities we serve,” said Patrick Beharelle, CEO of TrueBlue, the parent company of PeopleReady. “We are excited for the opportunity to amplify that work through the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge in partnership with the talented NTT INDYCAR SERIES teams and drivers.”

Recent Winners on Road, Street, Oval in Same NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season

Year	Driver/Team	Winning Tracks
2021	None	None
2020	Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)	Iowa, Indy RC, St. Petersburg
2019	Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)	Indy RC, Indy Oval, Toronto
2018	Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport)	Long Beach, Mid-Ohio, Pocono
2017	Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)	Barber, Toronto, Mid-Ohio, Gateway
2016	Will Power (Team Penske)	Detroit, Road America, Toronto, Pocono
2015	Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)	Long Beach, Texas, Sonoma

About INDYCAR

INDYCAR is the Indianapolis-based governing body for North America’s premier open-wheel auto racing series, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. The series features an international field of the world’s most versatile drivers – including six-time series champion Scott Dixon, two-time series champion Josef Newgarden, 2021 series champion Alex Palou and four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves – who compete on superspeedways, short ovals, street circuits and permanent road courses. The 2022 season will consist of 17 races in the United States and Canada and is highlighted by the historic Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.

About PeopleReady

PeopleReady, a TrueBlue company (NYSE: TBI), specializes in quick and reliable on-demand labor and highly skilled workers. PeopleReady supports a wide range of blue-collar industries, including construction, manufacturing and logistics, waste and recycling, and hospitality. Leveraging its game-changing JobStack platform and 600-plus branch offices across all 50 states, Puerto Rico and Canada, PeopleReady served approximately 98,000 businesses and put approximately 221,000 people to work in 2020. Learn more at www.peopleready.com.

New Era for Series Includes Return to Iowa Speedway, Debut at Nashville

INDIANAPOLIS (Tuesday, Jan. 11, 2022) – INDYCAR is launching a new era of operational control of Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires with the announcement of a 14-race schedule for 2022.

The schedule features events in 11 key markets and three doubleheader weekends, including a return to Iowa Speedway and the series’ debut on the Streets of Nashville. In November 2021, INDYCAR added the role of promoter to its position of sanctioning body of Indy Lights.

All 14 races, qualifying sessions and practices will happen within 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES weekends, providing an inclusive atmosphere for the developmental series that serves as the final step toward competing in North America’s premier open-wheel series. Where available, Indy Lights will benefit from a more integrated paddock area as its team garages will be inside the NTT INDYCAR SERIES paddock footprint. Additional integration will come in marketing, digital assets and race officiating.

“To have all 14 races included with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule and its world-class venues is a tremendous step forward,” said Levi Jones, director of Indy Lights. “In addition to competing for the 2022 championship, Indy Lights drivers, crew members and teams will be able to see up close how event weekends run and operate in INDYCAR.

“Racing is the part they’ve known their whole life. Our goal is to also allow them the opportunity to see what it takes to become a true professional. The chance to connect and closely interact with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES paddock is a pathway to realize that goal.”

The 2022 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season begins Sunday, Feb. 27 on the Streets of St. Petersburg. It is the 17th year that Indy Lights has competed on the temporary street circuit. The championship continues Sunday, May 1 at picturesque Barber Motorsports Park before the first doubleheader of the season on the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14.

The second doubleheader of 2022 is scheduled for Saturday, June 4 and Sunday, June 5 at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park in Detroit before the classic American road courses of Road America on Sunday, June 12 and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Sunday, July 3.

The first oval of the season comes Saturday, July 23 at Iowa Speedway. It marks the first appearance by Indy Lights on the .875-mile, D-shaped layout since 2018. It is followed by the series debut on the fan-favorite Streets of Nashville on Sunday, Aug. 7 and another oval at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, Aug. 20.

A series of test days also will be included in the overall calendar for the 2022 season, at the IMS road course (Tuesday, April 5), World Wide Technology Raceway (Wednesday, June 15) and Iowa Speedway (Wednesday, June 22).

“The key is we are training successful athletes today to become superstars tomorrow,” Jones said. “Tests and races at all three venues, combined with the remaining schedule, will help provide each of our drivers the experience they need to be ready for the final step of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.”

The 2022 championship finishes with a flurry of three races in eight days. The final stretch starts Sunday, Sept. 4 with an event at Portland International Raceway for the 18th season. The series champion will be crowned at the final doubleheader of the season, Saturday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 11 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

In the United States, all races will be broadcast live on Peacock Premium, NBCUniversal’s expanding streaming service, with additional coverage during race weekends provided by the INDYCAR Radio Network.

“Last season, over 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES competed in Indy Lights at some point in their career,” Jones said. “It is a proven pipeline to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and we believe the connection will strengthen as the sanctioning body assumes operational control. There is little question the 2022 championship trophy will be one the champion will keep on their shelf forever and could be a sign of bigger success to come afterward.”

Start times for 2022 events will be announced at a later date.

About Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires: Celebrating 35 years, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires develops drivers and teams to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Past champions include INDYCAR SERIES champions Paul Tracy, Cristiano da Matta, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden. In 2021, 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES were Indy Lights graduates, including rising stars and race winners Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Rinus VeeKay. The 2022 season consists of 14 races in the United States. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, please visit www.indylights.com. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.

About Cooper Tire: Cooper Tire, a subsidiary of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (Nasdaq: GT), specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

About Goodyear: Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.