Wednesday, August 17, 2022

Christian Lundgaard Previews Bommarito Automotive Group 500 & Re-Up With Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team drivers with their families and personal friends as they walk to their Honda-powered Dallara cars in pitlane at Indianapolis Motor Speedway before the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500. From L to R ... the recently confirmed in a multi-year contract with the team and Rookie Of The Year points leader Denmark born Christian Lundgaard, senior driver and competing in his 14th year Graham Rahal, and British born competing in his sixth year Jack Harvey. Image Credit: James Black via Penske Entertainment (2022)

Christian Lundgaard Previews Bommarito Automotive Group 500 & Re-Up With Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

We find ourselves in the sunset of a 17 Race NTT INDYCAR SERIES 2022 season with only 3 races left -  the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline on the short oval at World Wide Technology Raceway, 5 Minutes from downtown St. Louis | the Grand Prix of Portland at Portland International Raceway | the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. - having a chat with the rookie driver in his first full season, leading in the points for Rookie Of The Year, Denmark born and raised Christian Lundgaard.

Lundgaard’s performance in his first full NTT INDYCAR SERIES season with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing has earned the 21-year-old Dane a new long-term agreement with the team, it was announced just before the INDYCAR sponsored ZOOM Call Tuesday August 17, 2022.

The restructuring of Lundgaard’s agreement comes as he takes a commanding 41-point lead in the Rookie of the Year standings into this weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway. The race airs live Saturday at 6 p.m. ET on USA Network and Peacock Premium with coverage on the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Lundgaard earned an NTT INDYCAR SERIES career-best finish of second place at the Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on July 30 and followed that up with his highest series start – third place – in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville on Aug. 6.

"I have to say a big thanks to (team co-owners) Bobby (Rahal), David (Letterman) and Mike (Lanigan) for giving me this opportunity to extend my time with the team," Lundgaard said. "We’ve had some good results lately, and I’m sure this has also helped their decision."

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS 
(H - Honda-Powered | C - Chevrolet-Powered)

Christian Lundgaard, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing - H, 272 points

David Malukas, Dale Coyne Racing with HMD - H, 231 points

Callum Ilott, Juncos Hollinger Racing - C, 181 points

Devlin DeFrancesco, Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport - H, 159 points

Kyle Kirkwood, AJ Foyt Racing - C, 144 points

Tatiana Calderon, AJ Foyt Racing - C, 58 points


NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference - Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Press Conference - Christian Lundgaard - No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda Dallara

THE MODERATOR: We've reached the final oval of the season as the NTT INDYCAR Series heads to World Wide Technology Raceway for Saturday night's Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. Our coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern on USA and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Our guest today has several reasons to be excited this week. His team is on a roll, career best finish of third on the IMS road course a couple of weeks ago, a career best starting position of second in Nashville -- no, the other way around, isn't it?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: My apologies. I owe you one here.

But all of that aside, Christian, just announced moments ago, receiving a new long term agreement with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He pilots the No. 30 Shield Cleansers Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, Rookie of the Year candidate from Denmark, we welcome in Christian Lundgaard.

Christian, congratulations. Thanks for doing this.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: No, thank you. It's my pleasure. In the beginning of the season, this was the aim to get to this point, to get it all settled. Now we're here.

I spoke to my dad yesterday, as I actually signed the papers yesterday. It was a big relief for me because it's been the pressure to get this done and to be sure the future is settled. For me, that is actually the first time that has ever happened, and that was the aim when we came over here to America to get this sorted, and now it's done.

We've got three races to go. Then in the off-season I can celebrate, not yet.

THE MODERATOR: All right. That will be a good celebration.

In the context of your career, a long term deal with any racing organization, let alone something in the NTT INDYCAR Series, what does that mean when it comes to the big picture, and how big is this for you?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I spoke to Marcus Ericsson about this specific question. INDYCAR is a lot about stability, and I don't think many people realize this. Now I know that I'll be with the same people, the same engineers, et cetera, the same team. And for me to know that and to be able to work close to them and be more a part of the team, I think is a big benefit.

Which is also why we see -- I wouldn't call it the old guys, but the experienced drivers. You know, they've been with the same team for a long time, and they're still competitive. They win races. We see Scott, we see Will kicking our butts. For a young driver to come in and be on that level is tough.

THE MODERATOR: Well, they haven't exactly been kicking your butt as of late. Let's kind of talk about the continuation of this run that your team is on. How do you explain the change in results in the last month and a half or so?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: It's a good question because I think in the beginning of the season we struggled a lot more than we thought we would. I think St. Pete was a special event. The first race of the season, I think everyone knew to get their feet on the ground and get going.

I don't think we started the weekend with the 30 crew that well. I think we were 25th in the first practice out of 27 cars or 26. But we made progress through the weekend, and we were looking at a P6 finish. We ended up P11, which it is what it is.

Then we went to Texas. Our qualifying wasn't great. As a team, we were struggling a lot in qualifying. And that whole continuation of the beginning of the season was just mentally tough for absolutely everybody in the team.

I spoke to several people before the 500. After the 500, all the energy that goes into the 500, people start to degrade in the second part of the season, and that's where we upped our game because the second half of the season so far, we've been strong. I think Road America was kind of the turning point when we started to perform better.

We've been on a roll. We got our first podium. We qualified third at Nashville, which just for the record, I absolutely wasn't expecting to happen. Now it's done, and I'm happy. We've shown that we've got the potential.

THE MODERATOR: You mentioned Texas. Last thing before we open it up for questions. Back at an oval this weekend, testing there, obviously 1 1/4 mile around World Wide Technology Raceway. What have you learned in places like Texas and Indy and Iowa that you could use? Knowledge is key, right? When you go to places like this, what can you use from those experiences that's going to help you this coming weekend?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Most of it actually comes from Graham. I would say all my knowledge on ovals comes from Graham. Graham's got a tremendous amount of experience on ovals, and for me to come in as a rookie, I wouldn't say before I came over here, was being scared of ovals, but it is different. It's tough, and I think it's a big mental game.

Texas, I think the race performance was quite decent. We were moving up quite quickly. Iowa, I enjoyed a lot. I must say, I enjoyed the short ovals quite a bit. The tests, I don't think we were as competitive as we were in Iowa. Luckily that was just a test day. We've got to perform once the race gets there.

But Indy was a special one, I think, for me. I enjoyed it more than I probably should have. I should probably have expected more of -- I wouldn't say dedication and hard work, but the performance wasn't there. At that point, I wouldn't say we gave up, but it was more, from my own perspective, was getting the experience because there was no point of going out and doing something stupid.

THE MODERATOR: Just to reiterate, second on the IMS road course, qualifying third at Nashville. That's my error. I promise that's the last time I'll make that error, at least this week.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: No worries.

Christian Lundgaard going around Turn 3, the fountain turn, at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Image Credit: Chris Owens via Penske Entertainment (2022)

Q. Christian, congrats on the new contract. You always hear about successful businesses, feels kind of like a family with their employees. You happen to drive for a family team. Do you feel like part of a Rahal extended family member?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Absolutely. Everyone in the team works well together. I like Bobby. I like Mike and David. I've actually spent more time with them than I thought I would than I did in the beginning of the season.

Mike called me yesterday just to congratulate me on the contract. What I like a lot about Mike is he tells you what he thinks. He doesn't filter it. I think that is a good thing to have. And as a team, I think we also need to move more in that direction and just get things done, have some more conclusions on things and get on with it.

Q. Obviously stateside we see INDYCAR and what it means to here, but to a 21-year-old Danish rookie, what about the series now makes you like, you know what, this is where I want to be for the future? What out of the first year have you liked so much that you see this as a career goal now?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I don't think there's been much I haven't really liked about INDYCAR so far. There's always going to be decisions you would have hoped you would have made different from several people, if it's the stewards or the race director, et cetera, changes to the tracks and stuff like this.

But I think overall, like I've said many times now when I moved over here and I've had the question what's the difference about Europe and America, for me it's about racing -- it's more about racing than it is about politics and et cetera. What I like about INDYCAR is the feeling I have here is the feeling I got when I fell in love with go-karts. You put the car on the ground, and you race, and you have fun. But you compete, and once the helmet's off, everyone is best buddies.

You don't see that in Europe. For me, the life is good for me in America. I prefer it here. Obviously I miss family and friends and et cetera, but I'm sure a time will come for them to visit me.

No, just everything about the sport over here is preferred for me.

Q. You mentioned you called your dad yesterday and talked about this. What was that phone call like? Is it emotional? Is it kind of like, yeah, you've been here this year, but like in stick and ball sports, everyone strives to get from that rookie contract to that second contract. Now you got it. Is that kind of that relief? Was it an emotional conversation? What was that discussion like yesterday?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Honestly it was quite calm. I think for me, obviously I don't think I've properly realized yet, but I think my dad has because he sits on the sidelines and just watches the big picture of what's going on.

But this has basically been the longtime goal to get it done and have a multiple year agreement because it settles everything down. You've got a work path, and I think that's just a benefit overall. But it's been work from 2007, when I started racing, and now we're here. It's happening. I wouldn't say we never expected it to happen, but it's always been questionable if it was possible.

I think -- again, just to follow up on the question before, I don't think necessarily my chances would have been as big in Europe as they would have been here. So that's obviously a good choice to come here then.

Q. Christian, congrats on the new deal. Just wanted to ask you real quick, when you look at the rookie competition that you're part of this year, some pretty impressive drivers. Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, and now yourself, you're leading the standings. How satisfying would it be to win the Rookie of the Year title?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: By the way, thank you. Honestly, for me I've said this before, I haven't looked too much into the rookie standings. I think now obviously there will be a bit more focus on it as we reach the end of the season. I just try to focus on each event as they come, and I've looked more at the overall standings, to be honest, than I've looked at the rookie championship. I'd rather want to win the whole championship.

We aren't in that position, so the rookie championship will for sure be our main goal for now. You only get one shot at it, so you've got to perform. That's what's tough about a rookie season is you've got one shot at it and you need to get everything right, but you've also got to learn as much as possible and mistakes will follow.

I think we've executed quite well in the beginning of the second part of the season, and I think that's why we are where we are in the rookie standings.

Q. How foreign does the oval racing feel to you?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I wouldn't say I'm uncomfortable on the track or in the car. I would say I'm for sure getting more comfortable. But I think it's all about confidence, experience, knowledge, which is also why I focused more on actually getting through the races than going for that one position, playing the long game.

Because you know in the hope of this contract for me now, I know that I'll have another shot again. Now the experience I've gained, I need to use and execute next year, which is also why I think next year ovals will be a lot stronger.

But I want to finish Gateway strong because it's the last oval of the season. We performed at Nashville. We performed at Indy, which means it's the road course, it's the street circuit. Now we've just got to have a good end to the season on the last oval. Then I can be very satisfied with my rookie season.

Q. Finally, Chris Blair the general manager at World Wide Technology Raceway, they said there's a tweak to the schedule. They're going to add an extra session of rubber in the track by having you guys run the high line similar to what you did in Texas. How much do you think that will help? Does it help more on the starts and restarts than it would during the race? Because the geometry of the track pretty much favors everybody taking the low line.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think it's a good idea. If I'm going to be honest, I think it would have helped slightly more at Iowa than it would here probably because I think, like you said, everyone will run the low line. It's going to be tough to run the high line, first of all, because of the marbles.

But I think just the way three and four kind of shapes, it's going to be tough to run in the high line and gain a position or make it work without losing time or, even worse, finishing the race there. I think turns one and two, it's possible to run in the high line, but it needs to be early in the race.

Q. I'm putting on my F1 feeder series cap as well. You and Callum are the latest F2 graduates to make a transition. You had a great debut last year, good rookie year now. You're really taking to INDYCAR like a duck to water. Why do you think the switch from F2 to INDYCAR has been so smooth for you? Is it the Dallara link, the fact that there's a similar driving style between the cars, or is it something else?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I would say the Dallara link is a big factor in it, but I think coming from Pirelli tires into Firestone tires was a big benefit for both Callum and I because I think we have the experience of proper saving tires and looking after tires because the Pirelli tires are tough. They're very difficult to understand, and from track to track, it's also different.

Here I feel the Firestones can take a lot more, so you can actually push the tires. But at the same time, we know how to be fast, but now we also know how to save the tires. I think for us as a racing driver it's -- we've shown ourselves to be able to do a good job, be fast, but now I think it's helped our race craft a lot more. But when you see it, I think we've also qualified quite well.

I think the cars don't drive dramatically different. I think the INDYCAR is able to hustle more. It's got a gentle slide to it. The biggest difference for me, I think would be from the tires, but the car handles pretty much the same. It's a little different, but it's not dramatically different.

Q. Now of course there's currently quite a few rumors about a few other F2 drivers following your example, coming from INDYCAR, Felipe Drugovich, Marcus Armstrong, exactly. They're being mostly named. You've raced against both Drugovich and Armstrong. Do you think they would fit well with INDYCAR, and have they been in touch with you to find out what this INDYCAR is about?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: No, I actually haven't spoken to any of them. I spoke to Jack Doohan yesterday, not about this, but we just had a general talk about how things are over there and et cetera.

I think looking at Felipe, he's done an extremely good job this year, had a very, very good start to the season, which has put him in this position to be able to get points and still keep the lead in the championship. I was teammates with Marcus in 2020 in F2. I know he had a very tough year that year, but I know Marcus is a good driver. I know he can hustle a car as well.

I don't know that much about Felipe overall, but I think Marcus for sure would be able to be fast. The thing about INDYCAR is you need to be fast every single time, and that's tough. I think the transition into ovals is tough.

Q. Final thing. Your Alpine link is completely gone now, right?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: It is, yes.

** Query From Motorsports Journal's Edmund Jenks **

Q. Growing up in Denmark, Europe, you probably had some assumptions about America, and now that you've spent a full season here in many different cities and venues and so on, what given your assumptions of America and what your experiences have been, what have been the biggest changes in your mind?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think for me personally the biggest difference has been traveling to races because obviously I'm used to it from Europe, traveling from country to country, but now I'm still traveling, but I'm still in the same country. It's basically the same sort of distances but it's in the same country.

For me that seems strange. I get on a flight, and I land in the same country, just I don't know how many miles away. Just the cities around where I live, I wouldn't say they're far away, but they feel so far away because the same distance -- if I would travel the same distance in the city where I used to live in Denmark, I'd basically get across the country. So all these kinds of things is very different. I wouldn't say difficult for me to get used to, but it's just like a mental thing that's different.

I like the life in America. I've been driving to many of the races, get to see the country, and just drive through states and see the differences. When you cross the border into a new state, you start to see some differences, and you don't see that in the same country in Denmark or in Europe.

I'm happy here for sure.

Q. By the way, congratulations on re-ups with RLL. You've got three more races left this season. Which one are you probably looking forward to the most as it relates to your type of driving style and the venues that you've learned about?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: For me it's going to be difficult to pinpoint one, I think. All three races will be a key factor. I wouldn't say I'm looking more forward for one than the other.

I'd say I look forward for Portland because I know the car the team had there last year was a bit of a development from the car I qualified and raced at Indy last year. So I'm familiar with that car, and I know it performed well. Graham had a very, very good run last year. So I know we'll be competitive when we get there.

Like I said before, I want to finish my last oval of the season well. We've performed at Nashville. We performed at Indy. Now it's time to perform even better at an oval. We made steps through the season. We weren't competitive in Texas. Wouldn't say so in Indy. But then we got to Iowa, and we started building up.

It was also in the second half of the season where we've been strong. So to finish it off well, that would satisfy me well with my rookie season, being able to say that, okay, it's three types of courses, but we performed well at each one of them. I think that would give a big confidence boost for everyone for next year.

Q. How does it feel to be one point behind Roman Grosjean?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I noticed that, but what feels worse, I think, is being 11 points behind Graham.

THE MODERATOR: Great answer.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I want to finish ahead of Graham. That's my ultimate goal.

THE MODERATOR: I was going to say, if you had a goal for the rest of the season, that's it?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: That and having a good end on an oval. And obviously winning a race. It's not too far away. We were close.

Actually we were the best finishing legal car of Indy. We scored the most points.

THE MODERATOR: That's right. You got the most points out of that weekend. I'll give you that, 100 percent.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Exactly.
ENDS

Q. On ovals, you had mentioned in Nashville that, when you first came to street circuits, that you were not as comfortable, but now that you performed well at Nashville, you've come to like them. Do you feel that you have a somewhat similar experience on ovals? Second question would be the team has made a lot of gains in the last half of the year. What else do you -- what other gains do you guys think -- let me start over. Where do you think you guys need to improve to get to that next level?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: First question, so obviously I would say, looking at Nashville, we performed very well. We knew that we made some gains in Toronto. We knew that all three cars were more competitive than we were in Detroit. I think for me part of the reason why I probably haven't been a fan of street circuits is I've done Macao, I've done Monaco, I've done Baku, but they're all smooth tracks. Macao is probably the bumpiest of all of them.

But coming over here, you don't resurface the track before coming out. You just put the car on the ground and you race. That's one of the features I like about INDYCAR. I think the European drivers that I have spoken to don't realize that. They think we're crazy that we go out there, oh, yeah, you're going to hit the wall because the car is going to jump all over the place, but it's challenging. I think that's where the damper programs comes into play but also the driver.

I think, looking at the progress we made in Toronto and then we came into Nashville, I wouldn't say we performed much better at Nashville than we did at Toronto, but I think it was a lot of this momentum of leaving Indy and being there. We just knew we just had to execute. We did on qualifying day, not so much on race day for different reasons, but the roll is there.

Yeah, then I forgot your second question actually.

Q. Second question is you guys have -- with you guys making a lot of gains, what else do you think you guys need to get to the next level?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think it's very simple. I don't think there is much more -- well, there's always things we can do to improve. I always think the car can be better, I can do a better job. But as a team, it's all about being there consistently, and I think that's what we've struggled with is being consistent and understanding why things work and why they don't.

Obviously if everyone knew how to be fast, everyone would be fast. So for us, it's about getting that knowledge and understand everything a little better. It could be a part of me being a rookie coming in and needing to understand the difference coming from an oval into a road course into a street circuit and then back to an oval, adapting to all these things.

As a team, I think since Indy we've taken things more simple. Just thought more logic. What does the car need? Keep it simple. No need to turn the car upside down, just bits and pieces, just fine tune. I think that's helped us quite a bit in the second half of the season. Obviously, also, the car needs to be competitive as soon as you load the truck.

After qualifying P3, Christian Lundgaard, pictured here on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, held on and avoided the roughly $800,000 in estimated race car damage to finish P8 at Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville. The level of contact between drivers led Pato O'Ward to call Nashville the "Crashville" Grand Prix, Image Credit: Chris Owens via Penske Entertainment (2022)

Q. Congratulations on the new deal. I have two questions. First of all, what lessons did you learn after losing that point in Nashville in the last race? You had so many years being a member of the Renault Alpine Academy. What's your take about the whole (indiscernible) situation?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: About Nashville, I think it was a lot of different things. We had burned our push-to-pass quite early in the race, fighting Colton and Palou. I think in the beginning of the second stint I had a big flat spot on my right tire that restart, which was the primary, and we knew we had to go a long way on those tires. So we basically had to use some push-to-pass to sort of -- I forgot that word. To stabilize it.

After that, with the red flag, I think if we wouldn't have had the red flag, we would have finished second. But the last pit stop I made a mistake. So I basically got jumped by Scott. In Indy these are the things we need to learn. Coming into the next season -- and I know the team knows this because I spoke to my engineers and the over board yesterday, as late as yesterday. We were making changes and improving these kinds of things.

Honestly about the whole F1 stunt, I'll call it, I mean, we see it here with Palou. Obviously, outside obviously I'm happy to not be in the position because I don't think anyone wants to be in the position. It's unfortunate for absolutely everybody. But I don't have any intel or any information on what's going on from over there. I haven't even been contacted by anyone within the team.

I'm not going to say I'm disappointed because I like being here. I prefer being in INDYCAR, so I'm not too sad about it.

THE MODERATOR: Can I just say, though, as you're doing this and I'm listening to you throughout the course of this last 35 minutes, compared to maybe at the beginning of the season when you and I did some other things, you just seem way more comfortable now. Is that an accurate statement?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: No, I am. I think I've been extremely lucky, where I actually ended up placing myself in this apartment because Indy Lights driver Christian Rasmussen lives just down the hallway, the same building, and his neighbor, pretty much his neighbor, is Marcus Ericsson. He's Swede, and we're Danish. My girlfriend is Danish. Marcus' girlfriend is Danish. So we all hang out.

That has helped me a lot because coming over here, there's nothing worse than just sitting on your butt not doing anything. So I think that's just helped my personal life, being comfortable, and I think everyone can relate to this. If your personal life doesn't work, your work life doesn't work. So I've just been incredibly fortunate to have this.

THE MODERATOR: That's great to hear actually. You can tell, I think even in the performance like you mentioned.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Nothing has changed personally since, but yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Let's take a few more in English.

Q. I'm talking about this past Sunday marks one year since your debut in the car in Indianapolis. In what aspects do you think you improved during this 365 days? And in what aspects do you think you have to improve considering you have this deal with Rahal about that? And what do you think about it?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Obviously after the race last year, that was roughly in the middle of the season in my F2 season. We weren't really performing very well there. It was actually a very tough time, and I remember when I came over here and I qualified fourth, I basically told everyone, my family and my investors, sponsors, managers, et cetera, I've still got it. Don't worry. I've still got it.

I think that personally was a big confidence boost doing the race, knowing that I still had it, because the season wasn't going very well there. I can't even remember what we finished, but it was a tough year for sure.

Which is also why I wanted to come over here because I know that we performed very well at that event even with food poisoning on Sunday. It was tough, a tough time. I think even in the beginning of the season this year was tough. But all the hard work and dedication pays off now. We've seen it with our podium and our third in qualifying in Nashville.

So we've got to keep digging. We will keep digging. There will always be things you can improve. I think there is many things -- it's simple things that just needs to be done, just not making mistakes in the pit stop. Just being consistent. I rather want to be the guy who does it right every time than being the guy that does it absolutely perfect one out of six.

All of these things, just being consistent and reliable.

Q. One of your bosses for Rahal commented recently that Sebastian Vettel, that if he has an opportunity to test with an INDYCAR, then the team will give this opportunity to Sebastian. Would you like to see Sebastian in INDYCAR? How positive do you think that this move, this incorporation to INDYCAR and specifically for your team gives for the competition?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think it would be cool for Sebastian to drive an INDYCAR honestly because it's -- I've driven Formula One cars. I've tested quite a few days with Renault. So for me, I'm going to say it as it is. For me, that was personally the easiest car I've ever driven. It's easy to drive to a certain extent.

And the reason why we see Formula One being, I would say, split up in the front of the field and then the midfield is extremely close, is that the car is very easy to drive to a certain limit. Then finding that half a second to a second is what's tough. Because the car's got so much downforce that it's going to stick, right?

So I think for Sebastian to come over here and try a car that you need to hustle, you need to work the car, and you aren't really driving -- the car isn't driving you. You are driving the car. I think that's going to be a tough transition. But I think honestly there's going to be a lot of F1 drivers that I wish would try an INDYCAR.

Q. Christian, first congratulations on the contract expansion. I think it's a great thing for you and the team. I know you live local to the shop and want to spend time there. I think that's a very positive approach to success for everybody around. I'd like to echo Dave's comments on your growth with the interviews. I've always found you to be a mature, intelligent, and articulate person to these interviews.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Thank you.

Q. A little more comfortable now.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: For sure, of course.

Q. Having spent a lot of time in Europe in the different series and having started in car, now that you're in INDYCAR, what do you think could be adopted by INDYCAR from any of those series that would make the INDYCAR racing better?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: That's actually a very, very good question because I think on the way through a season you pinpoint things that could be different. Thinking about it now, they all blur, like I can't really pinpoint one or more.

What can I use as an example? I don't know right now.

Q. Fair enough. Just wondering if there's anything procedural.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Honestly, it's a very, very good question because I think looking at it, I'd prefer here's -- obviously then I wouldn't really want to take anything from there. But I think there's things that's good.

I love the warmups we have here. I think Europe should do that. We do practice qualifying, practice, practice qualifying warmup on Sunday morning, and then we race on Sunday. I think it's just great because it isolates the qualifying performance and the race performance more because you focus on making the car as absolute fast as you can, and then you wake up Sunday morning and it's race time and you focus on the race, where you can build and prepare your race car Sunday morning. I think that's great. That's something I really like.

The other way around, I can't think of anything right now.

Q. Christian, two questions here. With your success the last couple races, how much confidence do you have going into Gateway, especially after testing there last week?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think for us Gateway wasn't -- we weren't that competitive as we would hope to have been, I think either in qualifying trim or race trim. But I think for us, having done the test, the test was very good for us in identifying things we need to work on. So I would say at the moment I'm not the most confident, but I know that the team is going to work extremely hard, we're all going to work extremely hard to be sure that we improve our package. I'm not at all worried that, once race day comes, we'll be more competitive than we are now.

Q. Your first INDYCAR race ever was last season at Indy, and you now qualified fourth. What is something you know now that you wish you knew then?

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I think last year I actually thought there was a fast six. I think many people know this by now, there's only a Fast 12. The Fast 12 result was the qualifying. I made a few mistakes. I remember it very quickly, turn four, going back to the back straight before the flat actually came, I made a pretty big mistake there. So I knew there was going to be more time in, and I can't remember if it was four-hundredths or so we were behind for pole. So we had a good shot at it.

Food poisoning for the race certainly didn't help. Pretty much the whole team had food poisoning on Sunday. I remember we all just looked at each other Sunday morning, how did you sleep? Terrible. Oh, yeah, me too, and everyone. That experience helped me a lot coming into every race this season, also being more cautious about what I eat for sure.

No, I've got more experience. It's difficult to pinpoint because I didn't have any experience on tires. Sunday morning in warmup -- again, the warmup is great for especially this. That was the first time I ran the car in full fuel and race trim and long stints, but it's only half an hour so we couldn't do much. I wish I would have learned more then to be more and better prepared for the race.


THE MODERATOR: I know you're self-conscious about your English, but you really do speak it well.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Me?

THE MODERATOR: Yeah, you. You talk about Danish users native tongue.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: I live in America. I lived in the UK last year.

THE MODERATOR: I know, but you're quick to say, oh, Danish, I can speak that.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Which is actually very true. I sat in the driver room in the truck with Jack, and I can't remember if Graham was there. But I sat there with my girlfriend, and we were speaking Danish. Then he asked me a question, and he was just like, how did you just go from one language to another? Obviously he only knows English. He was like how do you do that? Talent. It's something I'm born with, I don't know.

If you know more languages, I think it's just more common and natural to be able to swap. But it is good. I know two languages. You probably only know one.

THE MODERATOR: And I'm still struggling with the one, I'll be honest with you.

Congratulations on the new deal. Safe travels to World Wide Technology Raceway, and we'll see you in a couple days.

CHRISTIAN LUNDGAARD: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: He's the driver of the No. 30 for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and the Shield Cleansers Honda. It is Christian Lundgaard. If you're not going to join us in person, coverage of the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline begins at 6:00 p.m. eastern. See it live on USA, Peacock Premium, and you can listen to the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Thanks everybody. Have a great rest of the afternoon.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

Many followers of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES have noted this is the closest top-six battle this late in the season in the history of the series’ current 20-plus-year points structure. The next three races will settle just who has the luck, patience, courage, team coordination, and critical set-ups to take home the Astor Cup between Will Power, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Josef Newgarden, Alex Palou, and Scott McLaughlin come September. Pretty much an all House Of Penske or Chip Ganassi Racing show.

Weekend Schedule (All Times Eastern)

Friday: NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, 1-2 p.m.; Indy Lights practice, 3:10-4 p.m.; NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying, 4:15-5:15 p.m.; Indy Lights qualifying, 6:15-6:45 p.m.; NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, 6-6:30 p.m. and 6:45-7:45 p.m.

Saturday: Indy Lights race, 4:15 p.m.; NTT INDYCAR SERIES' Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline, 6 p.m. (USA Network and the INDYCAR Radio Network).

... notes from The EDJE


FEATURED ARTICLE >>>







TAGS: World Wide Technology Raceway, NTT INDYCAR, Christian Lundgaard. Graham Rahal, RLL, Honda, Shield Cleansers, Peacock, Bommarito Automotive Group 500, Axalta, Valvoline, House Of Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing, The EDJE

Wednesday, July 27, 2022

Etrick Art Captures 90th Commemoration Of Auto Union AG/AUDI In Stunning Sculpture

Forward looking front end of the debut release of the first Auto Union AG 1936 Auto Union Type C grand prix racer sculpted in aluminum by Michael Etrick with Raul Cenan and finished by Etrick Art. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

Etrick Art Captures 90th Commemoration Of Auto Union AG/AUDI In Stunning Sculpture

The automotive innovator and Germany based design stalwart that began life as Auto Union, and the world knows by the name AUDI, celebrates 90 years of continued motor culture participation. Through the merging of resources of, Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer in 1932, Auto Union was able to bring together highly talented and determined individuals to develop outstanding race cars. 

The unveiling at Eric Nobel's CarLab design studio in Orange California. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

In the sculpture series REFLECTS, Michael Etrick and Raul Cenan, aided by Devin Etrick and Mike Tellez - that is Etrick Art - debut its lead sculpture of the 1936 Auto Union Type C. The debut of these brilliant aluminum art pieces is coinciding with the 90th anniversary of the formation of Auto Union AG on June 29, 2022.

Lead sculpture in the REFLECTS Series depicting the race car designs of the early 1930's (1936 Auto Union Type C) that formed the Auto Union AG design language for speed Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

In his artist development career arch, Michael Etrick was contracted in Germany as an automotive design clay sculptor. He worked at AUDI and was impressed through his tours of the facilities at seeing some of the original race cars produced through the formation of Auto Union throughout the early 1930's. The historic nature of these racers, along with the bold designs, caught his attention. The formation of Etrick Art and his current artworks are a direct result of this preliminary and formative encounter.

The perfectly polished reflection off of the metal has the stationary 302 pound sculptor piece feel that is moving very quickly. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

Etrick Art's 1936 Auto Union Type C going away. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

 "I was working at Audi, and I’ve seen all the classic race cars and models in person. If you’re going to start with Auto Union and the coolest thing the company did including Ferdinand Porsche’s involvement - the whole build-up of it, and if you are going to do an iconic vehicle related to Audi, the 1936 Auto Union Type C would be the one!" - reflects Michael Etrick on the choice of this debut, 302 pound billet aluminum racer, that preceded the Mercedes Benz versions and became known as the "Silver Arrows" race cars, a Benz icon term used to this day.

The full display consists of six separate pieces. The display stand with placement impressions, four sculpted wheel elements, and the main racecar body with driver. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

Driver takes the wheel! Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022)

The solid, polished aluminum Auto Union Tribute sculptures are idealized, organic forms inspired by the Type C race cars from a bygone era add beauty and excitement to any décor. Yet, being an auto enthusiast isn’t necessary to fully appreciate the Etrick Art pieces. 

The REFLECTS sculpture series is produced in two distinct sizes - this being an example of the smaller one of the 1936 Auto Union Type C. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022) 

Additionally, the mirror-finish of the material coupled with flowing forms masterfully reflect light, hence the name of this series. The sculptures are currently available in two sizes, the impressively larger piece, again, weighs in at over 300-pounds.

Side-by-side of the initial release from REFLECTS Series from Etrick Art. Image Credit: Edmund Jenks (2022) 

REFLECTS Series produced by Etrick Art is a tribute commemoration that honors the formation of four brands - Audi, DKW, Horch, and Wanderer - who agreed to join together on June 29, 1932 to survive the vast challenges encountered by the global depression. The four interlocking rings of the logo symbolized the merger creating Auto Union. Today, Audi’s logo proudly displays the same interlocking rings on its products, as a reminder of this exquisite motor culture heritage.

Along with the unveiling of these new sculptures, the Etrick Art web site comes alive at https://etrickart.com. The site covers all aspects of the development process, history, products, images, and availability. Beyond the featured sculptures and prints, bespoke artwork can be commissioned, as well. 

Motor culture visionaries and artists Michael Etrick and Raul Cenan of Etrick Art present their debut REFLECTS Series sculpture at Eric Nobel's CarLab in Orange to select small groups of communicators. Most all in attendance were pleasingly stunned when this piece is revealed. Image Credit: Chris Erickson - Secret Car Club Events (2022) 

This excerpted and edited from LinkedIn -

Exceptionally crafted, solid metal, limited-production sculptures for a fortunate few—Michael Etrick
Published By John Dinkel - LinkedIn - July 26, 2022 

What you are looking at here is an incredible piece of automotive art. More than a decade in the making, the idea for this sculpture came about when Michael Etrick, an American automotive design sculptor, was working for Audi. 

He became fascinated with the prospect of bringing the 1930s Auto Union era to life in the form of fine art. Along with Raul Cenan, who has a long history of automotive design with VW/Audi and Ford, the two capture the essence of the 1936 Type C racer in this sculpture.

From concept, the idea evolved into hand renderings, then to a clay model. Molds were made, and a hard copy was reproduced out of fiberglass/ epoxy, which allowed Etrick to further refine the design.  



Then the model was scanned using the latest digital software and this data was sent to a six-axis milling machine, which milled out the basic shape from a block of TC 6061 aluminum.

Typically, the automotive design studios’ internal projects, along with those that are developed outside of their facilities, are indeed a team effort. However, this recent endeavor is personal to Mr. Etrick. Michael combines his traditional clay modeling capabilities along with modern technologies, where the end result does not have a designed-by-committee look or feel. The initial sculptures in the REFLECTS Series pose a hint of concept car-like vision while also being race car relatable. Practicality and performance have a place in the real world, but those definitely take a backseat to refined, styling brilliance found through the processes at Etrick Art. 

Public showings are being planned and it is understood that AUDI dealerships throughout the county would love to have this sculpture be the centerpiece of their own recognition of Auto Union/AUDI celebrating 90 years strong through parties held at their dealerships for special customers and business affiliates.

... notes from The EDJE



FEATURED ARTICLE >>>






TAGS: Michael Etrick, Raul Cernan, Devin Etrick, Mike Tellez, Etrick Art, REFLECTS, Auto Union AG, AUDI, CarLab, The EDJE

Monday, June 13, 2022

J-New Re-Enters Championship Picture Winning The Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America


Josef Newgarden takes the win on a Road Course and takes home the $1,000,000 prize put forward by The PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge. By posting a win on at least once this season on the three types of tracks that comprise the NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule – road course, street circuit and oval – a Driver will share $500,000 with their team and donate $500,000 to that driver and team’s chosen charity. Newgarden, who previously won this season on the Texas Motor Speedway oval and the Long Beach street circuit, has chosen two charities to split the $500,000 portion – SeriousFun Children’s Network and Wags and Walks Nashville. Image Credit: Penske Entertainment via FB/META (2022)

J-New Re-Enters Championship Picture Winning The Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America

Team Penske's Josef Newgarden takes the win at the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR making this his 22nd career INDYCAR victory and his second at Road America - all behind the wheel of a Chevrolet-powered car.

This win moves Josef Newgarden to P3 in the season points race from P5 - leapfrogging over Pato O'Ward and Alex Palou respectively.

P2 - Marcus Ericsson and takes over the season points lead from Will Power who, with his altercation aided finish at P19, is P2 in the season challenge.

P3 - Pole sitter Alexander Rossi survives to be on the Podium but remains in play for the championship at P7.

This race marks the end of the first half of the 2022 season where not one driver has repeated as the NTT P1 Pole Award winner - NTT P1 Pole Award Winner for the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR, Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda - 7th career and first pole in 3 years - 8th new NTT P1 Pole Award winner in 8 races this season.

Pre-Race Top Six NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season Championship Points Standings 

Post-Race Top Six NTT INDYCAR SERIES Season Championship Points Standings 

This excerpted and edited from NTT INDYCAR SERIES - 

FIFTH GEAR: SONSIO GP AT ROAD AMERICA PRESENTED BY AMR
By Curt Cavin | Published: Jun 13, 2022

The number of interesting aspects to the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR were almost too numerous to count and are the foundation of today’s Fifth Gear.
----
Let’s get right to it.

Newgarden Again Dominates Road America
----
Two-time series champion Newgarden won this race by 3.37 seconds over Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson (No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) as Ericsson passed Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi (No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS/AutoNation Honda) on the final restart. Rossi was bidding for his first race win since 2019, coincidentally at Road America.

Newgarden pushed his season win total to three races and is third in the standings, only 32 points out of the lead as the season approaches its official midpoint. Newgarden won for the 23rd time in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career, tying him with Tommy Milton for 19th place on the sport’s all-time list. The next win pulls him alongside Ralph DePalma and Bobby Rahal. Two more ties him with Gordon Johncock.
----
Standings Shakeup at the Top

With series leader Will Power having two moments of trouble and finishing 19th, Ericsson regained the points lead for the second time this season. The Swede’s margin over Power is 27 points.

Eight of the top 10 positions in the standings changed hands this weekend, but what should concern the title hopefuls is Newgarden moved up two positions. He stands to gain more in the weeks ahead.

Newgarden is the defending champion of the race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, where he has won twice overall. He also has two career wins at Toronto’s Exhibition Place – site of the Honda Indy Toronto on July 17 – and could be in line to sweep the Iowa Speedway doubleheader sponsored by Hy-Vee on July 23-24 as he has won three races at the short oval track. Two races after that comes the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline, an event Newgarden has won three times, including the past two.

Ericsson has become a legitimate threat to win the championship. He has finished fourth, first, seventh and second in the past four races.
----
Two title contenders took big points hits Sunday, gaining only five points each. Pato O’Ward (No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet) finished 26th when his car had a mechanical failure nine laps from the finish. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou (No. 10 The American Legion Honda) got back on track after early contact with Ericsson – more on that in the next item – but still finished last in the 27-car field.
----
Team Battles Highlight Road America

Ericsson found himself amid a dustup with Palou, his Ganassi teammate, in Turn 5 on the race’s fourth lap. Their slight wheel contact led to Palou driving into the gravel trap with damage, something the reigning series champion wasn’t happy about.
----
Although replays suggested Ericsson simply capitalized on an opening to gain a position, Palou’s comments added spice to the race and provided intrigue for how they work together moving forward.

Michael Andretti’s team had some hotly contested racing between Romain Grosjean (No. 28 UniFirst/DHL Honda) and Colton Herta (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda), but it lacked the comments delivered by Palou. However, it was fun to see three Andretti drivers dueling in the final laps, with Rossi holding off Grosjean for third place, with Herta giving the team three finishers in the top five.

Andretti Autosport is a team to watch in the second half of the season. Rossi has strung together three straight top-five finishes to climb to seventh in the standings, and Herta, who won the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will be the defending champion of the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca (Sept. 11).
----
More Competitive Racing

Sunday’s race featured another large dose of thrilling action, particularly behind Newgarden and Rossi, who combined to lead 42 of the 55 laps – and more given that all the other laps led were by drivers who were out of pit sequence.

The exchanges mid-pack were tremendous, especially with so many different fuel strategies in play. The result were 226 total on-track passes, just off last year’s series record 231 at this track. For position, there were 191 passes, just off last year’s record of 194.

The action came on the heels of a similar race at The Raceway at Belle Isle Park, where there were a circuit-record 280 total on-track passes, with 148 of them for position. Fifty-nine passes were in the top 10, with 23 in the top five. INDYCAR president Jay Frye called those “big numbers for a street course.”

Several drivers had noteworthy runs, including Felix Rosenqvist (No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP) who continued to impress with his fourth consecutive top-10 finish. He led seven laps en route to finishing sixth. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had one of its best races with Graham Rahal (No. 15 Fifth Third Bank Honda) finishing eighth, rookie Christian Lundgaard (No. 30 Fleet Cost & Care Honda) 10th and Jack Harvey (No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda) 13th.

Simona De Silvestro (No. 16 Paretta Autosport Chevrolet) achieved her goal of completing all 55 laps. She finished 21st in a competitive 27-car field. She will compete at Mid-Ohio and in the Nashville street race on Aug. 7.

Up Next: Second Half of Season Begins

After five consecutive on-track weekends, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES now takes a two-weekend break before the second half of the season gets rolling with the Mid-Ohio race on July 3.

Newgarden won last year’s race after leading 73 of the 80 laps. Ericsson and Palou finished second and third, respectively, with Scott Dixon (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) fourth. Dixon has won a track-record six races at the track, most recently in 2019.

The Mid-Ohio race will be the ninth of 17 events scheduled for this season. There is still a variety of races to come, with four held on permanent road courses, three on ovals and two street races. The season ends Sept. 11 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.


NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Press Conference - Sunday, June 12, 2022
P2 Marcus Ericsson / P3 Alexander Rossi

THE MODERATOR: Second and third place have arrived, Marcus Ericsson finishing second, as well as Alexander Rossi finishing third. Marcus' third podium of the season, seventh career podium. Alexander Rossi, second straight podium finish after also finishing there last week at Belle Isle, third straight top five, 27th career podium.

Marcus, primarily the restart there at the end, being able to pass Rossi, how difficult, how satisfying?

MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, it was a really good race for us. We were strong all weekend. Already on Friday the car felt good. Had a good qualifying yesterday. Was my best qualifying of the year with P4.

I think the race was pretty straightforward. Pretty good from our side. Obviously a lot of cautions that got you out of rhythm. Yeah, car felt good.

Got some opportunities there in the end to try and get a better position. Alex had a bit of a slide out of the last corner so I got a run on him and managed to get by.

Overall good day. P2 is a really good result for the championship, back in the lead. Super happy. The team did a really good job on pit stop strategy, so really thankful to the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Honda Ganassi crew.

THE MODERATOR: 27-point lead over Will Power as you take the lead in the overall standings.

Alex, your thoughts on another podium finish for you?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Yeah, probably a little disappointing when you start on pole and can't convert. It was generally a good day I think. I think Josef had a little bit better pace than us. I think we were the second best car. Pretty aggressive on the restart there to try and do something. Just kind of overstepped a little bit. That's what allowed Marcus to get by.

Ultimately I don't know that we would have been able to win. Got held up with Scott McLaughlin a little bit coming into the pits when we were trying to leave on the first sequence. With the lap cars, Josef was the first to get to him. From there on it was trying to close the gap that got started there.

A little disappointing, but all in all I think it was a very positive weekend for us for obvious reasons A good run of races, look forward to going to Mid-Ohio.

THE MODERATOR: Almost two shots at Josef there. Can you talk about those.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: He went pretty early on the first one. I went with him on the second and actually got too close.

Yeah, he executed well. It was my mistake, which allowed Marcus to get by. You got to try in those situations to go for the win.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Marcus, Alex said basically tried to win going into turn five. What was that move like from your perspective? Talk us through that situation.

MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, from inside the car, the door was open there. I went for the move. Alongside him at the apex, made the corner. From my side he turns into me from the outside lane. You hate to see your teammate retire from a contact with you. That's the last thing you want to do.

I don't see I did anything wrong. It was a fully race move. Might have been early in the race, but this race is a track-position race. If you get an opportunity, you need to go for it.

As I said, there was nothing wrong with that move. That was clear on the TV pictures.

Q. Is this sweeter knowing that the championship leader had a bit of an issue early in the race as well?

MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, I haven't even looked. Obviously a lot of cautions and stuff. I knew you had to try to capitalize on that. We lost the lead last weekend, but it was nice to get that back and get P2.

Coming into the small break we have now with some good confidence. We're in a good position for the second half.

Q. (No microphone.)

MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, I would like to stop that (laughter).

I think, no, yesterday was the eighth different polesitter in eight races I think, if I'm correct. I think that says a lot about INDYCAR at the moment. It's the most competitive series in the world. We have 27 cars this weekend. I think that's incredible. Out of those 27 cars, it feels like at least 15 of them cars can win the race if they have their day.

It's really fun to be part of that. Yeah, I think it's going to be tough all year. Miss a little bit one weekend, you're P10 or P15. It means you need to be on top of things all the time.

Last weekend was a good example. A bit off on strategy, didn't work our way. We managed to finish seventh. That's the results we need to if we want to win the championship.

Q. (No microphone.)

MARCUS ERICSSON: Like I said, from inside the car it was clear. I was alongside him at the apex. I was surprised that we hit at the middle of the corner. Like I said, I made the corner, didn't go up on the curb. It was not like I was oversteering or anything like that. I was surprised to get the hit there.

I don't know what more to say. I only saw it once on the TV. It looked like a good move to me. Again, I hate to see my teammate retire from a contact with my car, but I don't feel that was on me. I feel like it was more on his side there.

Q. (Question regarding the issue in the pits with Scott McLoughlin.)

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I honestly don't remember. I think Brian was telling me to wait. There's nothing you can do about it. That's just an unfortunate sequence that happens. I think it certainly cost us the lead there.

That being said, I do think Josef had a really strong car today so I don't know necessarily that we would have been able to beat him. Maybe, I don't know.

But it's neither here nor there. That's just part of the way it works. Ultimately it's good to avoid contact and lose a little bit of time.

Q. Marcus, you're back in the points lead, up 25 over Will Power. You get two weeks off. How do you feel the rest of the points race is going to shape out for you?

MARCUS ERICSSON: It's going to be tough all the way. Like we talked about, it's so competitive in the series at the moment. Any given weekend can be a new winner. It's hard to be even in the top 10 if you don't get everything right.

I think it's going to be a tough season, a long season. We put ourselves in a really good position now, leading. So we just got to keep doing what we've been doing. The last 12 months we were the top scorer in the championship. I think that says something about where we've been performing since Detroit actually last year, it was actually 12 months ago today.

Yeah, I think we're in a strong position, but it's going to require a lot of hard work, keep doing what we've been doing.

Q. You're all teammates, but do you feel you're the lead Ganassi car at the moment?

MARCUS ERICSSON: I think we're all equal, to be honest. We have Scott Dixon, which is a legend, one of the best ever. Obviously Alex, Jimmie.

The cool thing with Ganassi is we all get treated the same way. (Indiscernible) enough to continue. Yeah, that's how I see it.

Q. Marcus, how beneficial is this result for you given you're back in the lead in the championship going into the break?

MARCUS ERICSSON: Yeah, it's very big. I think we had a decent day in Detroit, but obviously it's never nice to lose the lead. So that was one of the goals going to Road America, to regain that lead.

Obviously Will and Pato and Alex, I think all three of them had bad days. That's good for us, since they were the closest ones in the championship going in.

But, yeah, like we said, it's going to swing a couple more times. It's a matter of being consistent now, bringing home the results. Today P2 was definitely a very good result for us with the way the race played out.

Q. Alex, what went through your mind when you saw Josef in front of you after that pit stop? Do you think you had the pace to chase him down or you lost the race on that move?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I think through the subsequent three stints we were catching him. The last stint we were coming pretty hard at him. It was going to be really hard to pass him, I think.

But, yes, I think that certainly cost us a lot of time, A, because we lost the lead but 'B' he was the first to hit the lap traffic. It's always a little bit easier for the first car to get through the lap car as you come up on them.

Ultimately, yeah. But again, I don't want to take anything away from the pace and performance that he had all day. Like, we were a little bit off on the balance to start, and it took us a little bit to get it back in the window. Then the pace was good.

But, yes, it didn't help. I don't know ultimately what the end result, if it would have been any different.

Q. Alex, is there anything that you or the team can do to get over that proverbial hump that you're kind of stuck behind the last few weeks?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: I don't know. Is there anything I'm stuck behind?

Q. Is there a hump.

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Sorry, it's breaking up.

THE MODERATOR: Are you over the hump?

ALEXANDER ROSSI: Are we over the hump? Well, I am 30, so... I guess (laughter). It's not awesome.

Yeah, I mean, I think you get a little bit of confidence as results come. Yeah, I mean, I guess we're still looking for a win.

But, yeah, I mean, it's certainly been a lot different these past couple races than it has been for the races preceding that. That's a good thing.

There's still areas we can improve and need to be better. We'll certainly look at that and analyze that going into Mid-Ohio.

Q. Definitely have to be looking forward to the break until the beginning of July.

MARCUS ERICSSON: I want to go racing again (smiling). I love what we're doing. It's fun that it's been so hectic the last few weeks.

But I think for sure for all the crews and everyone, it's good to get a bit of a break here before the second half. Also personally it's been pretty full on since the 500 win a couple weeks ago, so it's definitely going to be good to sort of get a couple days off, recharge, then refocus again for the rest of the season.

THE MODERATOR: We'll go ahead and let you guys go. Congratulations. We'll see you at Mid-Ohio in just a few weeks' time.
[ht: FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]


NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Press Conference - Sunday, June 12, 2022
P1 - Josef Newgarden

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Josef Newgarden. The second win here at Road America. Third win of the season, 23rd of your career. Now ties the great Tommy Milton for 19th on the all-time list. Most importantly today the People Ready Force For Good Challenge, $1 million. Half goes to your favorite charity. A spectacular day.

Tell us about it a little bit.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was a great day. Great, great day. Felt really good going into it. Felt like we had a car to win today. It was just about executing.

My team really put me in position on that first stop. Rossi was not going to be easy to beat today. I felt like he was very strong. I felt like we were a little bit better than him, but he was by no means going to be simple to go by.

That first stop is really what set the tone for us. Once we got in position, it was about getting through the lap markers, the alternate strategy quicker than him, building a gap, maintaining it. I felt like our PPG car was hooked up and had it from Team Chevy on the power side pretty much as always this year.

Really comfy. To be able to win this million bucks, give half of it to charity, is very cool. Very, very cool. I'm sure our recipients are going to be thrilled with that.

THE MODERATOR: On the Zoom joining us are your friends that are going to be the recipients.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Fantastic.

THE MODERATOR: Kathryn Hurley is the founder of the Nashville chapter of Wags & Walks.

Kathryn, say hello.

KATHRYN HURLEY: Hi.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Kathryn.

KATHRYN HURLEY: Hi. We are absolutely thrilled. Congratulations, Josef. I mean, you know what we're going to do this year with all the dogs here in Nashville. That was bigger than me winning the Super Bowl for the Detroit Lions. We are absolutely so, so thrilled.

It's going to impact literally thousands of dogs here in Nashville and allow us to build an amazing adoption center. Congratulations to you, Ashley and your little one at home.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you.

For people don't know, our dog Axel was adopted through Wags & Walks. Kathryn really started the charge in Nashville. Wags & Walks started in L.A. Kathryn started the Nashville chapter for it. They've been doing an amazing job. They work with a lot of great people in Nashville. They save all sorts of dogs. All sorts. You should hear some of these heartbreaking stories that these guys through to find these dogs homes. We need more of that.

We're very happy to be able to get some money to this group because they've done a lot for us and for a lot of people in Nashville. Very thrilled.

Thank you, Kathryn, for all your work.

KATHRYN HURLEY: Thank you so much. Congratulations again.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you for joining us. By the way, the $10,000 for each and every race continues through the rest of the season. You may not be done.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We'll work on it more.

KATHRYN HURLEY: The good news continues.

THE MODERATOR: Blake Maher is the CEO from the (indiscernible).

BLAKE MAHER: Congratulations, Josef, on a big win for you and your whole team. Couldn't be more grateful for the win today and all you do for SeriousFun, a true champion for us.

(Loss of audio.)

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We want to help these groups as much as we can. To have something like this challenge I think fires you up more competitively, that you want to get it done for them. You know it's just a bonus and a plus for these two groups.

Yeah, not quite as emotional. I just know how impactful it is, so I get really competitive and want to make it happen.

THE MODERATOR: Tremendous day. So congratulations many times over.

Questions.

Q. What type of dog is Axel?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: He's a mutt. He has a lot of different breeds. He's a smart little fellow. Cute, adorable. 30 pounds. He's a lot of things. He's got Shepard in him. All sorts of stuff. I couldn't even tell you.

Q. You said on the TV interview you had forgotten about the $1 million prize. How can you forget about something like that?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I do forget about it at points. Like, I didn't think about it coming into this weekend. I totally forgot that that was a thing. There's a point you get reminded about it. You're like, Oh, yeah, that's right.

But for me, it's not something you really dwell on because it doesn't matter ultimately at the end of the day. I'm not going to try to win this race because this is on the line. You never approach any race that way.

I want to win the race because I want to win the race. It's a great little bonus. It's not a little bonus, that's a big bonus. It's just one of those things that kind of comes with it.

It's not motivating for me that I have to do something extra because of this. I'm putting my best effort forward every weekend. I know if we can just focus on our job, get the job done, at times I get reminded, This is also going to come with it. That's very, very cool obviously.

THE MODERATOR: Blake, do you have anything else to say? We lost you there.

BLAKE MAHER: Josef, I just wanted to make sure you heard our congratulations. We're so excited for you and the team. Thank you for being a champion for SeriousFun, whether you're at camp, welcoming kids to the racetrack, your ping-pong tournament. This, of course, is such a huge feather in your cap. We're so proud to work with you and thankful for all you do for all the kids at the camps around the world.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you, Blake. We're so fortunate to have people like you and SeriousFun Children's Network. Keep up the great work as always.

BLAKE MAHER: Hope to see you soon. Take care.

THE MODERATOR: Blake, thanks. You've been a great friend for INDYCAR in the past and for years to come.

More questions.

Q. It seemed like the first pit stop was the key to the race. You were able to beat Rossi out. From that point on it seemed like every time...

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was going to be that point or another point. Truthfully I was hoping for an all green start, no cautions, because I felt that's where we could find the exposure in Rossi's game.

I was kind of biding my time but felt like I had the straight speed advantage with him. I felt like my Chevy was much quicker than him on the straights. I was going to wait for an opportunity.

All the yellows really took away that potential. We were running most of the laps under caution, so the reds weren't going to drop off as much. We needed to make the difference somewhere else. We came in right on his tail. I made sure, Look, I'm going to give my team ample opportunity, get as close as I can to Rossi on the pits.

If it wasn't going to happen on the pit stop, it was going to be an out lap or a back end of a stint (indiscernible). The pit stop is what ended up being the pivotal point for us. If that wasn't the point, I think we could have made that point somewhere else today.

Q. Pit selection seemed to work in your favor. I believe you were the last pit out.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, yeah. We were first out, if you will, first box, which always helps. You got a clear out. You don't have to worry about typically a lot of the mess going on in the middle or wherever you're located at.

It does pay to start up front.

(Loss of audio.)

Q. Obviously the difference on a late restart this year versus last year was considerable. Can you forget that stuff?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don't really think about it. If you want to talk about last year, it's not anything anyone did wrong. It's a part that failed that I think was a $50 part. No one has ever seen it fail. It's not like it was a prep issue.

I couldn't have affected anything. I or the team couldn't have affected anything to make it different. Had no thought about it. I was just focused on today.

The thing I focus on is we're in position. You don't have many opportunities to be in position to close. I just want to close. That's where my head was at today, yep.

Q. With the two late restarts there at the very end, were you surprised on both cases how much you were able to gap Rossi going up the hill with the green flag there?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Not after watching him. I kind of knew where the strength and weakness was. I felt like we had a good advantage on him in certain areas. We tried to exploit that as best as possible.

It was two really good starts, great attack mode from Team Chevy. All of that contributes to being able to push the gap. I was hopeful we could do that, but I can't say I was surprised. I felt like we had that potential. I knew if we just do our job, we can do that, and was happy to see it kind of come to fruition.

Q. You get a good cut of it the bonus. After buying some baby stuff for the newborn, what is the first dumb thing you're going to buy with the money?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don't know. I don't know. Probably a bunch of McDonald's. Probably over a hundred dollars worth of McDonald's at least. That's probably stop one. After that, I don't know. We'll have to see.

Q. Will had a line in the interview that it's hard to get wins except for Josef, he's got multiple. How hard is it to win now compared to earlier in your career? What do they mean now?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's extremely difficult. It's hard to win a pole. Hard to win a race. The landscape is not constant these days. I think 10 years ago you used to have sort of consistent trends. When a team would find a performance edge, they would typically carry that edge across the entire year.

Whereas now I think people find these little edges on each other like every weekend. It's going up and down all the time.

You see a McLaren strong at one track, Andretti strong at another, Ganassi pops up, ECR pops up, we're in the mix. Then a Shank pops up. It's never ending.

We say every year it's the closest competition we ever had. Somehow it keeps getting tighter. It must be just the development of this car has really hit a fine point. You're just constantly tuning little things now, millimeters of changes.

The driving style is getting tighter, with simulators, all this stuff you can analyze. It's impossible to hide something from the competition.

Yeah, it is very difficult to win these races consistently. To be able to put multiple on the board, it's a job well done to everybody in the 2 group.

Q. Three wins is like what drivers are looking for, if you want to win the championship, you have to win three races. Do you feel like you've got the momentum in the championship or is that still with Marcus after the 500 win?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It's been a little bit too up and down for us. Kind of feast or famine. I think we genuinely had the potential for four or five wins up to this point. So we've done three of the potential five, let's say. The other ones that we weren't winning, we were finishing too far back.

We've got to up our consistency. It's a little abnormal for us. I feel like we're a fairly consistent group. So I'm not going to lose sleep on why that was happening. Sometimes you get in these little micro trends where we didn't have the consistency we needed.

Number one, we need to clean that up. We need to win a couple more races before the year is out because of the way the first part of the season went. We definitely have wins on the board. But definitely more than wins, consistency is going to rule the day this year, for sure.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I felt good coming into the season. I felt good about last year. I remember we were getting hounded, up to this point last year we were getting hounded on why we hadn't won a race.

For me it was funny because I'm like, You guys must not be inside our internal network and seeing. We're just totally fine, totally fine. There's not a problem with the team. We're where we need to be. Just wasn't clicking off for some reason.

I felt that way going into this season and I feel that way now. I think we're in a good spot. We have to clean up the consistency. For one reason or another that didn't happen up to this point. I know if we keep doing our normal thing, that will come.

We just need to keep on a good track here till the finish. Feel very positive about our group. I mean, we don't have anything negative going on. Honestly, there's nothing that I could be complaining about. We got a really strong team, everything is in a good place, great partnerships with Tammy Chevy and everyone else. Yeah, feel good about it.

Q. (Question about the late caution.)

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I think I cooked my stuff a little bit too much on that second stint. I was aggressive with traffic. That's where I think I got the gap, was I was more aggressive than he was cutting through either a lap marker or an alternate strategy. So that ripped a really nice gap for us.

After that it was more just trying to manage it. I kept watching my gap to him. I was trying to study where he was strong and where I was weak. I just kind of focused on tire management after that point.

I could tell he was very good in the beginning through 75% of the stint. I think we had the edge in the last 25%. Look, we have a good gap here, got more overtake, let's just try to manage tires. That was my game plan as I got to middle to finish. I think that worked well for us.

I was surprised. We didn't get to see what was going to happen in the first stint because of all the yellows. That's where I thought I was going to find the exposure for him. I was a little bit worried, we missed that opportunity, but let's see what happens on the primaries. It worked out. I think we had a fast car all around.

Q. Can you explain how restarts work here.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, typically in INDYCAR now the rule is there's a restart zone that's designated. Typically it's around the final corner, sometimes sort of encompassing the entire final corner, sometimes it's a bit more.

In our case, it's kind of 13 to 14, that lead-up into 14 is the restart zone. So the procedure for us is the pace car lets us get temperature, does a pretty quick lap, then slows us down. By the time we get to the carrousel, packs us up. As we get to turn 12, he tries to get away. We let him get away to where we can start 13 to 14. That's our process.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Rossi was as tight as he could be to me when I got on the gas. He definitely wasn't getting jacked up, to use your words. It's just the point. INDYCAR sort of designates the restart area or zone that you can start in. We know that. That's what I did today.

Q. From our point of view once you got the lead, it seemed like you were pretty comfortable. Was it that comfortable to you? Anything you think you could have done better?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I would say it was only fairly comfortable today. I didn't feel like we were lights out better than anybody. But I felt like we were just as good. I felt we were kind of toe-to-toe with Rossi today. It was just about managing the tires the best.

I think raw pace on the primaries, we were probably similar. It was a matter of when you wanted to push them.

Yeah, what can we learn? There's always a lot of little stuff. We're going to go back and analyze the sectors, look at straights versus corners, mechanical changes that we made. We're going to analyze all of it and see where we can optimize for next year.

At this point the broad strokes are very good for this track, these conditions. Now that I'm also saying that, we're going to come back next year and it's going to be a completely new challenge, they're going to resurface this place. We are still going to analyze and learn what we can from this season, but pretty open book next year.

Q. This track could be quite a bit different. Do you think that's a good thing? Do you think it needs it or rather it stay like it is?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I'm indifferent. If it's up to me...

(Loss of audio.)
[ht ; FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports]

Next up???

Mid-Ohio - The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the All-New 2023 Civic Type R on Sunday, July 3 (noon ET, NBC, Peacock Premium, INDYCAR Radio Network).

... notes from The EDJE


FEATURED ARTICLE >>>







TAGS: Josef Newgarden, The PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge, 1 Million Dollars, Marcus Ericsson, Will Power, Team Penske, Chevrolet-Powered, Road America, Halfway, Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America presented by AMR, The EDJE