With a new driver officially confirmed for the no° 41, and the beginning of the prestigious partnership with Penske, AJ Foyt has definitely set the bar much higher for 2024. Scoring a third place at the 107th running of the 500 with Santino Ferrucci was definitely the highlight of the 2023 season, but Team President Larry Foyt wants to ensure that it won’t be an isolated event.
Foyt discussed his plans for the near future of the team during the press conference to announce the signing of Sting Ray Robb, attended by selected media, including Pit Debrief. He admitted the importance of retaining veteran engineer Michael Cannon, who had been a key asset in securing Scott Dixon’s sixth IndyCar championship.
“The biggest thing is [that] we still have Michael Cannon there. On the engineering side, top down, we’re staying pretty much the same. Sting Ray has a year of experience under his belt. He’s bringing that with him, it’s going to be a big help.
“It’s not like a complete reset. I think the cars, although hybrid will be coming on later this year, which is exciting, but he’s got some experience in this car, so that will pay dividends for sure for us.”
A goal for the 2024 season is definitely to try and replicate the good performance shown last year at IMS with Santino Ferrucci. The young American qualified P4, and he finished a superb 3rd in the 200-lap event. Benjamin Pedersen also did an excellent job across the various qualifying days, placing P11.
Foyt mentioned the hard work that had gone towards the preparation of the Month of May during the 2022 off-season:
“Definitely going into last season we knew Indy was a place that we could kind of make the biggest gain quickly. We had a big focus on that. It’s definitely more well-rounded. The thing is, we definitely don’t want to lose anything we have at Indy, we want to keep gaining, go two more spots up the grid there and win that thing.”
This time round, the most time-consuming project has definitely been the official start of the clamoured partnership with Penske:
“Big thing in the off-season has just been us collaborating with Penske, how this is going to work, making all that kind of two teams coming together a little bit. That’s a big focus here in the off-season.”
Photo credits: AJ Foyt, Colin Mayr
Robb, the first driver confirmed for the team in 2024 — named after and founded by racing legend A.J. Foyt — talked about the collaboration as well, mentioning how honoured he fells to have such famous, important colleagues:
“From what I hear, it’s going to be really valuable. Just the driving aspect, it allows me to be a young learner with some great leaders in the motorsport industry like Scott [McLaughlin], like Josef [Newgarden], like Will [Power]. I can learn their techniques, kind of the tricks of the trade in that sense.
“AJ Foyt Racing has done such a good job this last year, I don’t think that partnership is a one-way street. Both parties are going to be able to improve because of it. Looking at Santino’s results from the 500, even Benjamin’s, we’ve gotten to see what the team is capable of doing and the trend.”
An IndyCar rookie with Dale Coyne Racing in 2023, Robb had a best finish of 12th in the final race of the year at Laguna Seca in a race full of crashes and incidents, and he is now looking forward to bring his experience to his new team:
“I’m hoping through this partnership with Penske as well as just in the overall natural growth of the team that we’ll continue that trajectory forward. There’s no doubt in my mind that we will. It’s a matter of learning and putting that time in.”
The runner-up in the 2022 Indy NXT championship also discussed what it means for him to work with Cannon as well: “Really excited about that.
“I remember sitting on the grid going out for qualifying, I think it was probably 2019. I was getting ready to go at Gateway. Everyone was kind of gawking at this one guy off in the corner like ‘Oh, man, that’s Michael Cannon‘.
“Who is this guy? I don’t know who this is. I got the download from that day on and kept my eye on him. Like you said, he was the mad scientist behind the scenes that makes those cars go faster on the Speedway.
“I’m excited to be working with him. He’s got a good brain. I’m excited to try and pull some knowledge out of that.”
The young driver from Idaho, who will drive for the first time in his IndyCar career a Chevrolet, also pointed out all the knowledge he retained from his debut year in the top championship: ”There’s a bunch of things!”
Not all of them are strictly on-track related, as he mentioned the importance of extra racing duties and mental coaching:
“We could write a book probably about all the things I could apply based off my knowledge from last year. I think one of the bigger things, I didn’t realize the impact it would have on the way I would arrive at the track, was the off track responsibilities.”
“That was something during the month of May I didn’t really have a good grasp on, people would tell me that it’s so busy, it feels like the year of May. Man, does it feel like the year of May!”
23rd with 147 points scored in 2023, Robb is sure that he will be able to improve his stats in his sophomore year, just like he had done in his rise through the American feeder series:
“Going into this year, my expectations are a lot different. I know how to manage that better, the team around me knows how to manage that better. I think that just plays into the whole momentum of the season.”
“When you start the year with that expectation, you know what to do at every race weekend and between race weekends, there’s a lot of production done that leads to the results later on down the road.”
Another cultural shock for Robb was definitely the far higher number of cars on track, compared to the much smaller field in Indy NXT.
“Also learning the ropes in INDYCAR. The driving style is a bit different than the lower series, just because you’re not dealing with 15 or 16 cars, you’re dealing with 27, 28, 33 cars for the 500.
“There’s a lot to learn in that aspect of choosing your fights, picking your battles on the racetrack. That was something I learned early on, I felt, like where I had that experience since I was probably in go-karts when you’re racing with 50 other go-karters.
“If you give up a little bit here, it might actually be a little bit better down in the race an hour and a half later to have that position back, not lose two laps because you made a silly mistake, ”he concluded, highlighting the importance of choosing the right moment to make a move.
