Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Chris Owens
After both cars were caught up in the first-lap melee at St. Petersburg, AJ Foyt Racing drivers Benjamin Pedersen and Santino Ferrucci had a low bar to clear to have a better race at the PPG 375 in Texas. And, while 15th and 21st respectively isn’t a fantastic result on paper, both drivers saw good pace out of their cars on the high-banked superspeedway.
For Pedersen, the result–from a starting spot of 13th–was impressive for his first Indycar oval race, and one of the series’ most daunting after running at Gateway and Iowa in Indy Lights in 2021 and 2022.
“There were things I definitely could do better for the future but I’m still just learning. I had a great, great time.”
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Chris Owens
Ferrucci, meanwhile, started 14th and had moved up to just outside the top 10 when he had the first, and more unusual, of two equipment failures: his headrest came loose! He believes a good result was possible otherwise.
“Tough day here at Texas. We definitely had a top-10 car. [We were] definitely in the hunt, even though the headrest kind of fell off on the right side, which doesn’t exactly make our job easy at 6G,” stated the American.
The greater issue, however, was a clutch failure after he came into the pits to fix the problem. It put him five laps down.
“By the time we get it sorted, something happened in our clutch pack, so we didn’t have a clutch. It’s actually why we ended up going from one lap back to five.
“We just couldn’t get the car fired. It’s harder to push start an IndyCar — it’s complicated.”
Both drivers noted the physicality of racing at Texas Motor Speedway. Pedersen, new to this level of intensity in a race car, said “I was just a little bit dizzy getting out of the car from the sake of going in a circle for 250 laps,” but also said that he was “very fit” after the race.
Ferrucci admitted: “I’m pretty sore and looking forward to relaxing for the next couple of days,” following his rather eventful outing.
