Photo Credit: Formula 1
Alexander Rossi driver of the No. 98 Andretti Autosports Honda, is ready to get racing at the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway.
He only has eight races under his IndyCar Series belt but already has his first win checked off and it will probably be the biggest race of his career – the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. TMS is another oval track and Rossi is looking to carry the momentum that he had at IMS into the race this weekend.
“You know, when I joined the series in February, I had the goal and intention of competing at the front, and it was a little bit of a challenging start for us, and we’re still kind of progressing every single day, and every time we get on track it’s continuing to get better,” Rossi stated. “Obviously the Indy 500 win really put us back into the championship contention and the championship points battle, which was a huge benefit to us, and we are making progress, but we still have a lot of work to do, and there’s a lot of races still left in the season, so we need to keep pushing forward and hopefully continue the momentum we created a couple weeks ago.”
With the Rookie of the Year contender’s win at the Indy 500, it also has put him in contention for the championship as he currently is fifth in the standings. Rossi is looking forward to the races at Road America, Mid-Ohio and Sonoma – all road course races because he thinks they will be easiest due to being able to test at those places. The rest of the races on the schedule are all new tracks that he has no experience at.
“But I wouldn’t say the outlook has changed,” Rossi added. “Like I said before, my goal from the beginning of day one in IndyCar was to be fighting at the front. That outlook is no different, but yeah, for sure there are certain tracks that I am looking forward to from the aspect of I just know where they go and kind of how they drive a little bit.”
The American driver has never raced at TMS which can be tricky and tough for any driver, much less a driver that has no experience racing there.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” Rossi quoted. “Texas is my favorite oval that I’ve driven on actually. We had the one test there at the beginning of May, and it was awesome. I really, really enjoyed it. We did a little bit of a group run towards the end of the day, and it was very interesting for me to kind of be on an oval where there were so many different lines. As you said, it’s very high banked, so it’ll make the racing incredibly exciting, and I’m very much looking forward to Saturday night.”
He added there are multiple lanes at TMS and more options for the drivers to run but that it was a very different experience then the road and street courses.
“Yeah, that’s correct,” Rossi said. “Obviously I don’t know quite what to expect. We had a little bit of group running in the test at the beginning of the month, so I had a bit of an idea, and running a high line was something new to me and something that I had to figure out. But yeah, I mean, I think it’ll be a fantastic race, and it’s one that I’ve been most really looking forward to ever since we did the test. I really, really enjoyed the time there, and I think it’ll be very challenging, especially with the heat that we’re expected to have this weekend. So yeah, I mean, it’ll be quite an event, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”
The Nevada City native started racing back in his hometown and slowly built his way up to Formula 1. Now he is in the IndyCar Series and has just won one of the biggest races of his career. Rossi says he hasn’t really processed his career from start to now.
“That’s a good thing and a bad thing at the same time,” Rossi said. “It’s really in the off-season where you have a chance to kind of reflect and look back on things. But at the moment, no, I can’t say that I’ve really spent a lot of time thinking about the beginnings. You have little things remind you here and there, but no, it’s definitely always focusing forward, and everything about motorsports is development and progression, and that’s the same for the car as it is for the drivers, so for me, I’m always focused about what’s coming up next.”
