By Lewis Franck, special to Kickin’ The Tires
Rookie, Santino Ferrucci, is the last person to be surprised at his success on ovals in the IndyCar series.
The 21-year old’s career path, until last year, seemed to be in the exclusively road racing Formula One series.
Now he’s a serious contender for Rookie of the Year, currently second in the standings. In his debut run, at the Indianapolis 500, he finished seventh earning him Rookie of the Year there in the Cly-Del Manufacturing Dallara/Honda entered by Dale Coyne Racing.
He followed that up with a fourth at Texas Motor Speedway, 12th at Iowa and fourth last week at Pocono International Raceway.
“It’s instinctive,” the Connecticut native told Kickin’ the Tires. “They’re tricky in their own ways. A good day on an oval isn’t necessarily different than a road course.
“To be consistently quick and consistently fight on the ovals, it’s a lot more satisfying because you’re on the ragged edge at the top speed. If you can race well on an oval you can your race anywhere.”
He thinks that racing cleanly has earned him more respect over performance. But still “ being fast is a big part of that. We’re not here to finish 10th.”
Even more remarkable is that he has been finishing ahead of other rookies on the biggest established teams. “We’re (Dale Coyne Racing) a small team we don’t have the budget Andretti, Penske, Ganassi have, but our guys are super dedicated.”
His veteran engineer, Michael Cannon, has guided other Indy car drivers to victory in the past, including numerous trip to victory lane with current NASCAR driver A.J. Allmendinger. And Ferrucci can consult with teammate, Sebastien Bourdais, a four-time series champion every race weekend. Deep into silly season nothing has been confirmed for next year, but he has earned reasons to be optimistic about next year.
“Most people remember your last four races and the 500,” he said, continuing, “and I had an incredible (with emphasis added) 500 and the last four races.”
No doubt his oval performance is a big part in his run to be the Rookie of the Year.