By Noah Poser, Staff Writer
Seven years ago this weekend, Santino Ferrucci arrived in Detroit preparing to make his INDYCAR debut fresh off spending parts of two seasons racing in Formula 2.
The weekend didn’t go as he planned, as he failed to finish the first race of the doubleheader and finished 20th, one lap down in the other.
But it was the start of not only what has become a fruitful career in INDYCAR for Ferrucci, but also the beginning of a cherished relationship with the city of Detroit.
“Dude, I love this city,” Ferrucci said. “I came up here early so I can eat at all the restaurants I can and I celebrate my birthday here basically every year, too. So this place is very special to me in that sense, but also being partnered with Chevrolet, I’ve had them in my family since I was a kid, so being here, it means a lot.”
Ferrucci, who celebrated his 27th birthday Saturday, arrives in Detroit with momentum fresh off a fifth-place finish in the Indy 500.
It’s the seventh consecutive Indy 500 in which Ferrucci has finished inside the top 10 to start his career, and Ferrucci believes he can do what he did last year and follow up a top 10 finish in the Indy 500 with another top 10 finish in Detroit.
“I’m really happy with our car right now and we had a really good street car in Long Beach that should carry over here to Detroit,” Ferrucci said. “Chevrolet has done a lot of work on drivability for the street courses, too, so we’re hoping that, especially with this place being as tight and as slow as it can be, that it plays a factor for us to put it in victory lane.”
A good result this weekend would be a huge boost for the A.J. Foyt Racing driver, who currently finds himself 16th in the INDYCAR standings, but just seven points behind his teammate David Malukas who is up in 10th.
Ferrucci feels they’d already be up there with Malukas and some of his other competitors if not for bad luck plaguing him and his team throughout the early stages of this season.
“We’ve had so many races this year where strategy hasn’t gone in our favor, or like Long Beach for example, where we were fast but started last,” Ferrucci said. “Just having a clean weekend is going to be huge. If we can just be consistent, I think we have the pace to start rolling in the top 10s, and even some top fives and some wins.”
Perhaps the Detroit street circuit, which has a reputation among the drivers as being one of the more aggressive tracks on the schedule, is the perfect place for a driver like Ferrucci, known for his aggressive driving style, to start such a run.
After all, Ferrucci, who starts 21st on Sunday, is a big fan of the not-so critically-acclaimed Detroit bumps.
“I think they suit me a bit better,” Ferrucci said, referring to the bumps. “I think they add a bit of diversity to this place and change it up. When the track is smooth, everybody’s hitting the same line all the time, but the bumps throw people off. You don’t hit them perfectly right and you can lose time or have a moment and that creates some passing opportunities.
“I know they’re trying to make the surface somewhat smoother, but I’m hoping they don’t get rid of all of them.”
Ferrucci may be in the minority on that opinion, but if he finds himself having the kind of good day he expects Sunday, he’ll likely be okay with that.