Zoom Media Interview - Wednesday, August 23, 2023 - Michelin GT Challenge At VIR Driver Preview

A Zoom Call interview was held August 23, with select drivers, to preview the this weekend's Michelin GT Challenge At VIR, August 25-27, 2023.

Participants:
Ben Barnicoat, co-driver of the No. 14 Vasser Sullivan Lexus RC F GT3
Robert Wickens, co-driver of the No. 33 Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Hyundai Elantra N TCR

Both drivers and their teams are in the championship points lead for the 2023 season.

Questions delivered by Edmund Jenks - Motorsports Journal begin at 12:23.

A Zoom Call interview was held Wednesday, August 16, with GTD drivers Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk that previewed the upcoming Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, August 25-27, 2023.

Zoom Information
Time: Wednesday, August 16, 2023 | 2 p.m. ET

Participants:
Katherine Legge, co-driver of the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3
Sheena Monk, co-driver of the No. 66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3

Motorsports Journal - Edmund Jenks asks questions of both drivers (Katherine Legge / Sheena Monk) starting at 12;36.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Mike Shank | Jack Harvey, Meyer Shank Racing

THE MODERATOR: We have the co-owners of Meyer Shank Racing, Michael Shank, and the driver of the No. 60 Sirius XM AutoNation car, Jack Harvey. The 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES will be competing in a two (2) race weekend in this week's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Saturday's race will be on NBCSN at 4:30pm ET. Sunday's race will be on NBC at 1:00pm ET.

Mike, we just had Bob and Graham with us, two guys from the Columbus area. You yourself are from the Columbus area. How important would it be for Meyer Shank Racing to get a win this weekend at Mid-Ohio?

MIKE SHANK: It's the top line priority, right? We've had what we feel is a pretty decent year this year, but we haven't been able to finish like we think we deserve. Mid-Ohio would be my premium place to do it. It's where I grew up.

I can literally remember 1980 with my dad watching Johnny Rutherford run, I think they called it the Yellow Submarine Chaparral around the track and win the race. That's my first memory of the of Mid-Ohio INDYCAR race.

From the first day I ever was around a race car, INDYCAR at Mid-Ohio is what I strive for. It took a long time to get there. Super grateful to Jack. Obviously Jack and I worked on this for three or four years now. A lot of people that supported he and I, I think he would agree, to get us to this opportunity where we think we can actually put a podium effort together, which is where we're at today.

It's a great story. I'm just super proud to be a part of it.

THE MODERATOR: Jack, I know you've run well at road courses this year, you just don't have the results to show how well you've run at the races. How important is it for you to get a good finish at a road course, especially Mike's home track?

JACK HARVEY: As Michael said, a few races at the start of the year you look at, if we could choose to have a good result at them, what they would be. Actually Mid-Ohio is always the top of the list, especially when it's the home race for the team.

As you mentioned, it's a track I have run pretty well at in the past. We had a good race last year. Although we haven't had every great result I feel like we have speed to go and get, there's a real positive and encouraging atmosphere within the team at the moment to keep trying till we get it. I think that's all we can keep doing, is putting ourselves in a good position to try and have a great race.

Even at the end of the race in Texas I thought we looked pretty good. There's nowhere we've been this year where we really have struggled, lacked pace. Naturally you're optimistic this will be the weekend we really get the result that the potential has been.

THE MODERATOR: With five races in a row since the last road course race at Road America, does it feel like it was almost like last season that you were on a road course?

JACK HARVEY: No, mate, no. My whole bread and butter is road course racing. Might feel some of that way on the ovals. On the whole, I was really happy with that stretch of races there Indy, Iowa, even Gateway where we qualified, where we raced. The potential of all that was great.

That being said, I do love the road courses. I love Mid-Ohio. It's where I got my first win. I was in Michael's home race. I think honestly, I only speak for myself, certainly it feels like a high positivity around the team. Just want to get on track again, mate, really. This year has been super busy when we've been on track. I like it, I like the format of the weekends.

THE MODERATOR: Mike, talk a little bit about the evolution of your team. You started off as an Indy 500 entry, worked your way up to full-time. You have goals now as a full-time team.

MIKE SHANK: Yeah, I think our story really is built around very pointed moments in time, very deliberate plan to make sure we don't fail. What I mean by that, it's just that we did what we were capable of doing every year financially. That's ultimately what it means.

In 2017 we did one race with Jack. 2018 we did six. 2019 10. Now we're doing the full season for this season and next season. I think ours has been very calculated. I think we've been very smart about how we have chosen technical partnerships instead of trying to go out on our own and prove ourself it is independent of everybody else. I think that's worked really well for us.

This year more than any, the Andretti partnership has been really good for us. We operate pretty much as an independent team except we get the benefit of four, five, six other cars' data, information, input, strategy thoughts. It's just they enormous amount of information that I believe Andretti do a good job of disseminating, getting out to all of us, to make us all competitive.

Andretti I know doesn't have great results this year, but I can tell you they do a hell of a job of preparation. I'm happy with it.

THE MODERATOR: Do you think it's fair that people call you the sixth Andretti car? Kind of discredits the work your employees are doing in your shop.

MIKE SHANK: I've not been asked that before. Do I think it's a discredit? No, I don't feel like it's a negative comment, to be honest. I just feel lucky to be here, first off. No, I don't.

We really run the thing as an independent unit. All the people, equipment, every little thing from a per diem every day to hotels at night, it's all on MSR. I don't know how that's a negative thing. I my Michael and J.F. and Rob Edwards just do a hell of a job. They look after us. Even though they're having tough years, their tough years haven't reached us really.

Listen, we haven't reached all of our goals yet this year, but we've had more speed than we've ever had. They own some of that credit.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions.

Q. Jack, what is kind of the key from the end of the race on Saturday until you strap back in at 1 p.m. on Sunday of rejuvenating? What will be your strategy?

JACK HARVEY: It's going to be pretty simple, mate. It's going to be hydrate, replenish, stretch, go again.

In that regard, I do think Mid-Ohio is a pretty physical circuit. There's no doubt about it. Especially the way the strategy has played out there recently, it doesn't seem too much of a fuel saving race. At least that's what the last few years have played out to be. Actually, when it's so intense, you feel it. That being said, we've had that plenty of times this year. I feel like everybody is ready for that now.

Not looking for any magic anything, just going to finish the race, going to hydrate well, get good food onboard again, going to try and sleep. I'll probably stretch. Honestly, no matter how good we do on Saturday, we're going to want to go and replicate or do better on Sunday.

In that regard, if this was the first time we were doing a doubleheader on a weekend, you might be a little bit nervous. I feel like everybody is pretty prepped and ready for this now.

Q. You feel like you're extremely competitive going into this weekend from the standpoint of you could be among the favorites? Do you feel that way?

JACK HARVEY: I mean, naturally I would hope so. One of the favorites? I guess one of the favorites to do what? As a team this year, I think we've shown that we can be consistently in the top 10. We've shown we can qualify at the front.

As a team, we still feel like there's a lot of -- perhaps not a lot, but some low-hanging fruit for us to go and do the best we can. I certainly don't feel like we need to go with any expectation other than we just need to execute the best weekend we can do. I feel like if we do that, yeah, I do feel like we can achieve podiums and race at Mid-Ohio for top fives, podiums.

Frankly, if you're in that battle, a win is only the right call going your way. Like I said to the guys, we've had a ton of speed this year. I can promise you there's no complacency in this team. We haven't gone to any track expecting to be fast. I think we've worked really hard. I think we deserve the speed that we've had and think we deserve because we've worked really hard. We're going to keep working hard till we get the end result.

Go as a favorite if it makes us feel good, that's fine. All I want the guys to do is worry about what they have to do, execute to the best of their ability. This is a fantastic group of guys with extremely high potential.

Q. Mike, what is the secret for the turnaround from a crew standpoint? Will that be a late night for you guys?

MIKE SHANK: The plan is that we did all that preparation work this week. We just loaded up about 10 minutes ago here actually. The key is the stuff that we've done here this week.

That means anything that needs replaced is already built and ready to go, just directly on the car. They close the garage Saturday night at 10:00, so I think you'll see a lot of lights burning late till 10 just because we have to.

What we've tried to focus on is organization. What can we expect? What's the worst case? Are we prepared for that? Yeah, we are, and here is where these parts are, we can go right to it if we have to.

We're going up to Mid-Ohio with two and a half cars in the trailers. We're hoping we don't use but one of them. In a perfect world, the guys are out of there by 9. In a complicated world they're out of there by 10.

Q. Mike, what have you learnt this season that you can take forward into next year? You have your other business interests, but in terms of INDYCAR, what can you bring forward to next year?

MIKE SHANK: The one thing I've done, I always looked at it as a good series, a tough series, but this series I underestimated how ridiculously at today's age competitive it is. I have never been a part of something that tiny little mistakes magnify themselves three times. Jack loses two or three positions for something he had zero to do with, right?

When you see it, a great example St. Louis last week, I told these guys, every 3/10ths ...

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Graham Rahal | Bobby Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to our latest NTT INDYCAR Series video news conference in advance of the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES two (2) race weekend in this week's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Saturday's race will be on NBCSN at 4:30pm ET. Sunday's race will be on NBC at 1:00pm ET.

We're pleased to be joined by two favorite sons in the racing scene in Columbus, Ohio. We're joined by the co-owner of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and the 1996 Indy 500 winner Bobby Rahal, and also Graham Rahal, driver of the No. 15 United Rentals and Fifth Third Bank Honda this weekend for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Gentlemen, thanks for joining us. Appreciate you taking the time to join us today.

GRAHAM RAHAL: Thank you.

BOBBY RAHAL: Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Bob, you really can't think about going to Mid-Ohio without the Rahal name. Your expectations about having a race at Mid-Ohio, fielding a car for Graham?

BOBBY RAHAL: First, just really pleased that we're, A, going there. Two races is going to be a heck of a show for the fans that are going to be able to be there. Tough on the drivers. I don't think there's any question of that. It's going to be a great show. Really pleased to be there.

Upset, sad, like everybody, that we can't open the gates and let everyone who wants to come come. These next two races are key, four races in two weekends. A huge effect on the championship.

We've been pretty competitive on the road courses this year whether it was Elkhart or Indy GP. Hoping that holds true for this weekend as well.

Obviously the team is feeling pretty good about our year so far. Clearly finishing where we did at Indy is a big boost for everybody. As I said, Graham has had some strong races. Takuma has had strong races. I think we have to be going there feeling very positive. We just got to keep our heads down and do the job, as they say.

THE MODERATOR: Graham, how excited are you about having two races at your home track?

GRAHAM RAHAL: Yeah, I'm thrilled to go back home. It's a great place to go and race. As you mentioned before, 2015 still extremely important to me, special, a lot of special memories from that weekend.

We've been pretty strong there in recent years. I hope we can keep that going. As dad pointed out, our run on road courses has been very, very strong this year. We're excited about the opportunity ahead.

It's a big points weekend, two races. It's a physical weekend with two races. Hopefully Mother Nature will kind of stay away and be friendly with us. But we're looking forward to it.

THE MODERATOR: Graham, talk about the helmet. I know you're a proud Ohioan. Special Ohio themed helmet.

GRAHAM RAHAL: Yeah, we did a design contest earlier in the year for the first race. We ended up going with Cindy's design for Texas. The Ohio themed right away we thought it would be a great one to have when we do go to Mid-Ohio. It's being worn a little later than we anticipated. Excited nonetheless that we had it. Had it for a long time, it's been painted for a couple months. Just been hiding it all long. Excited about it.

We hope it brings us a little bit of Ohio luck. Last time wore a specialty helmet there we did pretty good. Hopefully this time around we can, as well.

THE MODERATOR: Bob, it's been almost a month since you won your second Indy 500. What has been the reaction to winning it a second time with Takuma?

BOBBY RAHAL: Well, very pleased. I'm always asked what is more satisfying, winning as a driver or owner. Tremendous satisfaction in either case, let's face it. As an owner I feel you have a much better feel for everything that goes into it. As a driver, you thank your crew and everything, but I don't think you understand totally what does go into it. It's everything from the exciting things, the exciting stuff, to the very mundane stuff like making sure your taxes are paid and other things like that.

It was a thrill to win Honda's first 500 since 2004 with Buddy, then to win the second one for Takuma, it was a great race. I thought the last 20, 30 laps... The whole race was exciting. But the last 30 laps with Graham, Dixon, Takuma there, I don't think it gets much better than that.

Really pleased for our guys. Really pleased for our guys. They've all been working hard. We've had some ups and downs this year. Good races that could have been great. Started out in a tough way in Texas, particularly with Takuma, then Graham having issues, mechanical issues.

I'm just very pleased for everybody in the team and our sponsors who have been so patient, understanding, real team players. We've been very, very fortunate in that case. Yeah, real happy for everybody.

THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for Bobby Rahal and Graham Rahal.

Q. Graham, you're 14 points out of fifth in the standings. I know fifth isn't what you're racing for, you're racing for a championship. How important would that be? That's within reach. Once you get into the top five, you can kind of start scratching and clawing for every position after that.

GRAHAM RAHAL: Yeah, I mean, the points are important. St. Louis really, really killed us for sure. We were lucky, a lot of the guys we compete with didn't have a great St. Louis either. If you look at Simon, a couple of the other guys, even Colton. There's still a lot of guys within reach. I feel like we can go out there and have a really strong weekend I think and close some of that gap.

As I look at it, even third place isn't necessarily out of reach. Maybe, I don't know. Dixon is pretty far ahead. But I think with a little bit of luck and some good performances in the next couple of races, obviously two at Mid-Ohio, move on to Indy Grand Prix where we know we can do well, hopefully we can claw back into this.

For me at this stage in the season, too, I'm willing to take a little bit more risk to get a win. It's been a few years, since 2017 for me. I feel like we've been extremely consistent and strong as far as our performance the last couple years in the 15 car. Bounces haven't quite gone our way. Willing to take a little risk to try and make that happen.

Q. Bobby, you have Takuma winning the Indy 500, he's fourth in points. You have Graham 14 points out of fifth. You could end the season with both of your drivers in the top five. That's a pretty Team Penske like, Chip Ganassi like accomplishment. How do you feel about Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing having that opportunity to do that this year?

BOBBY RAHAL: Like I said, particularly on the road courses, Graham has been very strong, whether it was Indy GP. But for a yellow flag, he would have won that race. I don't think there's any question of that. Elkhart Lake had a really strong run going, catching Newgarden. Clearly those two were leaving the field. A bad pit stop, our bad, that hurt him. Then being taken out by Power the next day, that didn't help anything.

We've had a lot of strong races, just haven't quite finished the job for whatever reasons. But like I said earlier, there's four races in the next two events, next two tracks. We've been strong at Mid-Ohio before, we've been strong at Indy GP. I don't think there's any reason why we can't finish very strongly. St. Pete, you know.

I would be very disappointed if we weren't in -- both of our cars were in the top five.

Q. Bobby, as a team owner, it was a long wait for everybody to finally get the go ahead from the Ohio governor, but with the team did you just have to manage them saying assume that the race is going to happen so you could be prepared?

BOBBY RAHAL: Yeah, we had to go in assuming it was going to take place. Obviously they didn't say it was on till, what, Monday or Tuesday. Monday, I guess.

No, we were acting as though it was going to happen. The only thing that made it sketchy for us or any team is you have hotel rooms, all these commitments you've made. I'm just glad that we're going to be able to take advantage of those or live up to those commitments, because otherwise there would have been an economic impact on a lot of the teams.

Yeah, I think it's important for us to be at Mid-Ohio. Would always have had a great crowd. Unfortunately this year it's limited. But, you know, I think everybody kind of gets it. May not be happy with it but gets it. We're just going to have to put on a great race for everybody, whether they're there or watching on TV.

Q. From a business standpoint, the wherewithal that Green Savoree Promotions have had to have this year because every one of their races hasn't happened, could you weigh in on how important that is for them and how important that group is for the series.

BOBBY RAHAL: I'll jump in there, I guess.

It's not just Mid-Ohio, it's Toronto, Portland, St. Pete. Those poor guys. By all accounts it looks like St. Pete is looking better, so that's good because that's a great event, one we need to be at. Those poor guys. You got to hand it to them. I'm sure INDYCAR has worked with them quite a bit to make things happen. They've been I think pretty good partners from what I can see in staying the course at a time. No one would blame them if they said, The heck with it, we're going to wait till '21.

I'm going to make sure when I see Kevin and Mr. Green, just say a big thank you. Everybody needed this. I'm sure they did. The teams and the series needed it, as well. Yeah, very lucky to have good partners like that.

GRAHAM RAHAL: I think dad said it. They've certainly been put through the wringer this year. It was a bummer for this to be announced so late as we already kind of pointed out. But I just hope that St. Pete goes off, that this goes off well. I hope St. Pete goes off well, that they can land back on their feet as we go towards next year. I saw Portland was extended for a few more years.

Kim, Kevin, their staff have been put through ...

Alex Palou, an INDYCAR driver, held a video news conference ahead of the Honda Indy 200 at Mid Ohio.

He discussed his sponsor, Guaranteed Rate, and his excitement to return to Mid Ohio, a track he has been to before.

Palou also talked about his rookie season and how he is leading the rookie points, hoping to win the rookie championship and secure a contract for next year. He discussed the challenges of racing on ovals and how he is still adapting to this aspect of the sport. Palou also talked about the upcoming races on road courses and how he is preparing for them.

The press conference was hosted by Arni Sribhen, the Coordinator of Media Relations for INDYCAR, and featured questions from various journalists covering the sport.

The podcast provides insights into the world of INDYCAR racing and the experiences of drivers like Palou as they navigate the challenges of the sport. Palou's discussion sheds light on the importance of confidence in oneself and the team, and how this has helped him stay mentally strong even after unfortunate incidents on the track.

Questions from Motorsport Journal's Edmund Jenks begin at 17:15 within the ZOOM Call recording podcast.

NTT IndyCar Series News Conference - Thursday, September 10, 2020 - Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
Dalton Kellett, A.J. Foyt Enterprises

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to another NTT INDYCAR Series video teleconference with a driver from the series in advance of the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES two (2) race weekend in this week's Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. Saturday's race will be on NBCSN at 4:30pm ET. Sunday's race will be on NBC at 1:00pm ET.

We are joined today by the driver of the No. 14 K-Line USA for A.J. Foyt Racing, Dalton Kellett. Dalton, welcome to the call.

DALTON KELLETT: Thanks, Arni.

THE MODERATOR: We're headed to a place you're pretty familiar with, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. Raced there a lot in the Road to Indy, maybe an IMSA race there. How excited are you to get back to a road course?

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, I'm really excited. The pacing of this year has been a bit different, right, with big breaks, the staccato rhythm of how the races have been going. A big focus was the 500. We're through that.

At least on my calendar, we have two doubleheaders left. Pretty exciting to get back to developing the road course car, working on that again.

I didn't do the IMSA race. I did Mosport, Laguna.

THE MODERATOR: What do you find as the biggest challenge to a track like Mid-Ohio? There's a lot of undulations, some of the corners are pretty technical.

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, I think in and of itself the layout is quite technical and challenging. There's a lot of rhythm sections where you have the setup and entry at the start of the section affects the entire string of corners. An example would be turn five through turn nine. You can even make the case that turn four through turn nine is really one big rhythm section. If you kind of make a mistake in that turn five or six area, it's going to affect you all the way out of turn nine.

I think that makes it challenging, but it makes it really fun. I tend to prefer tracks like that. I'll take a Mid-Ohio that's go, go, go, no break, over Road America. I just prefer that flow. This weekend, especially with the doubleheader, it's going to be physically challenging, as well.

THE MODERATOR: Difficult season for you anyway with the way the schedule worked out with you and Sebastien and Tony sharing the 14 car. You really haven't had a chance to drive the 14 car much since June when Road America happened. How have you been preparing yourself for road course racing?

DALTON KELLETT: Staying up to date with the home sim right there. Staying up to date with the sim on iRacing. Been on the training side physically preparing really hard with the Pit.Fit guys, mentally kind of doing some visualization, looking at old onboard, going over stuff with the team. Kind of that standard quiver of tools that we have to stay sharp.

Without testing, obviously it's a challenging season. Looking forward to getting on track.

THE MODERATOR: We have some media on the call with questions. We'll open it up for questions for Dalton Kellett.

Q. Obviously with the truncated schedule this season, what have you learnt this year that you can take forward for the rest of the season but also into next year? In terms of the road courses, what are you most looking forward to about the challenges of Mid-Ohio this weekend?

DALTON KELLETT: So I think, yeah, the answer to the first part of your question, what I learnt the most, kind of a nod to the condensed schedule, it's really highlighted the importance of being accurate and kind of correct with your feedback with the engineers because we don't have the time to develop the car as we normally would on a race weekend. We practically have no testing. The importance of being kind of correct and giving good, honest feedback has been highlighted, for sure.

As far as what I think, the second part of your question, what am I looking forward to this race?

Q. In relation to Mid-Ohio.

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, so as far as Mid-Ohio is concerned, I really like the flow of the track. It's fast-paced. You don't really get much of a break, maybe between the keyhole and turn four, take a bit of a breather. The rest of the track is go, go, go. I really like that. For me, this is one of my favorite road courses.

On a normal year, there's lot of fans camping here, the atmosphere of the race. Being back with 6,000 fans per day, it will be exciting to reconnect with the race fans and see that coming back, as well.

Q. In terms of the car, what are you expecting this weekend?

DALTON KELLETT: In terms of the car, obviously it's been a while since we've been on a road course. The engineers have been doing a lot of work on the setup side, dampers, suspension package, all that. I think we'll start the weekend pretty similar on the 4 and 14 cars, then we each have some testing items to work through, kind of decide on the balance we want for the race.

I'm hoping that we'll roll off with a good package. Matheus has some quick times with practice last year, so I'm optimistic.

Q. This is your first year in INDYCAR full-time. You've had many experiences through the years with different teams. What is interesting or new that you're finding out being with A.J. Foyt?

DALTON KELLETT: So for A.J. specifically, the first race that he came to this year was Indy. Obviously that's a place where he has a lot of experience, more so than I think anybody else. He had lots of great advice to give, especially as a rookie at the Speedway. That was really useful.

For the rest of the team, the rest of the races, we have not just A.J., but between T.K., Charlie, Seb at the start of the year, the rest of the organization, there's a lot of experience there. It's been very useful for me to kind of lean on the more experienced guys to help me get up to speed.

Q. What new or interesting things have you learned from A.J. Foyt Enterprises over Andretti Autosport or other teams? Is there one new thing?

DALTON KELLETT: Obviously with Andretti, I didn't really have too much experience on the INDYCAR side, aside from a couple half-day tests. It's hard to comment on their workflow, base structure things. I know the size of the team probably lent itself to a bit more, like, communal debriefs. They have an engineering truck and all that, whereas we're operating out of our two trailers.

The way the team works, it's a bit different, a bit smaller feeling overall, more time spent with me and my engineer, just me and Charlie, as opposed to a big group. I've enjoyed that.

I think one thing that we're doing really well this year is the engineering team that Larry and Scott have put together for the two cars, for the three at the 500, has been very strong. There's been no egos, no team driver drama on the inside. We're all just working really hard to make the cars better, kind of raise all of our tides kind of thing. It's been a great working environment so far.

Q. You've been working with Darren Manning for a few years now. Tell us how that relationship came about and how he helped you become a better driver.

DALTON KELLETT: The start of Darren and I working together goes back to when I was at Andretti. At the time Poppy - not my dog - Dave Popielarz at Andretti was managing Lights the team. It was Shelby and I and Dean Stoneman that year. We were basically looking to kind of bring on a team driver coach, like a third set of eyes kind of thing. We tried out a few different guys.

Poppy suggested we check out Darren's sim facility. Darren, Shelby and I hit it off. We asked him to come onboard. That's kind of how that relationship began.

Since then, Darren has stayed on working with me on the open-wheel side. His philosophy and kind of what we're really working toward is getting the most out of having a kind of consistent driving style that we're approaching every track with, then optimizing the car so that I can get the most out of it. I think that's been the biggest help to my driving, right?

Going from team to team, sometimes you can get lost, just driving to what that team's engineer wants you to do, how they want you to drive. That can be a bit confusing I think for a young guy.

I think it was a good decision to kind of bring someone on to help guide that, What are we actually looking for out of the driving, and build the car setup out of that.

Q. With this part of the schedule so heavily loaded with road courses, your ability to be in the car for all these races, how important is that going to be to putting something together to show some teams for 2021?

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, as we get to the end of the season, obviously everyone's thinking about what's happening for next year. A good performance in these closing races would go a long way solidifying plans, getting everything figured out. That's the goal.

We're not going to change our process of how we're going about it, right? We're still focusing on getting the most out of me and the car, letting the results come from that. That's still going to be the approach.

Obviously we're looking to end the season strong here.

Q. How difficult has it been for you since the July race at Road America? You did have the Indy 500, so that takes up two weeks there, but having that long stretch where you were not in a car?

DALTON KELLETT: It's challenging being out of the car for this long. I've been thinking about it the last couple weeks as we're getting back into road course mode. It's made more so challenging by the fact we have a condensed schedule. We do have a doubleheader, that's two chances to get it right. Basically going to have to look at every session as an opportunity to learn and keep making myself and the car better.

That's kind of how we're going to be going about it.

Q. You came from Indy Lights. How beneficial and important has Indy Lights been to helping you prepare for your rookie season in INDYCAR?

DALTON KELLETT: Yeah, I think the experience in Indy Lights, not just there but in the whole Road to Indy, is ...

Leigh Diffey, after calling the iRACE virtual event from Watkins Glen with Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy, conducted post event interviews of the first virtual podium of a digital series that is known as the INDYCAR iRacing Challenge.

After the interview, a press conference was engaged, all ... online.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing driver Sage Karam (No. 24 DRR Wix Filters Chevrolet) got the virtual INDYCAR iRacing Challenge rolling Saturday with a win from the pole in the American Red Cross Grand Prix at Watkins Glen International.

Sage Karam led 43 of the 45 laps and beat Chip Ganassi Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist (No. 10 NTT DATA Honda) by 3.6174 seconds in the debut event of the six-race INDYCAR iRacing Challenge. Team Penske’s Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet) finished third.

The virtual event featured most of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers expecting to be in the midst of the actual season had the coronavirus pandemic not occurred. The upside of being able to stage such an event was that it allowed seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson and two-time Virgin Australia Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin to participate against them.

POWER ON – TEAM PENSKE DRIVER FASTEST IN COTA OPEN TEST - The NTT INDYCAR SERIES concluded its first open test of the season Wednesday with 27 drivers using 25 cars to complete 1,480 laps at Circuit of The Americas. - Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet), the 2014 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champ, recorded a lap of 1 minute, 46.7603 seconds/114.987 miles per hour that was not far off his pole-winning speed of a year ago at COTA. He was inside 0.8 of a second from his pole effort of 1:46.0177/115.792 mph last March. - Pictured: Will Power sits in his No. 12 Verizon machine on pit lane prior to the start of the Open Test at Circuit of The Americas -- Photo by: Jonathan Ferrey (Getty Images) via IndyCar