Chip Ganassi’s Felix Rosenqvist says the results show how much all of the drivers are practicing for iRacing IndyCar Challenge.
As the iRacing IndyCar Challenge approaches its final round this weekend at Indianapolis, the front-runners look very different than they did at the first race at Watkins Glen, when D&R Racing’s Sage Karam and Rosenqvist were the dominant player of the field.
Part of this changing of the guard undeniably came from the rise of the use of race engineers, which gave an advantage to those from the better teams. However, practice also played a key role, as older drivers got to grips with the virtual platform.
And this practice, which drivers such as Team Penseke;s Will Power have utilised to become a consistent, podium-finishing driver, shines through prominently, as CGR’s Rosenqvist explained when talking to media – including FormulaRapida.net.
“It’s tough,” started Rosenqvist. “We put a lot of hours into these races to prepare. I think personally I’ve done less preparations compared to the first two where I spent way too many hours. It’s kind of interesting how everyone gets quicker and quicker every day.
“You can see in these open sessions what lap times people do. I remember in the beginning of the week people were doing 44.9s and that was a really good time. Last weekend, we saw a 43.1, which is 1.7 seconds quicker. It just shows how hard everyone is pushing.
“That’s why we have a lot of mistakes as well. I can’t describe how hard it is to keep the thing on the track for an hour. For myself the ovals I would say I didn’t really have a good run through the ovals. We were fast and we were fighting in the front, but just didn’t finish the races. On the road courses we’ve been up there every time fighting for the lead.
“It’s been good fun. I missed a tenth or two to be able to drive to the front without having strategy taking you there. It’s kind of frustrating that guys like Lando and I think mainly Will has been really, really fast, maybe one or two tenths quicker all the time.
“It takes a lot of practice to get there. I kind of want to get that lap but it doesn’t seem to come to me too easily,” summed up Roseqvist. The Swede has finished second, sixth, 21st, 14th and third in the five iRacing IndyCar Challenge races done so far.
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