DirtFish tackles Indianapolis

DirtFish’s Benjamin Pedersen was back in action in the Indy Lights series last weekend, taking on the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With the Freedom 100 oval race off the calendar this year, Indy Lights’ brace of road course races last weekend presented the only opportunity for the series to race at ‘The Racing Capital of the World’ this season.

“It was an amazing time racing at Indianapolis Motor Speedway,” Pedersen told DirtFish. “It’s the crown jewel of the IndyCar series and all the support races, it’s so cool to race there.”

Competing on the biggest stage of the season, Global Racing Group driver Pedersen once again finished the weekend with a pair of top 10 finishes, keeping up a run of being one of just five drivers to finish in the top-10 at every race so far this season.

The showpiece weekend wasn’t without its difficulties though, with Pedersen chasing car setup from early on in the weekend.

“It wasn’t the best weekend, but that’s how it goes sometimes,” he recalled.

“Basically right off the bat in practice, from a setup perspective and [with] handling, we were kind of out of the window a bit on my car.

“We just had a really hard time putting power down. So like in rally when you get oversteer, it was pretty much like that, and that obviously hurts a lap time a lot. So that’s what we were battling.

“We were inside the top-10 the whole week, including the races,” he added. “We just kept our heads down and tried to figure the car out and try to do whatever I could from a driving perspective to help out, and by the last race we were matching the lead cars’ race pace, so that was good.”

Things eventually came together for Pedersen, who not only bounced back from a difficult start in race one to finish 10th, but also fought through for a ninth place result in the second race of the weekend after a fine battle with Sting Ray Robb.

The result could’ve been better still, with his pace matching that of the lead pack by the end of the race; a race that featured much more competitive racing throughout the 13-car field. But after being held up by Robb before the pass, Pedersen ultimately ended up out of range to use the push-to-pass boost on the frontrunners, which requires drivers to be within one and a half second of the driver ahead to make use of the additional 50 horsepower it provides.

“By the time we get to the last race of the weekend everyone is pretty dialed in terms of having the car sorted and from a driving perspective everyone’s pretty on their game – that’s what creates these tough on-track battles,” Pedersen said.

“What made our race a bit tricky in race two is we kind of got held up by Sting Ray Robb. We managed to pass him a couple of laps later, but being that we were kind of held up for a couple laps, it made us get away from the lead group, which ultimately meant we were not able to use push-to-pass.

“I managed to get by Sting Ray pretty quickly though, but by that time it was hard to close the gap to the lead group up front, because everyone up there is on push-to-pass and I’m not able to use it because now we were out of range.

“The gap by then was already pretty big. We did close it, we just didn’t have enough time.”

With the pace clearly there, and yet more lessons learned with six out of 20 races now ticked off in Pedersen’s maiden Indy Lights campaign, the Seattle-based driver is positive about what’s up next, which is two races on the streets of Detroit – a first for the series – and an intensive testing schedule that will take in two more of the season’s remaining venues.

“We’ll take our learnings from that experience and apply it to Detroit, which is next on the calendar,” Pedersen explained. “It’s a massively different circuit – we’re back to the street street circuits again for Detroit, just like St. Pete, which I really enjoyed.

“It will be new for everyone to go to Detroit. Nobody’s been there in Road to Indy, so I look forward to that opportunity, cause I think we’ll be able to show pretty well there.

“But before then we also have a bit of testing at different tracks as well. So we’ll be going to Road America next week and doing a test there with the series, and then also Mid-Ohio, and then we’ll go from Mid-Ohio to Detroit.”

The testing will prove crucial, with two races at Road America following immediately after the Belle Isle event in Detroit, while Mid-Ohio is the only venue to feature on the schedule twice. With 20% of the season’s races taking place at the Lexington track, getting any sort of a head start there will be vital.

“It will be my first time in a Indy Lights car at Road America, Mid-Ohio, and obviously Detroit, but really the point of the test is to get me fully up to speed for when we arrive just like everyone else, to make sure everything’s on point from a driving perspective

“But then furthermore, the ultimate goal of the testing is to get the car in the right window. And if it is in a good window, see how you can get a little bit more lap time out of it.

“We’re just trying to learn as much as possible and hopefully that puts us in the best possible scenario for the race weekend.

“There’s a lot of variables that can change, but at least it puts you into perspective.”

And while testing isn’t usually a competitive endeavour, the presence of other teams at the track will provide something of a snapshot into the form book going forward for everyone in the Indy Lights field.

“Pretty much everyone’s there, so it will be a ‘competitive test’ if that makes sense. Everyone’s always trying to beat each other.

“The key thing with testing is it’s really a lot of hard work to make sure you stay in the right channel to success. It’s really easy when you’re at the same track a lot – and we have two events at Mid-Ohio and multiple test days – it’s kind of easy to get sidetracked into a certain path, whether it’s the car on the setup or a certain driving style.

“But I think the key is to really, you know, stay on this very focused channel. Always keeping the race in mind so that you’re always in the right window with a car.

“You’re testing at this track all the time and you kind of get these blinders on your eyes, but you have another team that comes in and, and maybe is strong right away, just because the focus is that much sharper. So it’s always a fine balance, the more you’re at a track, to keep that mindset correct the whole time you’re there.”

Indy Lights now takes a break from racing while the open-wheel word focuses on the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500, which has a field that includes some-time GRC Lites and ARX2 competitors Colton Herta, JR Hildebrand, and Sage Karam among its 35-strong entry.

Pedersen meanwhile will be back in action on the weekend of June 12-13 for Indy Lights’ maiden visit to Belle Isle in Detroit, a temporary street circuit that’s been a mainstay on the IndyCar calendar for much of the 1990s, and again since 2012.