By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief
A blend of good fortune and a well-timed caution provided the perfect ingredients for Santino Ferrucci to earn a runner-up finish in the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday.
After starting 21st in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, Ferrucci was consistently running around the middle of the 27-car field for the opening half of the race. He pitted from 11th on Lap 65 of 100, falling to 16th as several drivers were on multiple pit strategies. The tone of the race shifted two laps later, though, as PREMA Racing’s Callum Ilott crashed in Turn 1 due to a loose wheel and brought out a caution.
With everyone ahead of him pitting for the final time, Ferrucci was able to leapfrog to the lead on Lap 71. He stayed out front for eight laps around the nine-turn, 1.645-mile temporary street circuit, but didn’t have enough pace to fend off the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda of Kyle Kirkwood.
Despite a brief slip to third, the 27-year-old was able to capitalize on a late restart with 11 laps to go to retake second – the best result of an IndyCar career that began at nearby Belle Isle in 2018.
“It feels great,” Ferrucci said. “Honestly, the strategy plays into everything that we do, especially at road and street courses. It’s very tough, and I can’t thank the team enough. This is more deserving of them than it is even of me. We probably drove to 11th minus the strategy just running our race.
“They all made great calls on the stand to pit us when they did and got lucky with the yellow when it came out, cycled us to the front action. I had no idea I was the leader because there was cars going around the pace car in front of me, and then they stopped me, and I was like, ‘Oh, well, this is a pleasant surprise.’ So it was pretty cool. I just couldn’t hold off Kyle in the end.”
The result by Ferrucci continued a strong run of momentum for AJ Foyt Racing, who also earned a second-place finish courtesy of David Malukas in the Indianapolis 500 the race prior. It marks the first time since 2013 the team finished on the podium in back-to-back rounds after Takuma Sato won Long Beach and followed it up with a runner-up in Brazil.
Additionally, Ferrucci now sits 10th in the championship standings.
“Man, this is a big deal for us, especially in the championship, just finding our stride,” Ferrucci said.
“Obviously I think I’ve struggled a little bit more than David has in the last couple of races just trying to be consistent with the car and consistent with changes. We had a ton of changes going into this weekend, and we finally unloaded the car for warmup and I felt really, really happy, and we didn’t change anything going into the race.
“Had we started there – obviously David started the weekend with something like that and the same with Indy for him – it really goes to show. But I’m hoping that we can finally catch that stride and move forward.
“Going to Gateway, it’s the first time we come back with the hybrid, so hopefully all the references that I’ve built last year will still be there.”
gk4itk