Marcus Ericsson claimed his best finish this season with a 2nd place podium at Gateway, finishing behind Josef Newgarden. He was happy having a good car underneath him all night, and with the #2 being supremely good at ovals, Ericsson was happy to be upfront.
“No, it’s definitely bittersweet after leading that many laps, having a great car underneath me. We drove all the way to the front, was feeling really good up front.
“Josef is good around these tracks. He got track position on us at one of the stops. Yeah, it’s just hard to get around him.
“Bittersweet, but the Honda was great all night. Thought I drove really well. A good result for us. But yeah, of course you want that win when you’re that close to it.”
This was his fifth time being in the top ten, his second time being in the top five, and his first time being on the podium this season. What else can Ericsson do this season?
Finding the confidence throughout the weekend
Marcus Ericsson had a good practice for two days before qualifying 12th and finishing 2nd in the race. He said in the press conference.
“That confidence builds with good weekends, good results”, which has helped him to claim third place at Gateway.
“Qualifying is always a bit different, right? I felt like my race car was pretty good in practice two last night. I felt like we made some big strides on the car in general this year, like I said. It’s just starting to pay off more and more. I get more confident in the car on all types of tracks. That’s been huge.
“That confidence builds with good weekends, good results. It was nice to sort of, yeah, finish off on the podium today, even though we were close to a win.”
Marcus Ericsson happy with progress, even if points standings do not show it
Ericsson didn’t have the best start to the year with two DNF’s at Long Beach and at Indy GP. He stated that he should’ve been in the top ten for both races, if not the top six, especially in an Andretti car. He did a lot of work over the winter and has new people working on his cars, who have worked hard to get them to his liking.
“I think this year has been a big turnaround. We’ve had two DNF’s out of our control, Long Beach and Indy GP, when we should have been in the top 10, top six in those two races. I feel like every track we’ve been to we’ve been strong. Done a lot of work this winter. I have a new group of people on my car. They’ve really worked hard to try to get the car a bit more to my liking.
“We have a new damper guy in Michael, a fellow Swede, who has worked really hard to get that package more to my liking. That has been paying off. I feel like I have been driving at my best for sure in my Andretti time this year. It’s starting to pay off, as well.
“I think Indy 500 we were putting ourselves in a position to fight for that as well until the end with the different strategies.
“Again, we come to this short oval, which has been tough for me with Andretti cars. Suddenly we’re fighting with the best guys on these type of tracks.
“It’s important. It shows again that hard work pays off. Yeah, it makes me excited for the rest of the year.”
