Santino Ferrucci finished second in last weekend’s Detroit GP, in what was AJ Foyt Racing’s best finish in a long time. Coming from 21st on the grid the American driver had to capitalise on a few strategic calls and some luck with the cautions to cycle up to the front. He couldn’t hold back Kyle Kirkwood, but managed to fend off Colton Herta in what would be the first All-American podium since Mid-Ohio 2020.
“It feels great,” Ferrucci explained his feelings after the race. “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.
“Mike and Adam, C.J., 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.”
Second best result possible as Kirkwood was just too fast
In the closing stages of the race he initially lost second place to Will Power. Ferrucci however managed to regain the position after the Detroit GP was red flagged for the crash of Louis Foster and Felix Rosenvist.
“I just couldn’t hold off Kyle in the end. I don’t know what I did with the tires, but I couldn’t hold off Will, and I definitely didn’t think I was going to hold off Colton.
“The red flag really saved us. Just happy that Felix is okay after that one. Yeah, was able to get back around Will and come home second.
“Honestly, [Kirkwood] was so fast. He probably would have ended up on pole regardless of his stuff in qualifying and just trying to defend him, the rate that I could see him coming, when you’re a driver in that situation and you know that you’re struggling a little bit, you’re obviously going to defend for the win as much as you can, but at the end of the day, if you force him to make an error and it wrecks you, it wrecks your day, too.
“I did just defend my position. He drove straight past me down the straight, cleared me before the brake zone. It was a really good move. “
Foyt on the rise
Ferrucci’s second place in the Detroit GP was Foyt’s second podium in two weekends, as team mate David Malukas scored second in the Indy 500.
“Man, this is a big deal for us,” Ferrucci said. “Especially in the championship, just finding our stride. Obviously I think I’ve struggled a little bit more than David has 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.”
Sports psychologist invaluable for Ferrucci
Ferrucci is a polarising figure, being involved in multiple controversies in the past. However, during the Detroit GP the announcers noted Ferrucci seemed more level-headed in his third year for AJ Foyt Racing. All courtesy of a sports psycholigist, he explained.
“Honestly, I feel very settled inside the team at AJ Foyt Racing,” he said. “Also, dealing with a lot of stressful months, having a good sports psychologist on my side the past couple of — well, I’d say almost the last year now has been a big help for me and just trying to stay calm in situations like that and honestly more enjoy it.
“It’s really cool. We’re very fortunate to do what we do and to be out there. So yeah, it was a lot of fun.”
