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Rosenqvist: Indy Lights street course experience to help in Formula E

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Chris Owens / IMS Photo 2016

CASTLE DONINGTON, UK - Felix Rosenqvist believes that his time in Indy Lights racing on street courses will help during his debut season in Formula E.

FIA European Formula 3 champion Rosenqvist entered Indy Lights for 2016, winning three of the 10 races he entered with Belardi.

The Swede was forced to miss the races at Road America and Iowa due to commitments in GT racing and DTM, before ending his Indy Lights program altogether after getting a Formula E drive with Mahindra.

Rosenqvist is a two-time winner of the Macau Grand Prix, which is renowned as one of motorsport’s toughest street circuits, and has also raced at Pau in France in F3.

However, Rosenqvist believes his experience from Indy Lights, where he raced on tracks such as St. Petersburg and Toronto, will be more helpful when it comes to taming Formula E’s street layouts.

“I think those two particular tracks [Pau and Macau] are quite different compared to the ones we will run because they have banking and a bit of that,” Rosenqvist told NBC Sports.

“I think especially when I last raced in Indy Lights in Toronto, I think that’s probably more relevant to what we will find this year, a really bumpy circuit and difficult circuits. So that will help for sure.”

Rosenqvist enjoyed a successful first public Formula E outing at Donington Park, but is refusing to read too much into his times given the unique nature of the track compared to those on the season three calendar.

“I think this circuit doesn’t really show you anything,” Rosenqvist said.

“If you look like Turn 1, Turn 4, Turn 7, you won’t find those corners in Formula E. Those are basically irrelevant.

“We saw in development testing and private testing, the driving looked good. Obviously Nick [Heidfeld] being a good reference, it didn’t look too bad compared to him.

“I don’t really think I can know what to expect when I come to the normal circuit. All the drivers keep going on about they are really difficult.

“I won’t really know yet until I come to Hong Kong what to expect.”

The calendar for Formula E’s third season features five new circuits and has two possible additions that also haven’t been raced on before, all of which Rosenqvist believes he will have an opportunity to match his rivals.

“I think on those circuits I will have a really good chance at least in qualifying to be up there, so that’s good,” he said.

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