Red Bull GRC: Barbados doubleheader crucial to series titles

By Oct 3, 2015, 9:44 AM EDT
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The Red Bull Global Rallycross series has its final doubleheader of the season this weekend at Bushy Park in Barbados.

Here is the series’ event preview:

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Red Bull Global Rallycross Race Preview: Barbados

IN BRIEF: Bushy Park Circuit returns to the Red Bull Global Rallycross schedule this weekend after a spectacular debut event in 2014, with many familiar faces but a brand new track design. The final doubleheader of the season, Barbados will be a make-or-break weekend for drivers hoping to assert their spot at the top of the Supercar standings.

TUNE IN INFORMATION:

Sunday, October 4, 3:30PM ET on NBC and liveextra.nbcsports.com

NBC Sports will have a broadcast of this weekend’s Global Rallycross races from Bushy Park, Barbados on Sunday from 3:30-5pm ET on NBC. Fans can see it all in spectacular high definition via NBC Sports Live Extra online at NBCSports.com/LiveExtra, or through the Live Extra app on mobile, tablet and through the Apple TV or Roku connected TV devices.

TICKETS: Click here

EVENT SPOTTER GUIDE: Click here

2015 SPECTATOR GUIDE: Click here

LAST RACE: Scott Speed became the all-time Red Bull GRC wins leader with a dominant performance at the Port of Los Angeles, sweeping both main events to jump to second in points. Tanner Foust completed Volkswagen Andretti Rallycross’ first-ever 1-2 finish in the first race, while Brian Deegan chased Speed to the line in the second race for his first podium of 2015.

DRIVER CHANGES: Rhys Millen makes his return to Red Bull GRC competition as a driver for the first time since Las Vegas last year, competing in his own Hyundai Veloster. Each of the top 11 drivers in Supercar points are entered in this weekend’s event for a 12-car field.

THE TRACK: At 1.102 miles, Bushy Park Circuit plays host to the largest course in Red Bull GRC history this weekend. The layout includes two new passing zones on the backside of the course, as well as a new camelback jump that will see drivers hit two jumps of different surfaces in quick succession. Click here for more information on the track.

CHAMPIONSHIP DO-OR-DIE TIME: The top nine drivers in Supercar points remain mathematically eligible for this year’s championship, but four of them could be eliminated as early as Saturday night. Assuming each driver runs all three remaining races, the mathematical cutoff heading into Las Vegas is 53 points; any driver outside of that range on Sunday has no chance at taking this year’s crown.

DOUBLEHEADER ADDS TO CHAMPIONSHIP DRAMA: Barbados represents the fourth and final doubleheader on the 2015 Red Bull GRC schedule. With doubleheaders representing two-thirds of all available points this season, figuring out how to keep it clean during back-to-back finals is crucial; with 236 points scored in doubleheaders this year, no Supercar driver has done a better job of that than Scott Speed. Sebastian Eriksson ranks second with 213 points scored in doubleheader events.

RACE-WINNING VEHICLES RETURN TO SUPERCAR GRID: Two vehicles that combined for three Supercar final wins in 2014 will return to the hands of their race-winning drivers at Bushy Park. Rhys Millen makes his 2015 Red Bull GRC debut in the Hyundai Veloster that he used to take victories in Daytona and Los Angeles II last year, while Sverre Isachsen returns to the 2014-spec Subaru WRX STI that gave Subaru Rally Team USA its first Red Bull GRC victory in Seattle just over a year ago.

QUOTES: A selection of quotes in advance of this weekend’s Red Bull Global Rallycross Barbados:

Joni Wiman, #31 Red Bull Olsbergs MSE Ford Fiesta ST: “This was definitely the place I liked the most last year, and the track was also really good. Now, it’s even better—I would say it’s easily the best track so far, and I’m really looking forward to it. It’s got a lot of tarmac, some gravel, but the tarmac is something I like. I think if I get a good start to the weekend, get a good feeling, which I should get looking at this place, I can be there at the top. I have to be there—I would say I would have to almost be winning both races to have a shot to be in the top three in the championship. That’s what I’m trying to do, but it’s not going to be easy, because there are a lot of fast guys out here.”

Sverre Isachsen, #11 Subaru Rally Team USA WRX STI: “Los Angeles was a big weekend for us—STI was the sponsor of the race, and of course we wanted to prove something. We rebuilt the car before the race, did some testing, and we were fourth in the first race, which was the best finish for us this year. We put together the old car for this race, and I love this car. Last year Nelson and I had a crazy race here with it, and it was good for the public. Right now I’m feeling good with this car, we’re prepared for racing, and we’re prepared to fight.”

Rhys Millen, #67 Rhys Millen Racing Hyundai Veloster: “Barbados has more opportunities to pass, it has more lines to check someone out to pass, and it was a track I really enjoyed in the 2014 championship. It was also an opportunity to bring the Supercar out and showcase it and its speed, and see where they stack up against the competition. Brian Wong did a fantastic job in Los Angeles, and what it exposed to the team is that the car is still capable of producing the goods. He qualified nine tenths off of pole against guys who have been doing this all season; I’d like to think that, given my time in the car, we as a team and myself as a driver will be able to find the majority of that, which would put that car in a top three sort of placing.”

In tears after the Indianapolis 500, Santino Ferrucci is proud of his third-place finish

By Jun 1, 2023, 7:00 AM EDT
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INDIANAPOLIS – Santino Ferrucci was in tears after last Sunday’s 107th Indy 500.

The AJ Foyt Racing driver from Woodbury, Connecticut had just driven the best race of his career, only to have the final yellow flag of the race fly just a second or two before he would have been in position for the win.

The field had just been given the green flag with four laps to go and Ferrucci was charging in the No. 14 Chevrolet into Turn 1, about to pass both Josef Newgarden for second place, which would have put him in prime position to draft past Marcus Ericsson for the victory.

JOSEF’S FAMILY TIES: Newgarden wins Indy 500 with wisdom of father, wife

But IndyCar race control issued the third red flag stoppage in the final 15 laps of the race and with Ferrucci 2 inches behind Newgarden’s Chevrolet, he was lined up third.

When IndyCar had the remaining drivers refire the engines for three-quarters of a lap behind the Pace Car followed by a one-lap green and white flag dash to the finish, Ferrucci knew there was little he could do to get past the front two cars.

Newgarden passed Ericsson on the backstretch and went on to take the checkered flag for his first Indianapolis 500 victory. Ericsson was just 0.0974-of-a-second away from winning the Indy 500 for the second year in a row and Ferrucci was 0.5273-of-a-second away from winning his first career NTT IndyCar Series race.

It was a fantastic effort for Ferrucci, but to come so close to winning the biggest race in the world, the kid from Connecticut was heartbroken.

“We were so good this month,” Ferrucci told NBC Sports after climbing out of his car. “When you are that fast all month long, you just want it that much more. The way we did everything to finish the race under green, it’s great for the fans, IndyCar did the right thing, but sometimes it’s a tough pill to swallow restarting third like that when you are really second.

“It’s all timing and scoring. That doesn’t lie. If it says we are third, we are third. It’s very bittersweet.”

When Ericsson and Newgarden were both “Unleashing the Dragon” with the draft-breaking zigzag moves at the end of the race, Ferrucci admitted he was hoping it would play into his favor if those two made contact ahead of him.

“I was hoping and praying because when you are third, that’s all you can do – hope and pray,” Ferrucci said.

His prayers were not answered, but his determination to win the Indianapolis 500 remains undeterred.

He has never finished outside of the top 10 in the Indianapolis 500. Ferrucci was seventh as a rookie in 2019, fourth in 2020, sixth in 2021, 10th last year and third this past Sunday.

“I love this place,” the driver said. “I love coming here. I’m always so comfortable in the race. We are good at avoiding all of the accidents that happened in front of us.

“We will win it eventually. We have to.”

Ferrucci has proven he likes to rise to the big moments.

“I like the pressure,” he said. “We do well under pressure.

“But you have to take third, sometimes.

“We had a really good shot at winning this race. We made the most of it.”

Ferrucci continues to display the uncanny knack for racing hard and avoiding trouble. When he took the lead in the No. 14 car made famous by his team owner, legendary four-time Indianapolis 500 winner AJ Foyt, many of the fans in the crowd of 330,000 roared with approval.

Ferrucci was in front for 11 laps and was in prime position to pounce at the end, before the final 15 laps brought out red flag fever.

Because of that, and the timing of where he was when the last yellow light came on before the final red, put him in a difficult position to win the race.

“It’s just emotional, bittersweet,” he said. “It was emotional getting in the car, which was kind of strange because you feel like there’s a lot of people that really want this, the team really wants this.

“We worked so hard to be where we were. We ran out front all day long. It’s definitely one of the more difficult races that I’ve probably ever run, and just we also knew that we had a really good car.

“We got really close with Felix Rosenqvist when he was wrecking so very thankful, we were able to avoid that. And then yeah, coming to the end, I think on the second to final restart, me and Marcus battling it into 1, and obviously it going red when it did, it’s part of this place, it’s part of racing, it’s part of the Speedway.

“I’m just bummed. I’m sure Marcus Ericsson thinks the same thing I do.

“All three of us could have won it at any point in time.

“Yeah, it’s bittersweet.”

A few days have passed since Ferrucci was crying when he got out of the race car. He celebrated his birthday on Wednesday by mowing his lawn after a 12-hour drive back to his home in Texas. On Thursday morning, he flies to Detroit to get ready for this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of downtown Detroit.

It has given him a chance to reflect on the biggest weekend of his career.

“Everybody saw on national television I was basically crying,” Ferrucci said. “It’s just one of those competitor things in you that there was so much riding on that race, and it was going so well up until that — it finished really well.

“It wasn’t just pressure to perform but emotional pressure to just be there and to know that we probably had that race won, had it gone yellow two seconds later, it’s just kind of heartbreaking. But still, at the end of the day, you come home in third, to join Helio Castroneves and one other driver, (Harry Hartz, who finished second, second, fourth, fourth and second from 1922-1926), in five of your first five starts in top 10s. And, then you really start to look at what you’ve accomplished at the 500 in your first five starts with four different teams and what you did with A.J. Foyt — what we’ve done at AJ Foyt Racing, who hasn’t had a podium or top 3 since the year 2000 at the Speedway.

“There are so many positives, and that day could have been so much worse. We had so many close calls between pit lane and some of the crashes on track that at the end of the day I was just really, really happy.

“I went to bed that night knowing that I did the best I could, the team did the best they could, and that’s the track.”

Ferrucci stressed that he didn’t have a problem with IndyCar race control doing everything in their power to make sure the race finished the distance under green.

“The way that IndyCar finished under green was 100 percent correct for the fans,” Ferrucci said. “It didn’t affect anything for me. What affected me wasn’t the red, it was the yellow.

“The second it went yellow, had it gone yellow two seconds later had they waited, which you can’t wait when you’re crashing, so there’s nothing you can do, I was in third, I was about 6 inches behind Newgarden, and that’s very clear in the video.

“At the end of the day, nothing changed for me. The fact that they actually went red and restarted the race gave me that opportunity to win again. I just didn’t have a great restart because it’s chaotic when you just go. You’ve got to also remember there’s no restart zone.

“At that point when you’re going green for one lap, it was really cool to see the shootout, I’m not going to lie, but you know that they’re going green, so you were literally at the hands of the leader on a completely random — you could start going into 3 in the middle of 3 and 4 out of 4. He could start the race whenever he wanted to start the race instead of in the zone, so it was completely unpredictable.

“(Ericsson) had a really good jump, and I did not. That’s what took me out of the win at the end of the race. It had nothing to do with IndyCar or the red in my opinion.”

Ferrucci and rookie teammate Benjamin Pedersen helped put a smile on 88-year-old AJ Foyt’s face in what started as the one of the saddest months of Foyt’s life after his wife of 68 years, Lucy, died.

Foyt returned to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway dealing with grief, but for the past three weeks, he was able to see his racing team return to prominence.

“I think he was really proud,” Ferrucci said of Foyt. “There’s truly two people that understood my emotions and felt my emotions on Sunday. A.J. was one, and Michael Cannon (his engineer) was the other.

“If you look at some of the photos from that day, you can kind of see it in my eyes, just — you really have to have it in your hands and then lose it in your hands to kind of understand that feeling of when you work that hard. You have to understand you’re coming from a team with two cars, a budget that’s a quarter of the size of Penske and Ganassi, and that’s all month long. We wanted it probably that much more than everybody else that day.

“To come up that short, A.J.’s finished second and third on dominant days in the ’70s, and he talked about those races, where we had the car to win. We were by far the best car at the end of that race. Once the Team McLarens were out of it and the 10 car and the 21 had the incident in pit lane, that left us.

“We were the car to win, and yeah, just sitting third knowing there’s nothing you can do, after all that hard work, yeah, it’s a feeling that very few people would understand.

“But he was incredibly proud of I think what the organization accomplished. I’m very proud of Larry and what Larry Foyt has done with the team because Larry has had control of this team since 2007, and to see him get his first podium as a team boss and team owner at the speedway was huge.

“I think everybody was incredibly proud of what we’ve accomplished.”

Follow Bruce Martin on Twitter at @BruceMartin_500