IndyCar: Felix Rosenqvist dedicated to the process of going fast - MotorSportsTalk

Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon climbed behind the wheel of a pair of Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas last Monday. It was the first official test for the 24-year-old Swedish racer since being named to drive the No. 10 car for the organization.

While it was the first time testing as a member of the organization, Rosenqvist made two previous tests while racing in the Indy Lights Series.

“(Monday’s test) was great because we got to do a full day of testing with Felix,” Mike Hull, managing director of CGR said at IndyCar.com. “The other two tests were Indy Lights split days (with Rosenqvist in the car a half-day each time). The test was good. We had both Felix and Scott testing because it is one of our three offseason team test days.”

Rosenqvist raced in Indy Lights in 2016, wining three times in 10 races (St Petersburg and both Toronto races). His best finish at Barber that year was eighth.

That same season, Rosenqvist also competed in the ABB Formula E Series, winning in Berlin. He won twice more the following year at Hong Kong and Marrakesh.

“The pathway each of them was on was slightly different,” Hull said. “Felix is learning about Indy car racing and Scott is learning about how far we have come in the last year at Barber. They tested a lot of the same things. They were able to compare a lot of setup things during the day. I think it was a worthwhile test. The weather didn’t get in our way, which was nice. We got a lot accomplished.

Hull credited Rosenqvist for his feedback to engineering director Julian Robertson. Describing the process as one in which driver and team work toward finding a direction as much as raw speed, it is often as much about finding things that slows the car. Rosenqvist’s dedication to the process is what will make him successful, according to Hull.

“He knows what he would like the car to do and Julian gave him what he wanted, and he worked to get the most out of it and that is what you want,” Hull said.

In addition to the 17-race IndyCar schedule, Rosenqvist will also compete in Formula E, Super GT and Porsche Supercup.

INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports