Surprising Felix Rosenqvist Wants 100th Career Start to Jump Start IndyCar Hopes

• Rosenqvist says he’ll “keep knocking on door” in quest for his second career IndyCar win.

• Chip Ganassi Racing legend Scott Dixon looking for first victory at Barber Motorsports Park in 15th attempt.

• Team Penske trio has been dominant force on 2.3-mile, 17-turn circuit.

The signs might not point to it at first glance, but NTT IndyCar Series driver Felix Rosenqvist could be on the cusp of a breakout, starting with this weekend’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park.

He’s fourth in the standings.

His No. 60 Sirius Meyer Shank Racing Honda ended up crumpled in the back of the hauler when he finished his most recent visit to the 2.3-mile road course at Birmingham. Rosenqvist hit the Turn 1 wall during an afternoon test session in March.

“It’s just a test,” he said. “Testing is testing, and racing is racing. It’s nothing that really discourages us going into the weekend. We had a similar thing last year [and] it was actually our strongest race of the year. That’s the thing in IndyCar – Things evolve and change all the time: the weather, the track, and the tires, competitors, things just always moving, evolving.

I don’t really think about that test at all, to be honest.”

And Rosenqvist has just one victory (July 2020, Road America) since he entered the series in 2019 and earned Rookie of the Year honors.

But buoyed by the chance to make his 100th start in the series and hoping to build on three straight top-10 finishes, Rosenqvist is confident he can forge all the elements necessary for a championship run.

“I’m not going to tell you that I’m going to go and win Barber,” he said, but allowed that “there’s nothing really saying we couldn’t. I think we’re getting stronger and stronger every race. I think we’re definitely now a podium contender consistently. I think it’s going to come. Just going to keep doing what we’re doing.”

And that conviction comes in part from seeing Andretti Global driver Kyle Kirkwood at Long Beach halt reigning and three-time champion Alex Palou’s domination.

Palou still leads Kirkwood in points by 34, but that doesn’t faze Rosenqvist. Neither does the fact that Team Penske has ruled at Barber—Scott McLaughlin has won the past two races on the picturesque 17-turn circuit, Josef Newgarden has won there three times, and their teammate Will Power has won twice and earned the pole position four times in eight visits (2010-17).

Nor is Rosenqvist intimidated by Scott Dixon, who has nine podium finishes, including six runner-ups; is taking a crack at his 343rd consecutive start, the second-longest streak in series history (behind Mario Andretti’s 407); and longing for a first victory in a 15th start.

“Our approach is if you keep knocking on the door, keep qualifying well, having good race pace, it’s going to come to us—not only a podium, but I think also a win at some point.

We’re not really rushing into getting a big result or anything. We just kind of want to do what we do, improve the little things we can. It’s going to come to us when the moment is there,” Rosenqvist said.

“I think, honestly, every weekend now it seems like we have a good shot at a good result. I think Barber is always a bit of a tricky one. It’s one of those tracks you never really know what you’re going to get when you show up.”

Engineer Ross Bunnell has played a significant role in Rosenqvist’s surge threat.

“If I could only bring one guy to the track with me and the car, I would definitely pick him,” the 33-year-old Swede said, “because he’s not only a great engineer, but he has a very good mechanical knowledge, team-leader knowledge. He knows how to talk to people and to motivate people. He takes no shit. He stands up for himself, stands up for the team, for our car. I like that. He’s a good guy to have in your corner. He has pushed me a lot with his knowledge. We sat down in the winter.”

And he asked Bunnell, “Especially in the races, how do we improve, and can you help us with your experience, especially working with Dixon for many years?”

Rosenqvist said, “He has really pushed us in many areas He kind of has that personality where he wakes up every day and just pushes very hard. He pushes people around him, which has given a lot of results already on our group, which is super-cool. We are kind of just getting started. We’re starting to talk the same language now. There’s always that thing when you have a new engineer, it takes some time to kind of understand what you mean, your mood swings, whatnot. You have to be more like a psychologist more than anything when you’re an engineer. I feel like we’re vibing really good and have a good thing going on.”

His milestone, he said, “kind of brings you back a little bit to when you were a kid and you were dreaming about driving in IndyCar, racing in one of the top leagues of the world. Now, it’s been like a fast-forward – 100 is a big number. That’s a lot of hours in the car (smiling). No, it’s cool. It’s nothing that I take for granted. I think it’s literally the coolest job in the world you can have. It’s also nice that I feel actually better than ever in the series, as well. Exciting stuff.

“I think the biggest memories are probably to come,” Rosenqvist said.

And he’s hoping they start this weekend at Barber Motorsports Park.

INDY INSIGHTS

Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Alabama’s Barber Motorsports Park

Race duration: 90 laps / 207 miles

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time, with a maximum single duration of 20 seconds. Push-to-pass is not available on the initial start or any restart unless it occurs in the final two laps or three minutes of a timed race.

Hybrid energy deployment parameters: Unlimited activation, with a maximum deployment of 385 kilojoules (kj) per lap

Firestone tire allotment: Five sets primary (hard) and five sets alternate (soft) to be used during the event weekend. Teams fielding a rookie driver may use one additional set of primary tires in the first practice session. Teams must use one set of primary and one set of new (sticker) alternate tires for at least two laps in the race.