Autoweek - January 23_ 2017 magazine-pdf.org

Clockwise, from opposite: Newgarden
tests for Team Penske at Gateway.
Top: Newgarden and Castroneves will
celebrate as teammates in ’17. Below:
Power, Pagenaud, Castroneves and
Newgarden go four wide.
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for More
INDY 500 WINNER
ALEXANDER ROSSI
RETURNS TO INDYCAR
THE LOUD SIRENS OF
Formula 1 still sound for
Alexander Rossi, but an Indianapolis
500 victory can make a
driver change lanes with earnest.
Rossi left an uncertain situation
in F1 last year to run a full season
in IndyCar, and what a season it
was. He showed progress throughout
the year driving for Andretti-
Herta Autosport, particularly on
ovals previously unknown to him.
His year spiked with an unlikely victory
in the Indianapolis 500—quite
the feather for a young Californian
with targets on F1 capitals.
Rossi, 25, returns to Andretti-
Herta this year with a full IndyCar
season under his helmet and a
Borg-Warner Trophy dominating
his hardware. With a background in
road racing, he said he now feels
somewhat adapted to ovals.
“I wouldn’t say I feel really
comfortable, but I’m OK with them,”
Rossi said. “I’ve got no real issue,
but it’s kind of a primal feeling, as if
they’re not completely second
nature. I have to think about everything
I’m doing. On the other hand,
road and street courses are like
another day at the office.
“Going back this year and
having a baseline to build from is
going to make all the tracks easier.”
Rossi has run five F1 races, with
his first start at Singapore in 2015.
He gave up a reserve spot with
the Marussia team to return to the
Andretti fold and the certainty of
a full IndyCar season.
As for an eventual return to F1,
Rossi hasn’t closed that door.
“I’m not going to forget about it,”
he said. “Right now, for my shortand
midterm future, I see myself in
IndyCar. It’s impossible to say what
might happen three to five years
from now. Right now, I want to be
successful in IndyCar and get good
results for the Andretti team.
“Indy opened a lot of doors and
provided a lot of opportunities for
my career in IndyCar that probably
wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
The (F1) world championship, to
some extent, is slightly more important,
but in some cases and some
instances, the 500 is more important
in terms of how a team considers
drivers for the future.”
In year two, look for Rossi’s star
to keep rising. -MIKE HEMBREE
Newgarden grew up in Tennessee and has lived
in Nashville and Indianapolis over the past five
years. Now he resides in Charlotte—not far from the
Penske shop, which houses the team’s IndyCar and
NASCAR operations.
And Newgarden has noticed those cars with the
closed wheels.
“Since I was a kid, it’s been all about what kind
of racing I could get into and what the opportunities
are,” he said. “Open-wheel racing has been my
biggest love. They are the coolest cars on the planet.
I’ve always loved the Indy 500 and Formula 1 racing,
but I love racing in general.
“IndyCar racing has been the bread and butter
of my career, but there are a lot of things I want to
try before I’m done.”
Might he casually approach Penske with the
idea of a stock-car test run?
“I’ll probably bug the heck out of him,”
Newgarden said.
First things first, though. A new adventure is
waiting for him. n
INDYCAR MEDIA (4); LAT PHOTOGRAPHIC
JANUARY 23, 2017 AUTOWEEK 13