SONOMA, California – In what has been a memorable season for not necessarily all the right reasons, Pietro Fittipaldi is looking to close the Verizon IndyCar Series campaign on a strong note.
Work toward that began Thursday when the Dale Coyne Racing rookie was among 11 drivers testing at Sonoma Raceway, site of Sunday’s INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma season finale.
Fittipaldi, the grandson of two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Emerson Fittipaldi, completed one of his first Indy car tests at Sonoma in February. Since then, however, his planned season was thrown into chaos when he sustained a broken right ankle and left leg in a sports car crash at Spa, Belgium.
The incident sidelined Fittipaldi, who made his Verizon IndyCar Series debut at ISM Raceway in April, for more than two months. He returned to the No. 19 Paysafe Honda in time for the final five races of the season, starting at Mid-Ohio in late July. The 22-year-old Brazilian finished in the top 10 for the first time two weeks ago in the Grand Prix of Portland, when he placed ninth.
“Back in February was like my second day in the Indy car,” Fittipaldi recalled on Thursday of that initial Sonoma test. “Now I have a couple races under my belt so I’m a lot more comfortable, I’m a lot more on pace with things.
“When I first tested this car, I was never used to having a front roll bar and a rear roll bar adjustment. In INDYCAR, you tend to do a lot of changes in the car. In Europe, you don’t tend to do that much. Now, I’m a lot more dialed into that and how everything works, and much more comfortable in the car.”
Fittipaldi said recent X-rays show the broken ankle completely healed but the left leg fracture still mending, “but it’s healing well and that’s the important part.
“Every week I’m getting better also because my leg is healing more, so I can hit the brake harder,” he added. “Still not 100 percent, unfortunately, but I know that even not being 100 percent, we can finish in the top 10.”
That said, Fittipaldi quickly added that Sonoma’s 2.385-mile permanent road course, with its tight turns and elevation changes, will place more stress on the leg than Portland International Raceway.
“It’s going to be demanding because there’s a lot more braking than Portland,” he said. “We know that, but again I’ve had another week and a half to rest it and let the bone heal more. We’ll see.”
Meanwhile, Fittipaldi’s fellow rookie teammate, Santino Ferrucci, got his first taste of Sonoma at Thursday’s test. The 20-year-old from Connecticut was awed.
“The track’s impressive,” said Ferrucci, who’ll make his fourth series start on Sunday in the No. 39 Cly-Del Honda. “I’ve never been here. Listening to all the comments on how slippery it was and experiencing it first-hand, I was kind of like, ‘Wow!’
“I almost feel like I’m in a rally car and not in an Indy car, but it’s a lot of fun. The elevation’s cool, it’s something unique. We’re enjoying it and we’re learning.”
Colton Herta, who will make his Verizon IndyCar Series debut on Sunday with Harding Racing, was also among the 11 testing on Thursday. The son of former Indy car driver and current team co-owner Bryan Herta was involved in the only incident of the day less than an hour before the test’s conclusion when he went off track in the No. 8 Harding Group Chevrolet and contacted the tire barrier.
Herta was uninjured but the car sustained significant front wing and left suspension damage. The 18-year-old runner-up in the Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires season that just ended told Motorsport.com: “I wasn’t too happy with the car in the race runs earlier in the day, but I think we sorted it out. We have a little bit to find in terms of qualifying pace, but when we were supposed to work on qualifying pace (in the final hour), I threw it off the track.
“We’d just put on new tires, but I had a little bit of a snap going into Turn 2, I rolled in a little too much speed and touched the wall. It was just enough to knock some of the (front-left) wishbones out of place. Luckily, there’s no big damage.”
Also testing on Thursday at Sonoma were all four Andretti Autosport cars and both Chip Ganassi Racing entries. That group included championship leader Scott Dixon from CGR and second-place Alexander Rossi from Andretti. Team Penske drivers Will Power and Josef Newgarden, the other remaining drivers eligible for the title, tested at Sonoma on Sept. 6.
The INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma weekend commences with a pair of practice sessions on Friday, starting at 2 and 6 p.m. ET. The first practice streams live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com, youtube.com/indycar and the INDYCAR Mobile app and will air on delay at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The second practice airs live on NBCSN.
A third practice is set for 2 p.m. ET Saturday ahead of Verizon P1 Award qualifying at 6 p.m. Both sessions stream live on RaceControl.IndyCar.com, youtube.com/indycar and the INDYCAR Mobile app, with NBCSN airing a same-day qualifying telecast at 8 p.m.
Live coverage of the 85-lap race to determine the 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series champion begins at 6:30 p.m. ET Sunday on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.