BIRMINGHAM, Alabama—Spencer Pigot leads the Chevrolet charge for Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst after the Ed Carpenter Racing driver qualified sixth for the NTT IndyCar Series race. If Pigot’s past at Barber Motorsports Park is any barometer, he’ll be one to watch in the 90-lap race.
Pigot went undefeated in Road to Indy presented by Cooper Tires competition at the 2.3 mile, 17-turn natural terrain road course. By reaching the Firestone Fast Six round of qualifying on Saturday for the first time in his four-year NTT IndyCar Series career, the 25-year-old Floridian added a boost of confidence for the race.
"I really enjoy this track,” said Pigot. “A lot of fast corners, elevation change, a little bit of everything. It's always a joy to drive around here. I've had some success in the past, but you kind of reset all that when you get up to this level.”
Getting to the NTT IndyCar Series for Pigot meant traveling through the Road to Indy, the three-level, INDYCAR-sanctioned ladder system. Pigot won both Indy Pro 2000 Championship presented by Cooper Tires races at Barber in 2014 with Juncos Racing and followed with a pair of 2015 wins in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, also for Juncos. He went on to win the season championship both years as he progressed to the NTT IndyCar Series in 2016.
Pigot crept up on his speed this weekend in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet. He started the weekend 16th after Friday’s first practice session, but the 2015 Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires champion moved up to seventh in the second and sixth after the Saturday pre-qualifying practice.
“We’ve been changing throughout the weekend trying to zero in on the balance that I want,” said Pigot. “The first session was a little messy and I spun, so I think we’ve always been quicker than we showed there. Just trying to fine-tune it now and see what we can do to make it better on reds (Firestone alternate tires).”
Clearly, the changes worked in qualifying. Pigot turned the fastest lap of all 24 cars in the first round (1 minute, 8.3548 seconds; 121.133 mph) that remains the best lap of the weekend heading into the race. He was second quick in Round 2 before settling in at sixth in the decisive final round with a lap of 1:09.6074 (118.953 mph).
Pigot has a pair of 11th-place finishes to start the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series season but believes he can show more in what has been an overall positive start to his racing year.
“We want to be up there fighting for podiums and stuff,” he said. “I thought COTA (the INDYCAR Classic at Circuit of The Americas on March 24) was going pretty well, (until) we had an incident in the pits that cost us a really good finish, I think. So, for sure, it’s nice to be starting on a little bit of a better note than last year.”
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama airs live at 4 p.m. ET on NBCSN, NBCSports.com, the NBC Sports app and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.