Felix Rosenqvist scored a top five finish in this weekend’s Harvest GP at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the penultimate round of the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
Rosenqvist took away fifth place from the first race of the double-header event at the IMS road course, having looked on track for a podium before getting caught up in lapped traffic in the closing stages.
In the concluding Race 2, staged on Saturday, Rosenqvist then had to make do with 11th after dropping down the order on a muddled first lap – which included the Swede getting hit side on. He later also made contact with Foyt Racing’s Charlie Kimball.
Rosenqvist headed the three-car Chip Ganassi Racing assault in both of the weekend’s qualifying sessions, and again in Race 1, but was left largely disappointed with the overall outcome on a challenging weekend for the multiple series champions – who still lead the title race with experienced Scott Dixon heading into the INDYCAR finale.
“Not the weekend we were hoping for,” says Felix Rosenqvist. “Race 1 was OK. We could probably have scored a podium there if we’d been a bit more fortunate with traffic, but “probably” is rarely good enough.
“In Race 2, I got dive-bombed at the start and dropped four or five places, rejoining behind Scott. Obviously, we didn’t want to fight him. Pretty much the whole race went away there because that was supposed to be our good stint with the new reds (soft tyres).”
Rosenqvist does take a number of positives away from the weekend, however, notably lapping just a tenth shy of pole position in first qualifying.
“We had the potential for pole in Qualifying 1 with the NTT DATA car, so that was comforting,” Felix Rosenqvist concludes. “I think that was our most promising qualifying performance on a road course all year. I felt like I maximised the car in the second qualifying session, too, so on that end I’m pretty pleased with my performance. We just need to find a bit more pace overall.”
The final round of the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season takes place on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, on October 23-25.
RESULTS
NTT INDYCAR SERIES | Rd. 12&13
Harvest GP at Indianapolis
Race 1
1: Josef Newgarden (USA), Penske, 85 laps
2: Alexander Rossi (USA), Andretti, +14.294s
3: Rinus VeeKay (NED), ECR, +15.037s
4: Colton Herta (USA), Andretti, +17.395s
5: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), Ganassi, +18.458s
Race 2
1: Will Power (AUS), Penske, 75 laps
2: Colton Herta (USA), Andretti, +0.893s
3: Alexander Rossi (USA), Andretti, +6.190s
4: Josef Newgarden (USA), Penske, +9.588s
5: Pato O’Ward (MEX), McLaren SP, +10.077s
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11: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), Ganassi, +39.442s
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
NTT INDYCAR SERIES | After 13/14 races
1: Scott Dixon (NZL), Ganassi, 502 p.
2: Josef Newgarden (USA), Penske, 470 p.
3: Colton Herta (USA), Andretti, 401 p.
4: Will Power (AUS), Penske, 388 p.
5: Pato O’Ward (MEX), McLaren SP, 376 p.
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10: Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), Ganassi, 294 p.