Sonoma, CA (September 13, 2018) – The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season comes to a close this weekend at Sonoma Raceway and Dale Coyne Racing rookies, Pietro Fittipaldi and Santino Ferrucci, are both hoping for a strong finish to end the season.
Fittipaldi is carrying a wave of momentum aboard his #19 Paysafe machine. The rookie picked up his best finish of the season two weeks ago at Portland after taking the checkered flag in ninth place and he registered his best oval result at Gateway Motorsports Park the weekend prior after placing 11th. Fittipaldi, who will be making his sixth start of the season at Sonoma, had the opportunity to test with the team at the 2.385-mile, 12-turn road course earlier this year.
Ferrucci will be making his first visit to Sonoma Raceway. The driver of the #39 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda put in an impressive performance at the previous round in Portland and was on his way to a possible seventh place finish before a fuel system issue sent him to the back of the field. The rookie will be making his fourth Verizon IndyCar Series start this weekend.
He and Fittipaldi are taking part in a private test session on Thursday, ahead of official practice which gets underway on Friday, September 14.
The three-round qualifying for the final race of the season will take place on Saturday, September 15 from 3pm local time (6pm ET) and will be broadcast on a same day delay starting at 8pm ET on NBCSN.
The INDYCAR Grand Prix of Sonoma will be broadcast live on NBCSN from 3:30pm local time (6:30pm ET) with the final green flag of the season scheduled for 3:40pm local time. The race can also be heard live on the Advance Auto Parts IndyCar Radio Network, including SIRIUS/XM 209/214.
All practice sessions and qualifying, with the except of Practice 2, will be streamed live on racecontrol.indycar.com. Practice 2 will air live on NBCSN at 6pm ET on Friday, September 14.
What they have to say:
Pietro Fittipaldi – #19 Paysafe Honda
“I obviously want to keep the momentum going at Sonoma. We had a good weekend at Gateway and then again at Portland and hopefully we can have another good one at Sonoma to end the season. We tested there in February and it went really well. The #19 Paysafe car was strong but the conditions were very different from what it will be this week. It was a cold track back then and now it’s going to be a lot warmer. But, again, we’re coming off of two strong race weekends, the car has been consistently fast so I’m looking forward to this weekend. I’m recovering every week, I’m getting better every weekend that I’m back in the car, I’m getting stronger and faster, so I’m happy with that. We just have to keep it going.”
Santino Ferrucci – #39 Cly-Del Manufacturing
“I’ve never been to Sonoma, so fortunately we have the test day on Thursday. The extra track time should be beneficial in helping me get up to speed In our #39 Cly-Del Manufacturing car before official practice starts on Friday. I’m feeling confident heading into the weekend. We ran really strong in Portland and I think we can do the same thing in Sonoma. I know the track layout is fast, it’s very technical and I’m grateful to have a teammate like Sebastien (Bourdais) who I’m sure will be a huge help once again, especially on the test day.”
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