Indianapolis, IN (May 11, 2019) – Dale Coyne Racing rookie Santino Ferrucci picked up his second NTT IndyCar Series top ten finish on Saturday at the INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in what was a mix of dry and wet weather.
The race started out in dry conditions under cloudy skies with Ferrucci climbing up to 12th from his 14th place on the starting grid. With cars pitting ahead of him, the rookie climbed as high as fifth before making his first trip to pit lane on Lap 28.
While there was a bit of a drizzle over the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course during his second stint, Ferrucci and his engineers elected to continue with slick tires when he headed back to pit lane on Lap 51 for his second pit stop.
However, a dozen of laps later the rain picked up and the rookie returned to pit lane from third place, for a fresh set of rain tires while under a caution period.
When the race returned to green on Lap 69, the driver of the #19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda was sitting eighth. However, having never raced in the rain aboard an Indy car, the rookie took a few laps to acclimate himself to the new conditions but lost a couple of positions along the way.
Ferrucci then held his own, keeping his teammate Sebastien Bourdais at bay and went on to cross the finish line in 10th place.
“I can’t complain with a tenth-place finish today. Our engineers did a solid job. We had a heck of a race car,” expressed Ferrucci. “We were so fast on the Firestone Reds, especially the sticker reds right before it started to rain. We had the grip, we were hooked up. Then the heavier rain came, and we put the rain tires on. I don’t have any experience in this car in the rain, so it took me a little while to figure out how to drive it. By that point it was a little too late, but we held off our teammate. He gave us a good run for our money and I’m happy to bring our #19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda home in tenth.”
There won’t be much time to rest for the Dale Coyne Racing crew as they’ll be back at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, May 13. The team will be preparing for oval track practice which kicks off Indianapolis 500 activities on Tuesday, May 14.
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