Josef Newgarden’s had a moderately superb yr which kicked off with an total victory on the Rolex 24 At Daytona within the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 hybrid GTP and was complemented by his second consecutive win on the Indianapolis 500 within the No. 2 Chevy for Workforce Penske.
The Tennessean additionally signed a brand new multi-year contract with Penske that can maintain him within the NTT IndyCar Collection for fairly a while, and together with his open-wheel future safe, Newgarden says he’d like so as to add a constant variety of sports activities automotive outings to his annual calendar.
“I actually loved going to Daytona, I’ve loved going to Petit Le Mans; that was a very nice expertise,” Newgarden advised RACER. “I appreciated attending to drive with a number of drivers I drove with, notably Felipe [Nasr]. He was only a nice teammate and it was a novel perspective for me at Daytona, as a result of in numerous methods, that win had nothing to do with me, and it was enjoyable to observe another person of their setting excel and to oddly be part of it, however extra so simply watching from a distance. It was actually cool.
“I used to be actually happy with him, Matt Campbell as nicely; he made an enormous distinction, in addition to Dane Cameron and the entire group. It was enjoyable for me; it’s a special sort of feeling. You’re very singular in IndyCar, and in sports activities automobiles, whenever you’re not the lead man and it’s not all as much as you and also you’re simply supporting it, it’s enjoyable to see different individuals excel at their craft. I’m grateful I had that chance and I’d like to have much more. I feel I can do a very good job in sports activities automobiles. It’s not my most important bread and butter, however I need to do extra sooner or later.”
The 2-time IndyCar champion additionally credit his time within the hybrid 963 prototype final yr at Highway Atlanta throughout the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans occasion and once more in January at Daytona with bettering his driving expertise.
Newgarden was a part of Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 24 Hours of Daytona-winning line-up in February. Jake Galstad/Motorsport Photographs
“It’s a really troublesome automotive to drive, and what I imply is it’s not a Porsche trait; the GTP components could be very troublesome,” he stated. “It’s enjoyable, as a result of it’s difficult. I truly felt prefer it made me a greater IndyCar driver. I genuinely was loving the chance once I was testing and getting the prospect to run within the race. You realize, it challenges you to rethink what you do, what your procedures are as a driver. However then additionally, you may’t simply be on autopilot driving the automotive. And I really feel like driving in IndyCar for 12 years, you get on autopilot for what works for you.
“You realize for those who’re actually good driving sure ways in which the IndyCar likes, and what you might want to do. You would get lazy in some methods. And I felt just like the Porsche taught me to not be lazy, which was very nice.”
The 680 mixed horsepower from Porsche’s 4.6-liter twin-turbo V8 motor and its battery-based power restoration system additionally proved to be helpful and intriguing to the winner of 31 IndyCar races.
“You get to drive numerous energy,” Newgarden stated. “That’s what I seen in regards to the 963. It goes down the straight and it doesn’t cease. That was essentially the most thrilling a part of it. It’s nice to have all of the changes obtainable to you within the cockpit. When you may have a problem, you may have one thing to counter it, and it actually expands you as a driver.
“You’ve obtained to be considering on a regular basis with the group requesting issues; they’re continuously throwing stuff at you. It’s not simply pure driving. You’ve obtained to be an astronaut, taking all of the instructions and performing on them. You’re all the time doing stuff; it’s like enjoying chess and also you’re very, very busy. However it’s very enjoyable. I hope I get to do some extra of these quickly.”
