Stefan Wilson made his first appearance at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an IndyCar on Monday as practice for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 got underway.
Driving the #25 KV Racing Technology entry, Wilson took to the track in the two-hour rookie orientation session on Monday, and in that time completed two of the three necessary phases as he acclimatised himself to the 2.5-mile oval.
“It was amazing to be out at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway driving an Indy car for the first time and just a big learning curve,” said Wilson. “It was great to get through phases 1 and 2 of rookie orientation and so we could focus on phase 3 in the afternoon.
“After all the anticipation that was building up for this first time, these first laps, it’s great to get out there and just feel it out and know what I’m dealing with the rest of the week.
“It was really tough because you have to stay within that speed window, you’ve got the speed on your dash the current speed so you’re just trying to figure out what you need to do to stay in those windows – trying to lift off the gas and accelerate to try and stay in that window.
“It was the first time I had to do math and try and drive a car at the same time, so I’m looking forward to letting loose and driving the car without worrying about staying under a certain speed.”
Wilson returned to the track once the track became live for first practice, and was able to complete his rookie orientation phase three, meaning he is good to go for the remainder of the event, and will now look to find speed in the #25 car. His best time of 40.5393s saw him finish twenty-eighth fastest.
“I felt pretty good, we had a goal of getting through ROP today, all three phases and we were able to achieve that,” said Wilson. “The goal was to get as many laps as possible and get comfortable and just get a good solid data reference for the rest of the week.
“I feel like we achieved all of those goals and we can sleep on it tonight, come back tomorrow or Wednesday depending on the weather and start from the point onward. It was a lot of fun.”
