Larry Foyt, President of AJ Foyt Racing says he feels that both the No.4 Chevrolet and No.14 Chevrolet teams did a good job in the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Sunday.
AJ Foyt Racing as Lary explains has a new driver in David Malukas and has new people in new places.
It’s good to get one under our belt,” said Foyt. “Obviously, we have a lot of new people on the team, one new driver, so everybody’s learning about each other. Given that, the first race can be difficult, but I thought both teams did a good job. I think we might have left a little bit on the table today but I’m encouraged by the pace we had. Both drivers are very excited about the potential this team has for this year–I think we have great crews and great engineering. It was not our weekend this time, but there will definitely be weekends this year where we turn some heads. I believe it’s going to go upward from here.”
In his first race for the team, David Malukas in the No.4 Chevrolet started the race from 17th and came home in 13th place and speaking following the action he said:
Overall, a lot of positives to take out of that race. Very good race for us. We had a little issue with the pit stop at the end there that took us out of the top-10. Overall, our race was incredible. We just kept going forward. The green tires, which was a big question mark for all the drivers on it having a lot of pace. I think, for us we managed to do a full stint and even did an extra few laps. The car was really good. The team is doing a good job. To start off the first race like that, to capitalize on my mistakes from quali, we finished off with a P13. It’s a very good, decent result to start the season off and looking for better results to come.”
Santino Ferrucci in the No.14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet started the race from 19th place and came through the opening lap caution to finish the race just behind Malukas in 14th.
Solid first weekend back. Wished the result was a little bit better for us. I think we were just struggling with the balance all weekend, and getting a bunch of things sorted. Qualifying kind of hurt us with the electrical problem, but that’s also nobody’s fault. That was just a freak. Just keep on learning from this event, and a lot of notes to be taken and move forward to Thermal. My guys gave me good pitstops even though I went long on the first and short on the second. They adjusted for those so we didn’t lose time. Third time was the charm as I got it right, so everyone was on point.”