Will Power, driver of the No.12 Verizon Business Chevrolet says that it is not ideal to lose someone off your timing stand.
The Australian will be without his race strategist, Ron Ruzewski for both Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500 in two weeks time.
Ruzewski was one of four senior INDYCAR team members who were suspended by Roger Penske following the team’s disqualification from the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St Petersburg.
Speaking during a news conference at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday ahead of Saturday’s race on the road course when asked about having David Faustino on his stand this weekend, Power said:
No, I mean, he’s run a lot of tests and been on the radio. It will be different, yeah. He’s not used to counting me down to the box or sending me, so there will be a few things that we have to really, I guess, practice as much as we can. I think warmup is the only time we get to do that.
But we’ve raced so long together, and I’ve been at it so long, I can almost do strategy from the car, and he’s the one that basically does the strategy anyway, and Ron sort of calls the races.
Not a massive change. It will suck not having Ron. I’ve really got used to him. He’s very calming and good on the radio. That’s a pity, but that’s the way it is, and we have to do our best.
When it comes to the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on May 26, Power said:
Yeah, it’s not ideal losing someone off your stand, losing two people is definitely not ideal. We were better off with them.
But I sat down with Dave and we just said we’re going to do absolutely the best we can with what we’ve got. We’ve got very good people on the team. It is what it is. That’s the way it is, and we will do our absolute best to make the most of it.
Power currently sits in second place in championship, just one point behind Andretti Global’s Colton Herta.