Alexander Rossi in the No.20 JavaHouse / Splenda Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet says he felt right at home as he made his on-track debut for ECR. Speaking following the test at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, Rossi said:
Felt right at home. Great first day with everyone @ecrindy. Excited for the future.
First time with the new team. How does it feel?
“It feels great. Any day at IMS, it’s hard to have a bad day here, so it’s great. It’s great to be back in the car after the season we just ended a couple of weeks ago. To be with Ed Carpenter Racing around IMS is quite a privilege. Their history around here kind of speaks for itself. Rolled out right away and felt comfortable, and we’ve already got through a good chunk of things we were trying to get through, so this afternoon will be interesting. Day one, taking it all in.”
What do you feel most differently about this hybrid car since last May?
“it’s overall slower because you have some of the weight and drag consistent in the gearbox. Apparently, it’s not a huge game changer in terms of the balance. It’ll be interesting to get into some traffic later today and see how that affects your following capability, but I don’t think it’ll be a big difference.”
You talk about the success of Ed Carpenter Racing here. What is your confidence after the baseline set, and being new to the team?
“Very confident. Like I said, we rolled out for the first run today and by turn three, it was like ‘This thing is pretty good.’ So, I feel lucky to be in that situation and to be tuning on a package that’s already at a good baseline.”
Is the team’s history the reason why it was right for you?
“It was a lot of different reasons in how this came to be, but it’s a team that obviously has had a huge amount of success here and having an added owner in Ted (Gelov), with Java House Coffee, Splenda, and Heartland Food Products Group, it’s a team that’s changing seemingly overnight, every day. We all sit down and talk about it, and it’s a new thing we’re doing. The organization is on a big upward trajectory, and there’s a lot of exciting things coming.”