IndyCar – Tristan Vautier lacking success

Unvarnished Tristan Vautier at Mid-Ohio, on the occasion of the 14th round of theIndyCar Series. And yet, he had started his weekend in the best way possible. “I felt good going into the qualifiers” admits the French rookie. 4th in his group, he managed to progress brilliantly into Q2. “I knew I had to take some risks, because we lacked a little rhythm in the first phase of qualifying to hope to enter the top 6 and compete in the final phase, He continues. I attacked hard and made a mistake on my 3rd lap which damaged an aerodynamic element a little. This handicapped me in the last timed lap. I finished in 11th place. However, I was not too disappointed considering the difficulty of this track. And I think it would have been difficult to get through the six. »

On a track in Lexington that he discovered, the Grenoblois could be satisfied. At the edge of the top 10, a good result was within his reach. Alas, bad luck struck the Schmidt Peterson Motorsport resident the next morning, during the warm-up. “On the fourth lap, I heard a big metallic noise in the engine, He says. The back of my car was on fire. The engine had broken, the oil spilled everywhere and I was forced to park in the grass. » A mishap with serious consequences which resulted in a change of V6 and therefore a penalty of 10 places on the starting grid, dropping him to 21st position. A severe sanction as the Mid-Ohio track is not very conducive to overtaking.

With three stops on the schedule, the decision was made to stop it quickly in order to have a clear track. “The goal was to achieve very consistent times in order to be able to find ourselves in front of part of the peloton after their first stop, explains the main person concerned. But this strategy did not pay off, because the fuel consumption calculation was based on the initial engine. But the change has led to greater consumption. In fact, the calibration was not the same because the gasoline mixture adopted when the engine is new is richer and consumes more. » And here he is forced to save fuel to avoid an additional passage through the pit lane. “I was forced to run on the maximum economy engine map and let go of the throttle very early for the rest of the race, continues Tristan. I knew at that moment that I could hope for nothing more and that I was going to lose ground until the end. The race was getting long, I wasn't fighting with anyone. The only positive point is that I learned to save gas! It's disappointing, between the broken engine, the penalty that goes with it and an inappropriate strategy we have a feeling of frustration. The Top 10 was really within our reach. »

By joining the major single-seater championship across the Atlantic, Tristan Vautier was well aware that he was going to experience a complicated season. But the Grenoblois is tenacious, not the type to give up. He has the talent. All he needs is a bit of success to achieve this big, long-awaited result. Let's hope that the latter finally deigns to get on his side during the next round, in Sonoma (California) on August 25.