Romain Grosjean optimistic before leaving for Saint Louis: “I love ovals! »

The 18th location of Romain Grosjean (Andretti) in view of the Saint Louis Grand Prix contested on the oval of the World Wide Technology Raceway is a trompe l'oeil performance. The Frenchman stood out as the fastest driver from the Andretti clan in qualifying on Friday August 19.

On the trail of his debut in this type of competition in IndyCar, the former pilot of Formula 1 established the ninth best average speed, just behind a double winner of the Indianapolis 500 (Takuma Sato) or in front of his compatriot simon pagenaud (Meyer Shank Racing, 14th). In other words, Romain Grosjean has nothing to envy of the oval specialists in this session. If he fell nine places, it was due to a penalty linked to a non-regulatory change to the Honda V6 turbo engine before the weekend.

“It’s something to drive on an oval, enthuses Romain Grosjean. It's quite intense. It's all about the level of confidence you can have behind the wheel, because you have to push the car to its limits over two flying laps. »

“We took the risk of disengaging the front wing, so there was a bit of understeer in the car. I think my team did a good job today. Ovals are still new to me, but I love them. »

The Tricolore wears the colors this weekend Napa, a sponsor he shares with his future ex-teammate Alexander Red. The Californian is on his way to Arrow McLaren MS and had clung to Mid-Ohio in early July with Romain Grosjean, causing black anger from the former Lotus driver and Haas. The two men seem to have patched things up:

Always knew @AlexanderRossi loves a good cuddle @theNAPAnetwork pic.twitter.com/JFcMLgd8N8

- Romain Grosjean (@RGrosjean) August 19

The start of the Saint Louis Grand Prix is ​​set for 00:25 a.m. on the night of Saturday to Sunday August 21.

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