New IndyCar a “step closer” to Indy Lights, says rookie Leist

Despite being new to the Lights series last year, Leist scored three wins and two pole positions on his way to fourth in the championship, and believes that experience will carry over well as he graduates to IndyCar.

The Brazilian had completed half a day of testing in Andretti Autosport’s previous-gen IndyCar at Road America last year, but after running 131 laps for Foyt at Sebring on Wednesday and Thursday this week, he stated that the 2018 cars are “a step closer” to the Indy Lights Dallara IL15.

Said Leist: “The older aero kit just had so much downforce that it would probably take me quite a lot of time to get used to that. This new aerokit is something that won’t take as much time for me [to adapt to], because it is that much closer to the Indy Lights car.

“I’m already feeling comfortable with this Indy car. The biggest difference is the brakes. The Indy car has the carbon brakes which is a huge difference for me.

“Everything is pretty much brand new for me,” he went on. “The car is new, the tires are new, I’ve never done any test with red tires, never done pit stops, never raced for two hours, and the list goes on. There’s so many things, it’s difficult to say what I expect for the first race but I’m sure by mid-season it’ll be alright. I’m not putting a lot of pressure on myself for the first couple of races, I’m just trying to get as much information as I can from the Tony, A.J. and the whole team.”

In what was AJ Foyt Racing’s first two-car test with the new aerokits, team newcomer but IndyCar veteran Kanaan ran 146 laps, and described the test as “very productive.”

The 2004 champion and 2013 Indy 500 winner went on: “There was a lot of damper work to be done, a lot of small aero things, and with the new electronics package, it was good that we had these two days to sort out all the problems with the two cars.

“We have a few days of testing the next couple of weeks – Sonoma [Feb. 5] and then the Phoenix Open Test [Feb. 9-10]. So we needed to make sure that everything works properly. I’m pretty happy.”

Team president Larry Foyt stated: “We made a lot of progress. Day 1 was our first experience with the new electronics – that was surely a patience tester – but the team and drivers did a great job checking off each box and getting everything running smoothly by the afternoon.

“From there, Tony was a workhorse and had to run through a great deal of changes and items we were validating from our offseason testing.

“For Matheus it was more about getting laps and experience than changes. He did an excellent job and got up to speed very quickly. Both cars were turning good laps by the end of the test on Thursday, so I’d say it was a job well done.”

The legendary A.J. Foyt, team owner, said: “I thought with having new drivers, new engineers, new mechanics and new cars, everyone and everything worked really good together so I couldn’t ask for a better test.”