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Rossi has “found his groove”, says Andretti Autosport COO

Long Beach winner Alexander Rossi’s composure under pressure is a result of his increasing confidence in his ability and that of his team, says Andretti Autosport’s COO Rob Edwards.

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda celebrates in victory lane

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda celebrates in victory lane

Scott R LePage / Motorsport Images

Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda
Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport Honda, pit stop

The new championship leader, in his third IndyCar season, dominated last weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, taking pole position by 0.35sec and leading 71 of the 85 laps.

The win marked Rossi’s third consecutive podium finish, second victory in five races, and sixth podium from the last nine events.

“It’s like we talked about after Phoenix,” said Edwards, “Alex has found his groove.

“And you see that with a lot of guys, right? Once they start to win, it starts coming together, they gain confidence, they try less hard because it’s there, that natural rhythm. And the results follow.”

Edwards admitted he hadn’t expected Rossi to have such a margin over his rivals around the 1.968-mile street course, but once it had been established, it was a case of managing the gap and sticking to a two-stop strategy.

“The yellows hurt us, particularly at the end after we made our last stop,” he said. “We were hoping it would go green all the way to the end, because we had a nice margin, especially after [Scott] Dixon and [Sebastien] Bourdais were penalized.

“There was a point where Scott got the gap pegged back from eight seconds to four when they were both in traffic and Scott got ahead of ‘his’ backmarker before Alex got ahead of his. But Alex was being extra careful, he didn’t want to put anything at risk, and we still felt we were in control of our own destiny.

“But after the last two yellows, Will [Power] was behind us and you never feel secure with Will right behind you. He gave it everything he had, and Alex had to manage what he had.”

 

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