Owens Geared Up For Indianapolis
Los Angeles, CA – Raoul Owens made his transition into the #80 car of Team Pelfrey this weekend for his first career outing at the iconic Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit for Rounds 6, 7 and 8 of the 2015 Pro Mazda Championship.
After signing with his new team a matter of days before flying to Indy, Raoul knew that he would have limited time to adjust and settle in with the new crew, car and circuit. However, he did so with strong promise, ending the mid-week practice sessions in the Top 10 on Wednesday and Thursday, while consistently beating his teammates in the first sector of the low downforce circuit.
The cancelled Race 2 from NOLA Motorsports Park – dating back to April 12 – was rescheduled to 6pm on Thursday at Indianapolis. Raoul was due to start the cancelled race in P7 last month, but race officials penalized Raoul’s change in circumstances last week because he would not be entering the rescheduled race with the same team in which he originally qualified. As a result, Raoul had to begin Thursday’s race from P18, ruining much hope of finishing in the points. Drama followed in the opening and closing laps of the race, as Florian Latorre flipped his Cape Motorsports car in Turn 1. Raoul took advantage of the incident and pushed through into P13, but was eventually clipped by Alessandro Latif on the final lap of the race, reducing him to a cruel P18 finish.
On Friday, Raoul maintained his tradition of going quick in the opening phase of qualifying. He was in the Top 5 during the first 12 minutes of the 30 minute session – posting his fastest time on his fifth flying lap. With tire management being the most likely cause, Raoul qualified P12 with a time of 1:24.518, +0.645 off the leading time of the Frenchman, Timothe Buret.
Made up by a series of sharp corners, the inner GP circuit at Indianapolis demands drivers to draft each other along the straights in order to sufficiently close up on the car in front and make an attack into the braking zone. This kind of circuit layout plays into the hands of the driver with the fastest car in a straight line and unfortunately Raoul did not feel he quite had the speed of his rivals during Friday or Saturday’s races. Starting from P12 and P11, Raoul had to deal with the perils of the Pro Mazda midfield. However, uneventful races ensued for Raoul as he found himself predominantly on the defensive in both races, finishing P11 and P12 in Rounds 7 and 8 respectively.
Looking back on the past few days and the tight lap times of the pack, Raoul said “it’s been very close all weekend. In practice I was within 0.15 seconds of my teammates. Settling in to a new team takes a race or two, but I’m feeling better in the car and overall it’s been a good learning curve for me. I’ve been getting to know my new mechanic and Team Pelfrey’s way to debrief data. In the next races I’ll be up to speed.”
Running as a support event to the Indy500 weekend on May 23, Round 9 of the Pro Mazda Championship will be the first oval racing experience for Raoul and a number of other drivers. Preparing for this event is crucial, so Raoul will be jumping back into the car on Wednesday for 2 days of testing and performing mental training with his driver coach until next weekend.
