Latest news with #Ferrucci
Indianapolis Star
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Indianapolis Star
'Hard for us to get out there.' Santino Ferrucci won't run IndyCar race at Toronto after crash
TORONTO — Following a major crash in Sunday morning's warmup session that came just over three hours from IndyCar's scheduled green flag for its race on the streets of Toronto, AJ Foyt Racing has elected not run its No. 14 Chevy entry of Santino Ferrucci, the team announced. Team president Larry Foyt told IndyStar that there may have been a small hope to prepare the backup No. 14 chassis into a raceable condition, but it would've been a stretch, given the time constraints, and combined with Ferrucci nursing a banged right hand he was seen icing around the team transporters, Foyt ultimately decided it to be unwise to roll the dice. Foyt noted that Ferrucci had been cleared to drive, with X-rays on his hand negative, but the primary car was too damaged to be repaired, necessitating moving to a backup car and a lengthier preparation process after Ferrucci slid thorugh the exit of Turn 7, first slamming the whole left side of the car into the wall, before skidding and turning to make right-side impact near Turn 8 before the car came to a stop. In an interview with Fox Sports, Ferrucci deemed the crash "driver error," an instance of forgetting to turn the hybrid system off and therefore carrying too much speed into the corner to be able to stop before slamming into the concrete wall. "Sure, could we get a car out there? Possibly, but I don't want to push (Ferrucci) either," Foyt told IndyStar. "I'd rather just focus on (next Sunday's race at Laguna Seca). It would be hard for us to get out there anyways. That car was really heavily damaged. We have the backup car here, obviously, but it's just a quick turn between warmup and the race. "(The impact) definitely got into the crash structure and the tub, which is a lengthy thing, so you'd be going to a backup car, and we'd still have to diagnose the engine, so there was still a lot of things that would have to happen if we were going to try and push out in an hour or so. It's a tough decision, because we all come here to race, but I think just for the team and our situation right now, we've already got a quick turnaround to go to Laguna, and we think we can do well there, so we'll let Santino rest up and let the guys take their time getting the backup car prepared and move on." Entering this race weekend, Ferrucci sat tied for 10th in the championship with teammate David Malukas, aiming to follow up his ninth-place points performance a year ago with another top 10 at the end of the 17-race season. After a run of four consecutive top 5s in May and June, including a pair of podium finishes in the Indy 500 and Road America, Ferrucci and the No. 14 crew had ridden a bit of a roller coaster of late with a best finish of eighth at the Iowa doubleheader sandwiched by results of 16th (Mid-Ohio) and 15th (Iowa Race No. 2). Live updates: IndyCar Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Toronto leaderboard, crashes, starting lineup, time At the moment, Christian Rasmussen, who sits 15th in the championship, enters Sunday's race 30 points back of Ferrucci, meaning the veteran driver will almost certainly drop at least a couple spots in the standings before he rolls up to Laguna Seca for practice Friday. "This is a pretty big blow, but we think these last four races are still really strong for us and for (Ferrucci), and we're not going to give up on trying to get back into the top 10," Foyt said. "It's racing, and things happen. It's part of it. "I don't know why Toronto doesn't like the No. 14 car. That's two years in a row that we've had a big one here. It's unfortunate, and I know (Ferrucci) and the team feels bad, but we'll be back next week." Count Foyt among the camp that would love to see IndyCar schedule its pre-race warmups for a couple hours after qualifying late on Saturday afternoon, rather than Sunday morning just a couple hours before the race, in hopes of avoiding a situation such as Sunday's, where a serious crash ultimately will keep a team from racing altogether. "For sure for the smaller teams, if you had a little extra time, no doubt (that would be helpful)," Foyt said. "These warmups are always nerve-racking, especially at a street course where you have concrete everywhere and you could have an accident like this. It's a tough turnaround for a small team, no doubt."
Fox Sports
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Fox Sports
Santino Ferrucci Out For Toronto After Morning Crash Damages Car Beyond Repair
TORONTO — Santino Ferrucci will miss the INDYCAR race today at Toronto, as a hard crash in the morning warm-up damaged the car beyond repair. With only three hours between the end of the warm-up and the start of the race, the A.J. Foyt Racing team did not have time to adequately repair the car or get the spare car ready to race. Ferrucci was icing his hand after the accident, but the team indicated it was not broken and Ferrucci said he would be OK. The accident occurred in the last few minutes of the 25-minute morning warm-up. Ferrucci said it was purely driver error, as he had not disengaged the hybrid power boost and was on the primary (harder) tires, which meant more power going into Turn 8. The rear of the car swung around and he slapped the outside wall hard. "Mistake," Ferrucci said. "I'm struggling obviously with the car. It was wet [from rain earlier] in that corner and I had been lifting and just out of habit, I'd been pulling the hybrid and I forgot to turn the hybrid off. ... I just lost the rear [of the car]. "It was a little bit of the boost in the power, it was just enough [and] we were also on the prime tire instead of the [softer] alternate just to get a read. Just a driving error. I feel pretty bad about that." Ferrucci was 10th in the series standings but had struggled this weekend on the Toronto streets. He was slated to start 23rd. Ferrucci will be awarded three points (instead of five for last place) for qualifying for the race but not starting. "The damage sustained to the car requires extensive repairs that cannot be completed to the standard of safety and performance necessary to race," the team said in a statement. "While this is a difficult decision for the team, the safety of our driver and our crew remains our top priority." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Item 1 of 1 Get more from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
Indianapolis Star
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
'I know how to outsmart him.' Santino Ferrucci plots revenge on Conor Daly after Mid-Ohio incidents
Santino Ferrucci acknowledged he made a mistake at Mid-Ohio, forcing Conor Daly off the track in last weekend's IndyCar race. Ferrucci doesn't appreciate Daly's response — and not the one on social media. The two touched wheels midway through the race and Daly was forced well into the grass. Ferrucci wound up finishing 16th and Daly 19th. Ferrucci said Thursday at Iowa Speedway that he was late entering a turn and, in trying to correct his position on track, their wheels touched. Ferrucci's car briefly couldn't turn and Daly had to go off track to avoid harder contact. What has rankled Ferrucci is not Daly calling him "this clown" on social media, but that Daly "brake-checked" him — stopping abruptly in front of him on pit lane, risking contact post-race. "I would have gone up and said something after the race in pit lane, but he decided to brake check me in pit lane, which is just dumb," the 27-year-old Ferrucci said. Ferrucci improved just one spot from his starting position at Mid-Ohio, but over the previous four races, he had improved 58 positions — finishing in the top 5 in each. "I'm really mad at myself because I feel like I've run four perfect races going up to that point, and that's the only mistake I've made in the last five weekends," he said. Ferrucci added he's eager to match moves and wits with Daly in this weekend's races at Iowa Speedway — a 275-lapper on Saturday and another on Sunday. "If he doesn't think memories are shot, he's got something else coming," Ferrucci said. "I know how to outsmart him on an oval. I've done it before. It'll be fun."
Fox Sports
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
Clown? Backmarker? Santino Ferrucci And Conor Daly Not Mincing Words
DES MOINES, Iowa — What is worse: being called a clown or a backmarker? In the latest rejuvenated INDYCAR beef, Conor Daly and Santino Ferrucci are throwing shade on their long-running history of not exactly seeing eye to eye on things. To make things even better, both could be in contention for their first career INDYCAR victory on Saturday and/or Sunday in the Iowa Speedway double-header weekend. "I just got caught up messing with a backmarker," Ferrucci told me on Thursday about his tangle with Daly in the race last Sunday at Mid-Ohio. "We would have finished inside the top 10. I'm mad at myself." Their battle at Mid-Ohio ended up with INDYCAR penalizing Ferrucci three positions and with Daly in the grass. Daly said on his "Speed Street" podcast this week that the post on social media calling Ferrucci a "clown" was his most-liked ever. "The lack of respect that Santino actually has for the effort that goes into this type of racing, to throw it away purely because he either doesn't care or doesn't know what's going on or doesn't like me?" Daly said on the podcast. "I don't care that he doesn't like me. I don't like him. ... Santino has actually raced somewhat intelligently this year on occasions. And I thought we were actually on a little bit better of a spot." The move surprised Daly because it cost Ferrucci spots for himself, calling the move "childish." "I'd already gotten ahead of Santino's nose and I'm like, 'OK it will be really hard for him to run me off the track unless he actually uses his car as a Scud missile and drives into the slide of me,'" Daly said on the podcast. "Turns out, that's what happened. ... I should have known. Santino has done this multiple times to me, like where there's no regard for his own actual race." Ferrucci admitted that the on-track incident was his fault. "I made a mistake," Ferrucci said. "When they called him outside, in my mirror, I looked over, and when I turned in — you can see that I visibly missed the turn in — and I just got super tight. "And when I tried to snap the car around on the throttle and brake, we happened to just touch perfectly mid-corner. And you can see the car straighten back out into him. And at that point, I was completely turned as far left as I could get it and I just couldn't get the car to rotate." It is hard for these two drivers to agree on what was a mistake and what was intentional. Ferrucci believes Daly brake-checked him on pit road during the race. Daly said his speed limiter didn't latch and he had to hit the brakes. Ferrucci theorized that since INDYCAR penalizes for contact on pit road, the fact he wasn't penalized for running into Daly on pit road indicates Daly did it on purpose. "They can see in his data — him hitting the brakes going down the hill as a brake check," Ferrucci said. Daly's view: "You can make up your own reality." Ferrucci is 10th in the series standings, and Daly is 18th. However, Daly acknowledges Ferrucci has had speed and is having a solid season. "I still believe he's going to severely injure someone, a driver or maybe even someone else, just because of a pure lack of thought," Daly said on the podcast. Both drivers are expected to be good this weekend at Iowa. Daly was one of the fastest at the test a couple of weeks ago. "He's a good oval racer and so am I," Ferrucci said. "But if he doesn't think that memories are short, then he has something else coming. "And I know how to outsmart him on an oval. I've done it before. It'll be fun. I'm looking forward to it." Bob Pockrass covers NASCAR and INDYCAR for FOX Sports. He has spent decades covering motorsports, including over 30 Daytona 500s, with stints at ESPN, Sporting News, NASCAR Scene magazine and The (Daytona Beach) News-Journal. Follow him on Twitter @bobpockrass. recommended Item 1 of 1 Get more from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
Indianapolis Star
06-07-2025
- Sport
- Indianapolis Star
'This clown': Conor Daly has harsh words for Santino Ferrucci after IndyCar crash
Conor Daly believes Santino Ferrucci went way out of his way to push Daly off track Sunday during the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. IndyCar officials agree. The two were battling for position on Lap 43 when their wheels touched, and Ferrucci forced Daly far off the track while going into the grass himself. IndyCar officials ordered Ferrucci to give up 3 race positions. He finished 16th and Daly 19th. Post-race, Daly posted on social media: "This clown literally drove himself off track trying to make sure he wrecked me 😂 @SantinoFerrucci brilliant as always" Shocking result: Scott Dixon wins after Alex Palou's mistake
