By John Goolsby, Prep Sports Editor
The Trussville Tribune will provide extensive coverage of the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds. IndyCar drivers Felix Rosenqvist, Santino Ferrucci, Scott McLaughlin, and Birmingham’s own Michael Suco, a rookie in the USF Juniors series, will be spotlighted.
Felix Rosenqvist’s 2024 season is off to a good start. The 32-year-old Swede recorded a seventh-place finish in the NTT IndyCar season-opener at St. Petersburg and a third-place finish in the non-points $1 Million Challenge at the Thermal Club.
Rosenqvist enters his sixth season in the premier American open-wheel series with a new team, Myer Shank Racing, after three years with Arrows McLaren and two years with Chip Ganassi Racing.
The change has not been a problem for the 2019 IndyCar Rookie of the Year. “Honestly, it’s been really smooth,” he said. “I think we’ve been viving pretty good straight away, me and the team.”
While there is a lot to get used to when changing teams, the most important thing to a driver is the car. “The car has just been really good and suits my driving style,” Rosenqvist said. “I normally try to tell myself that I don’t have a specific driving style, but I think deep down I know I do, and this car has certainly made getting up to speed very easy. We’ve been firing on all cylinders straight out the gate.”
Rosenqvist has been ultra-successful in every series he has competed in. The 2015 FIA Formula 3 European champion won 28 races in the series from 2012-2015. He won the prestigious Macau Grand Prix in 2014 and 2015 over current Formula One drivers Max Verstappen, Charles Leclere, Carlos Sainz, Jr., Esteban Ocon, Alex Albon, Lance Stroll and IndyCar drivers Alex Palou, Santino Ferrucci, and Tom Blomqvist.
While Rosenqvist’s on-track performance in Europe was elite, he was unable to secure the necessary sponsorship for a 2016 campaign in the GP2 series and made the move to the U.S. to compete in Indy Lights. He claimed three wins in ten starts on American soil.
After a successful IndyCar test with Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of 2016, Rosenqvist returned to Europe to compete in the Formula E series, where he recorded three wins over the next two years.
Rosenqvist returned to the States as a full-time driver for Chip Ganassi Racing in 2019, where he won Rookie of the Year and finished sixth in the final IndyCar points standings.
The fast Swede finished tenth in his first race at Barber and finished ninth last year. Rosenqvist has raced on most of the famous race courses in the world and has high praise for Barber. “It’s one of those track that separates the field a little bit,” he said. “It is definitely a cool track, and it’s interesting how you have to set the car up and how you have to approach it.”
“Barber has different kinds of corners; you don’t find those corners anywhere else,” he said. “Every corner is very unique, which is cool. The Turn 12, 13, 14 section is like, man, it’s so quick; it’s by far the highest commitment corner we have the whole season.”
“Barber really squeezes out all the strength the drivers have in their arms and neck,” he said. “Also, the fact that there are a lot of right-handers that are quick stresses your neck on that side.”
“Last week, Prema Racing, a European-based team, announced they would field a two-car effort in IndyCar for the 2025 season. Rosenqvist won the 2015 FIA Formula 3 championship driving for Prema and is familiar with the organization.
“They’ll be strong competitors, maybe not the first year, but they will, I think, be a contender pretty quickly,” Rosenqvist said. “I’m sure they’re trying to hire some clever people here in the U.S.”
“I’m super happy they’re coming here, and hopefully, it’ll bring some eyes from Europe onto IndyCar as well.”
Rosenqvist has a great opportunity to move up in the points standings, with the following three races being on street and road courses before the Indy 500.
The Children’s of Alabama Grand Prix takes place April 28-30. Race fans can purchase tickets at indyalabama.com or by calling 877-332-7804.
Tickets were sold in 41 states and 12 countries last year and the economic impact to the Birmingham area was between $18 and $27 million.