{"id":63398,"date":"2019-06-27T08:54:23","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T15:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/?p=63398"},"modified":"2019-06-27T08:54:23","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T15:54:23","slug":"alexander-rossis-ascent-to-indycar-elite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/alexander-rossis-ascent-to-indycar-elite\/","title":{"rendered":"Alexander Rossi\u2019s Ascent to INDYCAR Elite"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alexander
Rossi in early 2016.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When he first came to the NTT IndyCar Series in 2016, Alexander Rossi was a fish out of water. Groomed to compete in Formula One (F1), his Manor Marussia team was about to disband, there were no other offers of value and the only solution appeared to be a homecoming.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t the way it was supposed to be for the Nevada City, California-born Rossi. He\u2019d risen through the ranks, from the Skip Barber National Championship series, where he became champion at the age of 14, through Formula BMW USA to the international Formula BMW championship, where he won the series\u2019 2008 World Final in Mexico City.<\/p>\n

Gaining an F1 test with [then] BMW Sauber F1 team, Rossi decided to compete in Europe in 2009, where he learned in the International Formula Master series, moving to GP3 the following year and then to World Series by Renault, which propelled him to GP2, the final rung on the ladder prior to gaining an F1 seat. He finished second in that championship in 2015.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander
Rossi in 2016 Indy 500 victory lane.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At the same time Rossi was an F1 test driver, starting that phase of his career in 2012 with Caterham F1, driving in several Friday sessions for the team. He moved to Manor Marussia in mid-2014 when Caterham management changed and became their reserve driver. Rossi was entered in five of the final seven races in 2015, with a best finish of 12th at his home, US Grand Prix in Austin.<\/p>\n

Although he had the option of racing with Manor in 2016 after serving as reserve for half the season, Rossi made the decision to change gears and head home to the US, joining Andretti Autosport for the entire 2016 season. It was a good move on his part, but he had to wait a while before his car and team were ready for him and he could learn – or re-learn – tracks he\u2019d raced at home so long ago.<\/p>\n

As he stood in the Andretti Autosport pits during a February 2016 test day on the Phoenix one-mile oval, Rossi looked and listened. He had a lot to learn about the Indy cars and he needed to approach the series with his head. Rossi had the great fortune to have Bryan Herta as his strategist as he became a member of the INDYCAR community. Herta, with his behind-the-wheel experience and his acknowledged savvy, helped this fellow American explore his own capabilities and learn on the job.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander
Rossi at Long Beach.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was Herta\u2019s strategic moves that gave Alexander Rossi his rookie victory in the 100th Indianapolis 500 in 2016. True, he drove exceptionally well during the 200 laps around Indianapolis Motor Speedway\u2019s 2.5-mile oval, but he also listened when he needed to and obeyed Herta\u2019s orders, giving these two California-bred racers a win in the biggest race of each year. That it occurred five years to the day from Herta\u2019s first Indy 500 victory with the late Dan Wheldon made the accomplishment even greater.<\/p>\n

That was the highlight of Rossi\u2019s first year and, as he learned the series and its tracks, he took 11th place in the final standings. In 2017 Rossi did even better, earning a second victory a single pole position among his three podium results and finishing seventh on the year. 2018\u2019s second-place finish in the standings came with three wins, three poles and eight podiums.<\/p>\n

Alexander Rossi is now considered among the best in all NTT IndyCar Series venues: street courses, road courses, short ovals and super speedways. Alexander Rossi can conquer them all. His confidence in his abilities and those of his Andretti Autosport team, now led by engineers Jeremy Milless and Brian Page, has the Californian, now 27, considered among the best in a very deep and competitive grid.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander
Winning LB in 2019, Rossi gave Andretti Autosports its 200th win.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This past weekend he won INDYCAR\u2019s race at Elkhart Lake\u2019s Road America, the 4.014-mile, 14-corner natural road course that had bedeviled him the past three years. Rossi won by nearly 30 seconds after starting second in a 23-car field.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was probably one of the best race cars I\u2019ve ever had,\u201d Rossi said of his No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda. \u201cTo come out and be able to do what we did today is a huge testament to the whole organization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rossi\u2019s contract is up the end of the year. He is the one-man \u201csilly season\u201d in INDYCAR. But he\u2019s not talking about his future plans, deciding to concentrate on what he can accomplish here and now before he lets everyone know where he\u2019ll be driving in 2020. Rossi has stated an intent to remain with Michael Andretti\u2019s deep team, provided the funding is there (NAPA Auto Parts is not a full-season backer). With his endurance drives for Acura Team Penske, there\u2019s been talk of Rossi leaving his Honda team and venturing to Team Penske\u2019s Chevrolet-powered Indy car squad.<\/p>\n

Whatever Alexander Rossi decides to do, he\u2019s made an indelible impact on the NTT IndyCar Series since arriving in 2016. He\u2019s made everyone around him – including the other drivers on his team – better than they were without his skilled and talented presence. And he\u2019s brought attention to the series, which is basking in that glow. Whatever he does, wherever he goes, Alexander Rossi is now a prominent face of the NTT IndyCar Series.<\/p>\n

\"Alexander
Rossi at Indy 2018.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Whatever he does, wherever he goes, Alexander Rossi is now a prominent face of the NTT IndyCar Series. <\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":65,"featured_media":63400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3470,5029],"tags":[4547,727,5614,1863,712,4172,41,1632],"class_list":["post-63398","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-racing","tag-alexander-rossi","tag-andretti-autosport","tag-anne-proffit","tag-indy-500","tag-indycar","tag-indycar-racing","tag-news","tag-racing"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/Alexander-Rossi-early-2016-min.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p42YSK-guy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/65"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63398"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63398\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63404,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63398\/revisions\/63404"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.racingjunk.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}