Sargeant on first IndyCar test: 'Clearly it's quite a unique car to drive'
Yesterday at 09:11 AM
Logan Sargeant's return to open-wheel racing came in a perfect setting on Tuesday at The Thermal Club . The private nature of the test attended by six NTT IndyCar Series teams gave the Floridian a chance to explore a new car in an expectation-free environment in Meyer Shank Racing's No. 06 Honda.
Strapped into an unfamiliar Dallara DW12 chassis, at a road course he'd never seen, the 23-year-old former Williams F1 driver was immediately quick, posting the second-fastest lap during the three-hour morning session. He leapt to first in the early afternoon outing, and in the third and final — and fastest — session in the cool desert air, Sargeant finished his maiden IndyCar run in third, 0.192s off of Team Penske's Felipe Nasr.
Adapting to a heavier car with suboptimal weight distribution and center of gravity figures when compared to the last open-wheeler he drove, a new type of tire, and being tasked with providing chassis and engine feedback to MSR and Honda made for a busy day, but Sargeant was unfazed by the numerous challenges that were presented.
"It was a good day and clearly it's quite a unique car to drive — quite different to most of the cars I’ve ever been in in the past," Sargeant told RACER. "I feel like it’s one of those things you've got to work through to understand what the car needs to work with you the best. But nonetheless, we got through a lot of good stuff for the team going into next year. All in all, it was a pretty, pretty clean and solid day, but there's still plenty more in there."
The last few years spent on Pirelli rubber in Formula 2 and F1 made learning the driving needs of Firestone's primary tire one of the bigger takeaways from the test for Sargeant. Thermal's notoriously high tire degradation rate –significant grip offered by new tires can be lost in less than five laps — only added to the complexities he faced.
"Particularly on the tire, I expected to be able to rag on it a little bit harder, but that clearly wasn’t the case," he said. "With the amount of weight that’s on the car now, the amount of weight transfer, it’s just quite easy to slide on top of the tire. It becomes quite important to try and keep the tire temperatures under control and even throughout a lap to try and get the most out of it. It’s a tricky one — it’s actually a lot more peaky than I was anticipating going into it and a bit more finicky, but that just means those are things you've got to consider and work through."
Sargeant’s approach was well-received by the MSR crew. Rather than sequester himself inside the upper lounge in MSR's transporter, he spent Monday outside with the team as they got set up for the test, and again on Tuesday, rarely more than a few feet away from the hub of activity around the car before and after runs.
One team veteran, expecting to receive a distant and aloof F1 driver, was surprised by how normal and approachable Sargeant proved to be. And when it was time to work, it was all business as radio communications and engineering debriefs sounded and looked like any other with leading IndyCar drivers.
With only four seats left to fill, and only one that could offer to pay a professional like Sargeant, his odds of landing on the IndyCar grid next season are remote, but he'd welcome the chance to break into the series in a race seat or as a stand-in if needed.
"If there was an opportunity there to jump into a car, I would definitely do it," he said. "I had a good time working with the MSR guys; it’s just such a good atmosphere, such a different atmosphere. This was much more enjoyable than the things that I’ve experienced in the past — just easier and a bit more fun to connect with all the people in the team. I had a good time meeting them, working with them and I think that was also felt on the other side. No doubt it was an enjoyable experience."
