Zach Veach has expressed delight in reaching the chequered flag on his debut race weekend in IndyCar, with the former Indy Lights race winner standing in for the injured J.R. Hildebrand.
After Hildebrand broke a bone in his hand during a final lap incident at Long Beach, Veach was called upon as a late substitute for Ed Carpenter Racing ahead of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at the Barber Motorsports Park.
Despite the late call up and relative lack of time behind the wheel of the car, Veach certainly did not embarrass himself or the team throughout the gruelling race weekend.
Although Veach was unable to progress any further than the first round of qualifying, the 22-year-old Ohio-born racer still managed to out-qualify series regulars Conor Daly and Graham Rahal.
During the 90-lap race Veach not only managed to reach the chequered flag but also remained on the lead lap, while team-mate and 2015 Indy Lights champion Spencer Pigot spun during the latter stages of the race.
Veach will compete in the Indianapolis 500 next month for Ed Carpenter Racing and has thanked the entire team, including Hildebrand, for his support throughout his debut weekend at Barber.
"Overall, I'm pretty happy with our first IndyCar weekend,” enthused Veach.
“For what it was coming in here on short notice and a limited amount of time to get familiar with the car, I'm really happy with the progress that we made.
“I couldn't have done it without the help of J.R. Hildebrand and the entire crew at Ed Carpenter Racing.
“Everyone here was so open to helping get me up to speed.
“They helped me from Lap 1 all the way to the end of the race.
“This was the longest race I've ever done in my life and part of that was learning how to save fuel and doing my first real race pit stops.
“I'm pretty happy with how it went.
“Granted, I think we would have loved to have a little more speed, but with the amount of time I had in the car, to come home where we did I think says a lot."
