Dale Coyne Racing's Santino Ferrucci says he is falling in love with oval circuits after securing yet another strong result in the NTT IndyCar Series for finishing in fourth place.
The previous best result of his rookie campaign came at the Indianapolis 500 where he finished in seventh after starting in 23rd place.
Ferrucci had only qualified in 18th for the DXC Technology 600 at the Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, but used the skills he has learned from Indianapolis to sweep his way through the field over the course of the race.
At the final restart, the 21-year old was able to get by Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud into Turn 2 for fourth place and then tried to chase down Graham Rahal for the final podium spot, but ran out of laps and held onto the position at the chequered flag.
"I can’t thank my crew enough. We had a stellar crew in the pits, they did fantastic stops, and we just made our way to the front while avoiding a couple of incidents in front of us.,” said Ferrucci.
"I can’t thank my spotter Pancho (Carter) enough to get me to push my limits in the car, coaching me throughout the race. To bring home a top five with our Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda, my first one in the IndyCar Series feels pretty good.
"For someone who had no experience on ovals, I’m starting to say I love them. I’m happy with fourth place.
"After Indy, knowing what kind of car we had, how hard our crew has been working and how much power we have from Honda as well, I knew we could do something special here, regardless of what happened in qualifying, and we did."
Ferrucci currently lies ninth in the championship standings with 193 points, he also leads the Rookie Of The Year championship by 12 points over Chip Ganassi Racing's Felix Rosenqvist.
