Ryan Norman is making his IndyCar debut this weekend, adding to the long list of drivers that have logged their first ever track action in America’s top single-seater category this year.
Norman spent three years in Indy Lights, securing one win in 2019, and has been running the Michelin Pilot Challenge the past year and a half while hunting for an opening into IndyCar.
The opportunity came around for this weekend’s running at Mid-Ohio, with Dale Coyne Racing picking up the young talent in a one-race deal alongside Romain Grosjean, also a rookie but in different circumstances.
Speaking to Motorsport Week ahead of his new adventure, the 23-year-old described how his familiarity with the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course is his big advantage before he even turns a lap.
“Every single one,” said Norman when asked how many different types of cars he’s run at Mid-Ohio. “Six or seven, no eight different cars.
“This is the track that I have the most laps on right now in my career. Feeling really confident about the track.
“That was another reason that this was an important weekend, because learning the track wasn’t part of the equation.
“My goal right now is to take it weekend by weekend. First, I want to show what I can do here, and what I can do for the team and everything like that.
“We’ll re-evaluate after the weekend and see where we’re at. Really excited.”
Although this is Norman’s first race weekend behind the wheel of an IndyCar, he did get the opportunity to feel out the car with a test day on this track just over a week ago.
Having that session really calmed his nerves, and showed that he can put down competitive times in the more powerful car.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long, that any nerves that I would have are subsided by excitement,” Norman continued.
“It was good that I was here last week in the car, so that takes a lot of questions out of it. The lap times were really competitive.
“The only thing that I would take personally to work on is to hit the peak of the tires a bit better.
“With the Firestones, and I was used to Cooper tires in the Indy Lights days, they’re really an on and off switch. One lap they’re on, and the lap time comes down a little bit.
“If we hit the beat of the tires, I’m feeling pretty confident. I’m feeling good.”
Norman qualified at the back of the pack in this afternoon’s session, but will use his knowledge of the circuit to attempt a good run in the first race of what he hopes ends up being a long career in IndyCar.
