Callum Ilott is one of six rookies competing in the NTT IndyCar Series this year, and has identified street courses as one area he can make gains on the other drivers fighting for Rookie of the Year.
The 23-year-old has competed in the unique Macau Grand Prix five times, and qualified in the top three positions in four of those attempts. He also racked up one win in the qualifying race, and finished the feature race inside the top 10 on three occasions.
With Macau billed as one of the toughest street circuits in the world, finding relative success as often as he did has already given high expectations to Ilott as he enters a series that features numerous street courses throughout the year.
IndyCar’s opening round this weekend takes place on one of those street circuits, St. Petersburg, and the young British driver was asked if his good performances at Macau bode well for his stateside street course debut.
“Yeah, I think it makes it a bit easier for me as a driver to have the confidence to go into them,” said Ilott. “I have to say that your street circuits here – well, even your road courses here are bumpier than most of the street circuits in Europe.
“To go to a street circuit here, yeah, it’s a bit different, and that’s where the experience and the technicality comes in, which the guys who have been here have got it, but we get enough practice to kind of get a feeling for it and dial it in.
“Yeah, I’m excited. It’s never easy. But you’ve just got to attack it and hope for the best.”
Ilott’s street course skills may give quite a boost to his overall performance this year, as there are five street circuits on the calendar. And three of the first five rounds are on the temporary courses to help get his season off on the right foot.
Time will tell, however, as he is part of the one car Juncos Hollinger Racing team, and he will not have any experienced drivers to take advice from throughout the race weekend.
Ilott will see the St. Petersburg course for the first time for Friday afternoon practice, which takes place at 15:30 Eastern Time.
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