The opening three rounds of the 2023 IndyCar season have not been kind to Rinus VeeKay, but he has hopes that he can turn that around sooner rather than later.
So far this year, VeeKay’s average finish has been 19th, and he finds himself all the way down in 22nd in the overall points standings.
That is far worse than the average of the first three rounds of his previous two seasons, which saw the Dutchman have good results out of the gate and average 11th and ninth.
Heading into the first natural road course of the season at Barber Motorsports Park, VeeKay is looking to continue his good streak at the 2.4-mile course and turn his season around in the process.
“Well, we’re definitely not happy,” said VeeKay about his season so far. “It’s been so far disastrous in results. Definitely not where we want to be. We know we have pace.
“Long Beach wasn’t where we wanted to be. Texas, there’s still room to improve. I think we really had the pace to race there in Texas.
“In St. Petersburg, we were third, sixth in practice, something goes wrong in qualifying. At the end of the race we were fighting for sixth place again.
“I think we have all the cards on the table to do better, to get back to last year’s results. We just have been a bit unlucky. I think Barber, Indy road course, Indy 500 are those places where I can climb back up and get back to where we belong.”
Last year at Barber Motorsports Park, VeeKay nearly came away with his second career IndyCar win, but was passed by a charging Pato O’Ward following the final pit stop of the afternoon.
The 22-year-old is out for redemption this weekend, and feels like he has a good chance to stand on the podium for the first time in a full year.
The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix takes place on April 30, with knockout qualifying scheduled for the day before the race on Saturday.
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