Team Penske's Simon Pagenaud is aiming to be more aggressive as the 2019 NTT IndyCar season heads towards its climax, with just five races to go.
The Frenchman believes this is the right point in the season for the mentality change as he bids to add another title to his first after claiming championship glory in 2016.
Pagenaud built upon his phenomenal start to his title-winning campaign with victory at the Mid-Ohio circuit after a string of tough results.
Currently, he lies 58 points behind team-mate and championship leader Josef Newgarden with three wins to his name, including the Indianapolis 500, compared to Newgarden's four wins.
Speaking after Friday's practice sessions for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, Pagenaud said: "I've been saying, it's time to go, time to be aggressive.
"We've got to have the performance to be up front, winning races, go on for the championship. Definitely attack mode. In the past, Mid-Ohio has been really good for me. That's really when I switch to the championship in my favour I think in 2016.
"It's time to do the same here and be aggressive."
Pagenaud also expressed happiness at the competitive level of the road course car he has been given this year, and is now keen to maximise the potential of the car and get the best out of himself.
"We're very, very happy with the road course car these days," added the Frenchman. "We've made improvement throughout the year. You can see we kicked it into the next gear the last few races, as a team, not just me.
"It's pretty exciting. I love this time of the year. It's just so much fun. That's what competition's all about. You want to go out there and you want to feel like you've given it 100 percent.
"You don't want to go home thinking you could have done better. Just making sure that I turn every stone, that at the end of the day, when it comes to the end of the season, we grabbed every point we could grab."
