Phoenix: Dubai-based Ed Jones of Dale Coyne Racing finished 11th in his first oval race of the Verizon IndyCar Series at the Phoenix International Raceway at the weekend.
Ovals require a completely different mindset to traditional circuits, but Jones had already proved his ability to adapt having finished second here on his way to the Indy Lights crown last year.
The 22-year-old Brit returned to the oval buoyed by a productive test there earlier this season, securing 16th on the podium and finishing 11th in the race.
“I felt pretty comfortable at Phoenix, having done well there last year in Indy Lights and following the test a couple of months ago,” he said. “It’s probably one of the trickiest ovals, I’d say, just because of its characteristics and we knew it would likely be a tough weekend, but I was looking forward to it.
“The car was pretty good in qualifying. The conditions were very different to how they had been in practice, and it was so much cooler that I didn’t feel fully confident on my first lap and had a bit too much understeer, but otherwise it was a decent effort.
“I was optimistic about being able to move forward in the race, but it transpired to be quite difficult. I struggled a lot in traffic — running in the pack was definitely the hardest part — but I managed to avoid all the incidents that we could so easily have got caught up in and it was good to finish only just outside the top ten. Being my first oval race and first night race in an IndyCar, there was plenty to learn but I gained a lot of experience, which is important at this stage, and I’m already excited for the next one.”
