Ryan Hunter-Reay wanted to make one thing clear in today’s media availability. He is not joining Ed Carpenter Racing to produce immediate results. Hunter-Reay emphasized that his job is to help the team find long term solutions.
“Right now we’re not talking about results. This is
not a silver bullet. This is not a situation where they have
brought me in to, okay, let’s put another driver in the car
and you driver, the new driver, you go out and go faster
than the old driver. That’s not what’s happening here.
This is a scenario where we are going to approach this
from a technically disciplined approach, and it’s going to be
methodical, it’s going to be a process,” Hunter-Reay said.
“It’s not going to be short. We’re going to have to work through it every day.”
Hunter-Reay said he feels for Conor, as he was in a similar situation early in his career.
“Bottom line is tough situation, especially mid-season. I feel
for Conor. I’ve been on either end of that deal, and in
some cases numerous times. Big fan of his, and hopefully
he’ll be back in the INDYCAR Series soon where he
belongs no doubt.”
Hunter-Reay looks at this weekend’s race at Road America as the team’s first test session with him.
“We’re looking to take away a good understanding of what the team wants and needs and what I want and need out of this partnership, and kind of trying to get a better understanding of some of the
nuances and how I operate, how they operate, and then
how we can go and talk about it during the break between
Road America and Mid-Ohio and implement potential
changes moving forward that I may need.
“Like anybody’s driving style, one driver is going to ask for
and want different things from their race team and race car
than another driver. That’s just how it is.
I think that would be the big thing.
This weekend is almost a test session for us. It’s a
getting-to-know-you session for us. As long as I go about it
that way, and the team does, as well, I think that we’ll put
our best foot forward for Mid-Ohio.”
The tone I got is that while Mid Ohio may show improvement, it will be incremental. Let’s see where they are at Laguna Seca.
“Yeah, it’s not, hey, get in there, go get the result now, go
do better than last weekend. That is the one, I think,
misconception that people have. That’s not what’s going
on here. This is something that is a much bigger picture
approach. That’s where we’re at,” Hunter-Reay said.
Hunter-Reay noted that he has worked with three different teams in the pas18 months. He hopes to put the different approaches he has seen to good use in helping ECR improve.
“It’s kind of a different situation for me, as well in some
ways. It’s a new scenario with a new team that work”
differently than other teams I’ve been with. I haven’t
actually gone racing with Ed Carpenter Racing, even
though I’ve raced with Vision back in 2009, which is, as you
know, over a decade ago,” he said.
Hunter-Reay summed up the plan.
“This is a matter of us looking
at how we can approach things differently. How do you
approach a qualifying session differently, a race weekend
differently? How can we tweak some things? Maybe some of the
things I used to do in the past weren’t right. Maybe some
of the things they’re doing now aren’t right. Maybe we
could come together and maybe take a path that way.”
ECR and Hunter-Reay have a huge challenge the rest of the season. progress will come in baby steps, and may not bear fruit until 2024. Yjeu will be a team to keep an eye on in the final 10 races.
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 