Grosjean credits Coyne engineering team with fast start

Considering how few laps Romain Grosjean has turned in IndyCar since departing the series at the end of 2024, there was no expectation for the returning Dale Coyne Racing driver to finish Friday at St. Petersburg sitting between Pato O’Ward, Josef Newgarden, and Scott Dixon on the timing board.

Grosjean was 13th in the No. 18 Honda, just 0.0310s slower than Arrow McLaren’s O’Ward, which was a testament to his immense skills and the vast deployment of race engineering talent throughout DCR.

Indy 500-winning race engineer Bill Pappas is attached to Grosjean’s car, and on the other timing stand for rookie Dennis Hauger, championship-winning IndyCar engineer Michael Cannon and fellow veteran Mike Colliver brings another layer of knowledge that made the team’s fast start – Hauger was the quickest rookie on Friday – possible under the guidance of team manager Mitch Davis.

“The engineering group is great, Mitch Davis, Bill Pappas, Mike (Cannon and Colliver),” Grosjean said. “They have a lot of experience. There's zero doubt about that. There's a lot of input. I did the first few laps, and I thought 'this is wrong in the car', and then we discussed (it). I'm like, ‘I think they're right,’ but this is the way it goes.”

Grosjean says he’ll spend the coming weeks learning to continue trusting his new engineers.

“Right now I'm talking to you, but in my mind, I'm redoing the setup for tomorrow,” he admitted. “I'm really happy to work with them. I think there's a lot of experience. I think on ovals that's going to help me to step up big-time, and I'm excited that we have Phoenix next week and then Indy coming very quickly.”