The promise of yesterday’s qualifying didn’t materialize into strong finishes in the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America for AJ Foyt Racing.
Despite promising starts for Santino Ferrucci in the No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevrolet and Benjamin Pedersen in the No. 55 Sexton Properties Chevrolet, the rough and tumble nature of the race saw many off-track excursions amongst the 27-car field. Four full course cautions slowed the action before the halfway mark of the 55-lap race.
Starting 10th, Pedersen’s race got off to an unfortunate start as he was hit from behind and he got shuffled to the back of the field on the opening lap. The young rookie was able to climb back to 18th in the second half of the race but in the closing laps he dropped to 21st which is where he finished.
“Slightly tricky day today,” said the Danish-American driver. “We unfortunately got hit from behind which made us go to the back of the field on the opening lap. We had a pretty good comeback mid-race to bring me forward to roughly p 18. But then in some exchanges and pitstops, we fell back a couple of positions. So we wrapped up p 21. But the damage was done from early on being pushed wide. Regardless, it was our best qualifying result of the whole year, we’re making big improvements within the team and looking forward to Iowa testing this coming week.”