Sam Schmidt Motorsports Driver and Team Pointed to Grand Prix
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
Alex Lloyd builds on experience and familiarity with both track and team in this weekend’s St. Petersburg Grand Prix. Lloyd won the first race of the Indy Pro Series season on March 25th, embarking on what he hopes will become a road, street and oval course path to a championship for himself and Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
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Alex Lloyd.
Photo: JimHainesIRL |
Last year’s winner on the road courses of Indianapolis and Infineon is looking forward to returning to the streets, this time with a new team that’s already proven it can go the distance. Alex Lloyd, who won last Sunday’s Miami 100 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, recorded two victories last year, both on the twisties.
He scored his first victory at Indianapolis, during the US Grand Prix weekend, on the road course. He went on to win one other event (Sonoma) with AFS Racing. He might have won more had he not missed three races over the season with an inner-ear condition that affected his balance.
Sam Schmidt's Team a PowerHouse in Indy Pro Series
Lloyd joins Indy Pro Series’ perennial power Sam Schmidt Motorsports, which owns thirteen IPS victories in its history, and the 2004 Indy Pro Series championship. The team has a reputation of putting the fastest drivers in the fastest cars on the track, whether it’s a road or oval.
Lloyd’s talents impressed at the Homestead Open Test in February, as he turned in the second-quickest laps (on both road and oval courses) in his Sam Schmidt Motorsports Dallara. He stands to benefit from the long winter familiarity he established around the team’s garages after moving self and wife to Indianapolis last fall.
The teamwork should prove helpful when crunch time comes, as it inevitably will. “We were able to work together for the first time. The guys are very professional, and now I know why they’ve been so successful the past few seasons. It’s great to be a part of it. I think I can learn a lot this season.”
The challenges began at Homestead, where Lloyd dodged the multi-car carnage that sent way too many brand new Dallara racecars home on the end of a wrecker’s hook. "I knew that winning was possible in the first race," said Lloyd. "I knew I was going to have a very strong car and a very good opportunity.”
“The difficult thing is when you have that opportunity to make it happen straightaway and come out there and win the first race and the pressure is on. And we were able to do that, which is a great confidence boost.”
“We’ve got a really good package. We’ve got a strong car on the ovals, and we’ve got a strong car on the road courses too. With the split in the schedule, that’s going to be important,” he said.
The Goal: Learning Curves That Turn Left
The significance of winning twice in 2006, both times on a course that makes left turns as well as right, tells a great deal about Lloyd’s motivation for joining Sam Schmidt Motorsports in the off-season.
Team-owner Sam Schmidt’s organization has a reputation of developing oval-course talent, and ovals are the place Alex Lloyd wants to drive. Last year’s IPS drivers’ champion, Jay Howard, was considered primarily a road course racer when he joined the SSM team for the 2006 campaign.
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Alex Lloyd during Miami 100.
Photo: RonMcQueeneyIRL |
"The great thing in coming to Sam Schmidt Motorsports is they have a lot of success on ovals," he said. "They have a lot of success on road courses as well, but they've won a lot of races on the ovals, they've won championships in this series before.”
“I really felt like my relative inexperience on ovals was sort of made up for by their experience, and they could really give me a lot of guidance in how to get the best out of the car and how to race well.
The win at Homestead lost no luster for Lloyd even though the last twenty laps were run under yellow before the race ended ten laps short of its scheduled distance. "Of course, this is my first race win on an oval,” he said. “It crosses that sort of boundary, if there ever was one, in winning on an oval. So that was very good.”
“It all worked out very well. We had a few ups and downs at practice and qualifying where things didn't quite go to plan, but it went together for the race, which is the most important thing."
St. Pete Weekend Sees First IPS Double-Header
The Indy Pro Series cars will contest two races at the St. Petersburg Grand Prix, the first on Saturday March 31st and the second on Sunday April 1st. The 1.8 mile street course winds around the downtown area of the city’s yacht harbor and airport, where the racers will achieve speeds close to 150 miles per hour.
“St. Petersburg is more of what I'm used to in road courses,” added Lloyd. “I've raced there twice before, I feel very strong because I've raced these cars at that track.”
"So we're all looking very good. I know we should have a good car. A lot of our preseason testing has been development towards St. Pete. I'm looking forward to see how that goes."
The sixth season of Indy Pro Series competition continues with the Indy Pro Series Grand Prix of St. Petersburg doubleheaders on March 31st and April 1st on the at Streets of St. Petersburg. The race will be telecast at 4:30 PM (EDT) on April 6th by ESPN2.
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