Playa Del Racing Driver Comes Full Circle with California Team
by Allan Brewer
allan@indyproracer.com
Playa Del Racing’s Phil Giebler took his turn behind the wheel of an IndyCar on Sunday (May 6th), fulfilling a life-long dream for the former A1 Team USA and Indy Pro Series driver. At twenty-eight, Phil has circumnavigated the globe in pursuit of a ride at the highest levels of motorsport; and now looks set to make a run for Rookie of the Year at the grand-daddy of all auto races, the Indianapolis 500.
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Playa Del Racing’s Phil Giebler
Photo: RonMcQueeneyIRL |
Giebler climbed into the car being prepared for his PDR teammate Jaques Lazier on Sunday to begin his mandatory speed tests at the famous Brickyard. The test consists of four laddered brackets that begin at 190 miles per hour and climb to over 210 miles per hour for a one lap turn over the fabled 2.5 mile oval in Indianapolis, Indiana.
At the end of the day he turned sufficient laps, fast enough, to pass two of the four phases and put him well on his way to mastering the test when practice at the Speedway resumes on Monday. If he successfully completes the program, Phil will have his shot at qualifying for the ninety-first running of America’s most important automobile race.
California Driver Races Into IndyCar with Pro Series Success
Phil returned to the Indy Racing League by returning first to the Indy Pro Series, in St. Petersburg, with the Playa Del team. After an impressive front-row qualification for the first of two races, Giebler went on to record an amazing finish in the car with no gear below 3rd left in the box in the second stanza.
Since then he’s benefited from working with teammate Jaques Lazier, an Indy 500 veteran, with testing at Kentucky Speedway in little Sparta, Kentucky.
Sunday the amiable Californian put all that preparation to work at the Speedway.
Giebler has the unique vantage point of running both the Indy Pro Series machines and those of A1GP.
Phil was a winner from the start in IPS, when he took home the trophy at the very first race (2004 Homestead-Miami Speedway) he ran.
He also was successful in the A1 Team USA Lola/Zytec racer, running consistently well and scoring a second-place finish (still tied with the team's best-ever single race result) in the A1GP Netherlands last fall.
Rising Star Began in Karts, Aimed for F1
Giebler, who hails from Oxnard, got his start in karting and worked his way up to the racing ladder in classic Formula 1 style, joining Spanish Formula 3 before returning to America to run in the Indy Pro Series for a single full year. That year, a few IPS one-offs, and his 2006/2007 campaign in A1GP gave Giebler additional experience that he's drawing from now, as he acknowledged from pitlane at the Speedway.
“Anytime you sit in a single-seater racecar is beneficial,” he said. “I think the biggest single thing in the Indy Pro Series is just getting used to the ovals, because it’s just a completely different world. If you’re not used to the visual, and the strain on your body, it’s quite a bit harder. The Indy Pro Series is a good stepping stone (to IndyCar) for sure.”
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Phil Giebler Multimedia Slideshow. Click on Photo to Start. Photo: RonMcQueeneyIRL Produced by: AllanBrewer |
“(In A1GP) the racing is really hard-core,” he said. “It’s wheel-to-wheel, banging all the time, with a lot of young, aspiring F1 drivers on their way up. It was a great experience. It was really good to do it. It’s all about finesse in the A1GP car, having to balance it.”
A1GP cars have no traction control, a paddle-shifter on the steering wheel, and are intended to be as equally competitive as possible in order that driver skill determine the outcome of races as the series trots the southern hemisphere, following the sun, during North American and European winter.
“Their qualifying format is very intense, and very good,” he said of the four fifteen-minute segment qualifying rules of the A1GP series.
He went on to explain that the IndyCar requires a level of respect for its remarkable power and precision feel that is unlike either the Indy Pro Series or A1GP.
“There’s quite a lot of difference between this (IndyCar) and the A1GP car. The A1GP car is all-spec. You can’t really develop anything, and aerodynamically they’re not very efficient in producing downforce. You’re really driving on the tires.”
“The A1GP car has quite a bit more power than the Indy Pro Series car,” he continued, “so that got me closer to what the IndyCar has, and it was helpful in learning car control. Anytime I get in a car like this I always learn, and the time I get in this year at Indy is something I’m looking forward to.”
The sixth season of Indy Pro Series competition continues with the Freedom 100 on May 25th at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race will be telecast as part of ESPN2’s coverage of Carb Day at 4PM EDT on May 25th.
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