ECR’s California boys converge on Sonoma
New Ed Carpenter Racing team-mates, J.R. Hildebrand and Spencer Pigot took on Sonoma Raceway as part of ECR’s testing programme before the first Verizon IndyCar Series race of 2017 in St. Petersburg. The new team-mates worked together for the first time completing a busy day of testing at the Northern California road course.
Twitter: Talk about riding shotgun…
@ECRIndy driver @SpencerPigot takes you for a wild lap around @RaceSonoma!
Shot on… https://t.co/pBzZFjSyeK (@RaceSonoma)
Hildebrand returns to Ed Carpenter Racing full-time taking the mantle from Josef Newgarden, who left in the offseason for Team Penske. Pigot returns as ECR’s road course specialist.
For Hildebrand and Pigot, the test together felt like a homecoming as both are from California. Moreso for Hildebrand, who grew up close to the circuit.
Twitter: RT @RaceSonoma: “It’s great to be back”
@IndyCar driver @JRHildebrand chats with @RaceSonoma about his testing day with @ECRIndy https://t.… (@ECRIndy)
The pair had nothing but good things to say about their day.
“You’d rather go test when other cars are there so you know what’s going on, but we still managed to get a lot done and cover a lot of ground,” Hildebrand, a Bay Area native told RACER.
“Our test plan was less about making the car perfect for Sonoma and more about getting everybody ready for the season, both cars, both crews, all the engineers, all coming together and I feel like we accomplished that.”
“It’s been awhile since we were here and it’s been since September since I drove the car, so I’m excited to be back in an Indycar and so far so good,” said Pigot, a southern California native.
“We had a really productive morning, and we’ve been sticking to our test plan, which we spent a lot of time going over before we got here in order to maximize our day.”
Hildebrand also gushed about his new team-mate’s competitiveness and attention to detail.
“The last handful of races Spencer was quite competitive with Josef, and more often than not he was within a tenth or two of him in a lot of sessions,” he said.
“I think Spencer’s come back from the offseason with more of an idea on what to focus on and I expect it to be really good for he and I. I think we’ll end up looking for similar things in the car, and the hope is we’ll push each other when we’re on track, on finding the right setups, and in every area that’s important to our success.”
The pair is ECR’s presumptive line-up for the IndyCar Series opener in St. Petersburg on March 12.