Fansided

Spencer Pigot interview: Previewing the 2018 IndyCar season’s end

By Brittany Frederick

Spencer Pigot on pit lane at Portland International Raceway. Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Courtesy of IndyCar.
Spencer Pigot on pit lane at Portland International Raceway. Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/Courtesy of IndyCar. /
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Before the 2018 IndyCar season finale, Spencer Pigot speaks about the season, Ed Carpenter Racing, and how the Road to Indy helped his IndyCar career.

Spencer Pigot’s 2018 IndyCar season has been a successful one. Going into Sunday’s GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma, he’s on track for his highest finish in the championship standings ever.

The Ed Carpenter Racing driver is also coming off a strong fourth place finish at the Grand Prix of Portland — his second top 5 result of the year — and has just signed an extension with the team for 2019.

Before he finishes his season, FanSided connected with Spencer Pigot to discuss his first full-time season in IndyCar, and how participating in the Mazda Road to Indy program prepared him for this drive.

Read what he had to tell us below and don’t miss the 2018 IndyCar season’s final race, airing this Sunday, Sept. 16 on NBCSN.

FanSided: How do you look back on the 2018 IndyCar season?

Spencer Pigot (SP): I’m happy with some races. I think we had some good showings and some not so good showings, and had some mistakes in races that could have gone a lot better than they did.

When you look back at it all, it’s definitely nice to be on the podium [at Iowa]. I think there’s a lot of positives to take away [and] a lot of races we’ll look back on and think that if that hadn’t happened, the races would have turned out a lot differently. I think we can be pretty pleased with most of our performances, but there’s still a lot of work to do and we need to find some more speed. It’s always the never-ending hunt to go faster.

FanSided: You’ll be returning to Ed Carpenter Racing in 2019. How would you describe the team as a whole?

SP: From the drivers to the crew to the engineers, we all have a really good feeling that we can be consistently challenging towards the front. We’ve shown that quite a few times this year, that we have the speed and potential to be up there. So I think we’re all optimistic and excited for what we can do in the future together.

FanSided: Before the 2018 IndyCar season, you spent two seasons co-driving the No. 20 with your team owner, Ed Carpenter. How did that affect you going into this season?

SP: It was not something that you really plan on doing. When you graduate from Indy Lights to IndyCar, you want to start racing full-time and get into the thick of things at every track. But it was definitely a good opportunity for me to get my feet wet and get a lot of experience.

With IndyCar racing, it’s a big change. There’s a lot of stuff going on, a lot of new things to learn. [Co-driving] also gave me a chance to start working with the engineers. I work with the same engineer that I have the past few seasons, so it was great to get a really good relationship with him in a part-time role before we attacked a full championship. A lot of things I learned, I’ve been able to carry on into this year.

FanSided: You’re also a graduate of the Mazda Road to Indy. Not every driver spends time working their way up the ladder, so did that experience help you?

SP: It was a really important time in my career. I spent five seasons in the Road to Indy — two in USF2000, two Pro Mazda and one for Indy Lights, and I learned a lot. I spent a lot of time with a lot of very good teams, and went to a lot of these tracks that I’m still racing on now in IndyCar. A big part of my success there was winning the championships [in Pro Mazda and Indy Lights], and getting the scholarship to keep moving up, which helped me get to IndyCar.

The Road to Indy is a great place. I definitely encourage young drivers that are looking for the next step in their career, whatever level they’re at, to look into Road to Indy if they’re trying to be an IndyCar driver. Without it, I definitely wouldn’t be here. Some people take different paths … I went through it all and it seems to have served me well so far.

Watch Spencer Pigot in the 2018 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sunday, Sept. 16 at 6:30 p.m. ET. For complete coverage of the 2018 IndyCar season, follow the Motor Sports category at FanSided.