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INDYCAR MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 16, 2015Spencer PigotTHE MODERATOR: Thank you. Welcome everyone to the IndyCar media teleconference. Spencer Pigot, who last weekend became the 2015 champion of Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires, the top rung of the Mazda Road to Indy developmental ladder series. Thank you for joining us today, Spencer. SPENCER PIGOT: That's a lot for having me. THE MODERATOR: If ever there was a poster child for the Mazda Road to Indy it would be you. You won the Skip Barber Shootout Scholarship in 2009 to advance from karting to the Skip Barber National Series. You took advantage of that by winning the Skip Barber National title in 2010 to earn another scholarship and move up Cooper Tires USF2000 Powered by Mazda where finished second in 2011 and 2012. Also won the F2000 Winterfest in 2012, and then moved up to Pro Mazda presented by Cooper Tires in 2013 and won the Championship there in 2014 to earn yet another Mazda scholarship to drive this season in Indy Lights. Now with the Indy Lights title you earn a $1 million scholarship for the Verizon IndyCar Series, with at least three races guaranteed, including the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in May 2016. How would you sum up what the Mazda Road to Indy has meant to your career? SPENCER PIGOT: The Mazda Road to Indy has been vital for my career really. Ever since I was 16, my first transition into car racing was with Mazda, and I probably wouldn't have been able to move up to Skip Barber National Championship without Mazda's help. From then on, moving up with through the ladder with them and Cooper tire, the whole ladder system is a absolutely fantastic. Each rung brings a new challenge and new type of car that helps prepare you for the next level. I've really enjoyed it. I really think this is the place to be. If you want to become an IndyCar car driver or you're just starting in Formula cars or you're on the Indy Lights Indy level, you need to come over and take part in this feeder system. I'm very fortunate that it's around and that it's here and I've been able to take advantage of it quite a few times. Again, just been so important to my career, and definitely wouldn't be here without them. THE MODERATOR: Well said. You ended last weekend's Indy Lights doubleheader finale at Mazda Raceway 6 points behind Jack Harvey in the standings, but you went out and won both races, the third time this season you collected the doubleheader sweep to win the Championship for yourself and Juncos Racing. How did you do it? SPENCER PIGOT: Well, going into the weekend we knew there was only one thing that would make us really happy and one thing that accomplish our goal, which was firstly beat Jack in both races, because without doing that we wouldn't win. Also we knew if we won the races then it would be pretty straightforward. As always, that's our goal. But my teammate, Kyle, has been to Mazda Raceway a bunch of times, so it was really good to have him there. He definitely helped me a lot getting used to the track. It's a pretty unique track and pretty challenging as well. It was good to have him. The team has been there before. Just we never gave up. We were quick right from the getgo. We didn't get complacent. We always tried to find a few more, and I think that's what kept us at the front for the whole weekend. Both starts I didn't get pole, but I was up towards the front. Just tried to keep my nose clean and stay out of trouble on the starts. Luckily came out unscathed. Max in the first race made it fairly easy for me with his small mistakes. Then the second race him and Jack were fighting hard in the first corner, so I was able to just slide by. When I got in the lead I just focused hitting my marks. It's difficult place to pass, so I knew as long as I didn't make any mistakes I would be in good shape. That was the trick to it: just focusing on me and not worrying too much about the Championships and how many points we had to get. Just trying to win the races. THE MODERATOR: Let's go ahead and open up for questions from the media. Q. Congratulations Spencer. You've had a great success early in your life. What traits have helped you most along the way do you think? And also, what do you think working with and competing with IndyCar veterans, how will that maybe increase‑‑ how will their information and maybe a little bit of help help you with your chances of success at the next level? SPENCER PIGOT: Yeah, thank you. What traits do I have? I don't know. I mean, I think I'm able to adapt fairly quickly to a new car, new circumstances. Moving up to road to Indy, all the cars are nice and progressive, so each level gets a bit bigger and a bit faster. Especially this year with the new Indy Lights car. Quite a bit different to anything I've driven before in terms of pace and the size of the car, all the things you have to do with the Push‑to‑Pass strategy and this and that. So I think it helped being with Juncos Racing again racing for a second year. But it's been being able to adapt and figure out the car early on in the season is what gave us good success this year. As far as next year racing against the IndyCar veterans, I can't wait. I've been watching some of these guys ever since I can remember. Montoya, Dixon, Helio, to be actually on the grid with them will be pretty special. I've made friends with a few of the guys in IndyCar, so I'll be sure to be asking them questions for advice and stuff. Hopefully they're still just a friendly to me as they have been when I'm not racing against them. Definitely still a lot for me to learn moving up into IndyCar, and just looking forward to whatever the future holds. Whatever team and team mates I'll be driving for, just looking forward to soaking up as much information as I can. Hopefully it's the start of the long career for me in the Verizon IndyCar Series. Q. You're from Orlando, Florida. What's it like for you to have the IndyCar IndyCar Series start its season in St. Petersburg? SPENCER PIGOT: It's great going St. Pete every year. I always have a lot of friends and family that come down from Orlando to see me race. It's only about an hour or so from my parents' house, so it's exciting. It's a great time of the year to be in Florida. Always nice and sunny. Warm weather; right there by the water were. It's the perfect event to kick off the season. It's been very good to me. I've won quite a few races there. Hopefully we can have a good debut there in 2016. Q. Spence, look forward to talking about racing. How are you? SPENCER PIGOT: Good, thanks. Q. You've already had of course your first IndyCar test with Team Penske in the last month. When you look at the landscape of teams out there, how do you go about the process now of, Okay which team do we go with? What are your team aspirations? SPENCER PIGOT: You know, I'm not really sure. There are a lot of really good teams this year. I guess it comes down to which teams have seats available. There are some teams that are full; someone car teams; some teams that may be looking to expand to another car. I think that that's where the first conversation come in. Just seeing who has availability for next year and whether or not they're interested in having me drive for them. There are lots of good teams out there. I don't really have one in mind that I really want to drive for and I'll be disappointed if it's not them. At the end of the day, we've seen it in IndyCar drivers from lots of different teams can be up there and win races and be on the podium. Just looking for whatever team is the best fit, and we can put the strongest package together. Q. Would you like it if you have a teammate situation as opposed to where J. Joseph came in and he was on a single car team? SPENCER PIGOT: Yeah, I think having a teammate, especially an experienced teammate, would be a big help. There is so much to learn. I've only driven IndyCar once, and in that one day I learned a ton from Team Penske and Will and Dave and everyone there. That would definitely be very important to us, to have a good teammate that I can learn from and just expedite my learning process a little bit quicker. THE MODERATOR: While waiting for our next question, you talked a little bit a minute ago about how you've progressed. You turn 22 years old in a couple weeks. Is this about where you expected to be at this point in your career? SPENCER PIGOT: You know, my dad and I and my mom would always talk about my career at dinner and everything and where we wanted to be by certain years. It's been a goal and a plan more or less for us to be in the 100th running of the Indy 500 for quite a few years now. Going into it we thought it would be a second year of Indy Lights with a 500 entry like we've seen happen with a few guys in the past. Definitely it wasn't‑‑ it was pretty unexpected to come into Indy Lights rookie year and win the Championship and now be looking to do hopefully a full year the IndyCar by this time. Always been the plan and the dream to be in the 100th running, but didn't think it would necessarily be in addition to hopefully a full season and at least a few other events. It's a very unexpected and pleasant surprise. THE MODERATOR: I think you started karting at the age of ten. What got you started and what kept you going? What really turned you on to the sport. SPENCER PIGOT: My dad used to race back in England and a little bit I've here in the states. He's always been a big race fan. Every since I can remember I was watching IndyCar and Formula 1 with him every weekend. Got my first go‑kart when I was nine years old, and just loved it straight from a the getgo. From then on just always wanted to keep doing it. As I kept improving and winning races around Florida, then we would go and do national championships and win that. We would always trying to progress up the ladder, and eventually the dream of being in IndyCar. It came around at the perfect time for me as I was entering the car racing world, and it's just been great ever since. THE MODERATOR: Since we have no more questions at this point, we would like to thank you for your time today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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