| Interviews with GTD and LMP2 Race Winners |
| Sunday, September 22, 2024Indianapolis Motor Speedway Interviews with: Adam Adelson and Elliott SkeerTHE MODERATOR: We are joined now by our GTD winners, Adam Adelson is to the left, next to Elliott Skeer. Adam, start us off, first win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. What does that mean to you? ADAM ADELSON: First, Yan (Heylen) had to catch a flight and he couldn’t be here. First win at Indy is absolutely incredible. I’ve lost three championships here over the last two years, and in different racing series, and you know, Elliot asked me before this weekend if I thought this was going to be an emotional one and I said, “No, we are here to practice. We are here to learn. We are here to race and just improve for what’s to come in the future.” Little did we know that we’d both be walking away with our first IMSA win at Indianapolis, a place which has treated us so poorly in the past. It’s just absolutely incredible. THE MODERATOR: Elliot, you’ve worked your way up through the various ranks here in the IMSA sanctioned series and elsewhere through the Porsche ranks, and now you’ve made it to the top of the ladder here. Tell us about it and what it means to win. ELLIOTT SKEER: It’s a pretty emotional day, as we say, we’ve yet to have a non-emotional race at Indy for highs and lows. To finally win an IMSA race and to spend 20 years chasing this to do it with Wright Motorsports in a Porsche; it’s literally what I’ve been chasing, literally that exact combo, for a decade now. To not only do that, but to do it with my best friend, Adam, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s the best day of my life without a shadow of a doubt. One of the coolest feelings. Everything that I’ve worked towards for it absolutely paying off with it. The opportunity to kiss the bricks, you don’t get that opportunity in life without being in a pretty cool situation, and then to be able to come here on a weekend that, yeah, as we were saying, we didn’t think it was going to be a high emotional weekend and it comes out being the most. It’s an unbelievable feeling. The team did everything right. We guessed — for the conditions today and how different they had been to the previous days, obviously with the Porsche, you had to make some adjustments for that, and they absolutely nailed it today. There’s an insane amount of credit that has to go to the engineers and the crew for what they did to this car to give us the opportunity to fight for the win and we just took every part of that opportunity and executed over six hours. Yeah, truly, truly a special day in my life. Q. Seems like you guys got to the lead early. How did you plot for all the various conditions and the chaos on track? ADAM ADELSON: Well, this being my first year in IMSA and first year racing at what I like to think is a pretty professional level, for me, it’s taking the start, it’s always good to do that. For me to get my stints out early is kind of the goal because Elliot and Yan are considerably faster than me. So pretty much for me, it’s go out there, learn and try to give them the car in the best condition and in the best position that I possibly can. And you know, I do teal know that in a lot of these races, you know, the longer format ones, endurance races, that the beginning stints don’t typically matter as much as the middle and the end ones. Usually, it’s just survive and stay on the lead lap and try to stay as high up in the pack as you can. But you know, today I really felt like I made a difference and the driver order, after that, just with the yellows and the rain, it just made sense to keep me in for the first hour 30, hour 40, and hand off to Yan and have Elliott double and have Yan finish because we wanted him to finish. Q. It was a 56-car field and you had the changing conditions as it was. Could you put into context, from our vantage point up here, when it was under green flag conditions, it was pretty exciting. ELLIOTT SKEER: It’s definitely a different mindset in those sort of conditions in an Endurance race. It’s different in it’s a two-hour versus a six; if it’s changing versus just a straight dry race. Ultimately days like today become the one who losses the least amount of time is the one who ultimately puts themselves in the best position. Adam was definitely in the most changing conditions out there, and ultimately he did an unbelievable job driving through the field in the middle of the rain and chaos to put us in a strong position; and then it became the job of both Yan and myself just to minimize any losses. So the traffic is nonstop around here. It’s definitely a great warm up for Petit in that sense. The traffic is unbelievable. It’s how little can you lose with traffic, how little can you lose making a mistake in staying out of the grass, staying out of the gravel and ultimately running a strong, consistent pace up front is what we needed to do. But it definitely took Adam being up there to get us in that position to run that pace that we needed. It’s definitely a lot of management. You are definitely not on a qualifying lap every lap like you are at some other tracks, which frankly I love that style of Endurance racing, just being smart with it and it all seemed to work out today. Q. Is it fun, stressful or all of the above? ELLIOTT SKEER: It’s amazing. It’s what we work for to be in all those situations. As a driver when you’re out there, it’s changing but you’re pushing yourself. It’s unlike other sports. There is a physical edge. You know, there is a grip limit to the tire so you are doing everything you can to stay as close to that as possible without going over. So it’s a physical challenge, a mental challenge, and at the end of the day, you know, doing that is what we live for and then ultimately to come out with a win, it truly makes a very special day. Q. You talked about the setup calls, was it just that, you just had the right car under you, or were there some strategy decisions that played a part in getting to the front as well? ELLIOTT SKEER: I think I can make the pun of, we definitely did have the “right” car for both the “R” and the “W” sense of the word. I’d like to say, it’s the most satisfying thing to win in a Porsche because it is quite hard to win in a Porsche. Everything has to be right with that car to do it, and when you do, it’s truly unbelievable. Ultimately with the conditions changing as much as they do, you ultimately have to play a little bit of a game in understanding what it might be the next day. We took a look at the weather and said you know what, try it this way, try it that way. I think we had a good hour-and-to-hour-and-a-half discussion on the driver order, and then we threw it out the window and then we redid it, and then in the middle of the race, we changed it up again. Ultimately it played out as it needed to. But I can safely, say it truly takes a team for this result to come together. As drivers, we only have the car that’s under us. As the crew, they only give us what they can and let the drivers deal with it. Yeah, this is the biggest team effort I’ve been a part of, and just everything came together today. ADAM ADELSON: Just to add on to that. ELLIOTT SKEER: Yeah. ADAM ADELSON: We lost almost our entire first practice due to a collision with another car, and neither Elliott nor I got into the car until yesterday for the first time. ELLIOTT SKEER: Yeah. ADAM ADELSON: I think we really didn’t have the right setup on the car, and we didn’t get it right for quali either so we kind of threw the kitchen sink at it but in a very calculated way with a lot of intent in every single change. I have to give a really strong shout out to the guys at Wright Motorsports because they really pulled a rabbit out of the hat with that one and gave us an incredible, incredible car that worked great in the dry. Worked great in the wet. It was comfortable to drive. It was just amazing. Q. Hearing that, does it make it even more impressive that you led 140 out of the 207 laps that the GTD class completed? ADAM ADELSON: Absolutely. ELLIOTT SKEER: Without a doubt. ADAM ADELSON: Absolutely. Without a doubt. ELLIOTT SKEER: I got us up there. ADAM ADELSON: These guys are some proper, proper wheelmen. I got us into the Top-10, and I think we started 16th and ended up in fifth, and then Yan drove it straight to the front. ELLIOTT SKEER: I just drove around. Did what I can with it, and when you get the position up there, it’s a lot easier to make it happen. But you were definitely in the muck of it to say the least. Had to keep the nose clean. Kept all the guide plans on and put us in the position with it. So a lot of variables today to say the least. ADAM ADELSON: I didn’t want to get out. They were like — box this lap. I was like, wait, I can go a little bit longer. ELLIOTT SKEER: Tires were good. Yeah, we sensed that for sure. |
| Interviews with: Hunter McElrea, Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas THE MODERATOR: Okay. We are joined now by our winners in the LMP2 class, from left-to-right: Hunter McElrea, Mikkel Jensen and Steven Thomas. This is the team’s first win of the season. THE MODERATOR: Hunter, why don’t you start us off, your first win comes here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. What does it mean to you? HUNTER MCELREA: I love this place. I it’s kind of like my home track in America. I live in Carmel (ph) during the year, so I have a lot of experience in the Road to Indy stuff, and it took me so long. I got second eight times and it was really annoying, and I won last year Indy Lights and I was joking it would be cool to go back-to-back because obviously they won it last year as well. It’s cool. I was hopeful. I felt like we would be quick here. But, honestly, without sounding cocky, we’ve been literally fast everywhere. And we kind of felt robbed at Sebring, like we did — everybody did an amazing job, and it was a bit of a lottery with how the yellow fell. We knew we had the speed. We just needed things to click, and yeah, I’m happy. It’s really nice to win an IMSA and to do it with these two guys that have done a lot for me, it’s super cool. THE MODERATOR: We’ll slide over to Mikkel. As Hunter mentioned, you were quick on Friday and led the practice session. Was it just kind of a weekend where everything clicked for you guys all together? MIKKEL JENSEN: The TDS car is very good here. That’s why we won last year. We went out in FP1, we were straightaway quick again. I didn’t participate in the test, but these guys were also fast at the test. At least what I got reported and saw from all the data and lap time. So we had big trust in the team for this race. We know our lineup is strong. We know our car is strong. So we just needed to execute the strategy today and have the weather on our side as well. It was quite a crazy race for Steven starting on slicks, getting on the wets, then we had a long time under the safety car. And then Hunter did an amazing job bringing it up to first, and yeah, that made my life easier as well. Just super happy to be back on the top step, back-to-back wins in Indianapolis. And as Hunter said, I think we should have won Sebring. We were the fastest in Watkins Glen as well, but we crashed. So, yeah, luck has not been on our side, but we just take one race at a time. Now we won this one, and one more to go to win. THE MODERATOR: Steven, you got to feel what it was like to kiss the bricks here last year, and now you get to do it again. What are the emotions like with that? STEVE THOMAS: Well, I think this is a very satisfying race. I think whenever a Bronze is driving around in the rain, everyone is pretty nervous. It was a lot of fun for me. I love the rain. So it was a great experience today for me, and you know, now we’re tied for the Endurance, first place in the Endurance Cup, so we really have something to shoot for Petit Le Mans, one of my favorite tracks. But the emotions of coming back here and being able to kiss the bricks again, one of the highlights of my racing career, and to be able to do it with Mikkel Jensen, who I think is the best P2 driver in the world, maybe best wet driver in the world, too; and Hunter, who has proven to be the fastest Silver, it’s really been a pleasure to drive with them. Q. Not who was in the car at the time, but there was a penalty —HUNTER MCELREA: That was me. Q. Did you think your race could have been over? HUNTER MCELREA: Well, my engineer is French, and he’s really hard to understand on a good day. I can’t tell what he’s saying on a good day. So what happened was, some weird stuff sometimes happens on like the long yellows, full course yellows, and the pass around was not happening. And I was getting passed by cars, and I was super confused. So I was kind of whining about that, like what’s going on. And then I got the drive through and then spun by a GT, like the same time, and I’m like, Oh, I’m probably a lap down last. And then next thing you know, at the end of the stint I’m leading by ten seconds. So it sums IMSA up. It’s crazy. You’re never out of the fight. I think Ara (ph) is the legend of being two laps down and somehow being in the fight every time, I don’t know how. But yeah, it’s just IMSA, really. I have no idea and I still don’t have any idea. I just do what I’m told. But yeah, it was super confusing, and then I was very pleasantly surprised when we were P5 in the lead lap and I knew, I felt like we had — I knew I could at least get to the front. Yeah, it was nice to get to the lead and check out. Q. For Steven, there’s a lot of good Bronze in a deep field in LMP2 this year. What does it say when a Bronze is able to make such a difference at the start when it is such treacherous conditions? STEVE THOMAS: Yeah, I hear the Bronze field, when I first started a couple of years ago, it was me and Ben Keating trading back and forth. And now it looks like every Bronze out there looks like my child, you know (Laughter). You know, we’re in our 50s. I think — there’s all these 30-year-olds now, and they really drive. They are in single-seaters, and I started driving when I was 51. You go out and look at the field and, you think, wow, we really have to work hard and bring our game. And it’s just made me work harder and harder and harder in the sim and harder with Mikkel and Hunter because the Bronze field now, I mean, it’s got to be the best Bronze field ever in IMSA and the prototype. It’s got to be. I mean, these guys are good. MIKKEL JENSEN: I hope for the future that the Bronzes are German drivers and not drivers that have been driving since they were young kids. Q. Out of respect for our German friend, two questions for Hunter. You touched on your Road to Indy experience earlier. How much did that help you have a head start going into this weekend? HUNTER MCELREA: It was nice. Steven has given me an opportunity to where I’ve had a lot of testing, so I don’t necessarily feel like I’m unprepared when I come to the race. But I’ve never driven any track on a schedule apart from here until now, obviously, right. Like before the year, I had only driven here on the whole schedule. So it’s been a lot of learning. Road Atlanta, I’ve never driven, so it’s going to be another learning for a little bit. Honestly, I really like this track. I don’t know, you just never know — like Indy Lights car is a little different, and obviously the single-seater stuff to the P2 in a way, but similar, but also different in its own way. I didn’t want to assume we were going to be fast. But I kind of knew, probably, halfway through the first day of testing we were doing, I was like, okay, we need to get our basics right and we’ll probably win, hopefully. It’s never easy, but the pace will be there. It helped me a lot, truthfully. Even in the wet, knowing where the grip was, I had a really fun stint in the wet, and it was all stuff I already knew, which was nice because usually I’m just trying stuff all the time and learning on the go. Q. You’ve come up through the open-wheel ladder in America. I know it’s probably been your main focus and trying to make that No. 1, but how do drives like this and performances like this secure a sports car future in America to keep doing this more and more and more if IndyCar just fizzles out for you? HUNTER MCELREA: Yeah, I don’t know. I had no idea I was going to be racing sports cars, really, last year at this time. But I literally had nothing. Like I had no drive at all. And he sent me an Instagram DM and said, “Do you want to drive for us?” I had never met this guy. I was like, Is this guy pranking me? MIKKEL JENSEN: He was the best-looking guy. Hunter McElrea: Steven funds it and makes it possible, Steven and his wife, Emily. He kind of runs the program. I kind of have two bosses in a way. But no, it’s been so cool to join them, and it’s funny because it’s true. It’s been so cool to join them. And I don’t know what happens next year with ratings and stuff like that. If I stay Silver, then I think I’d love to be back with these guys. But depending on a lot of things maybe out of my control, I don’t really know what next year looks like. I feel like I did a good job today, we all did, but hopefully it’s enough to get me something, especially if I’m upgraded. Q. If you could talk about the last move, I think you had to get by the 22 at the end for the lead, you sort of bumped him out of the way in turn one. Did you know you were that much stronger? Talk about the move and how you pulled it off. MIKKEL JENSEN: It was a crazy stint at the end because some guys, depending how long their fuel stop would be, some would not take tires and some took two tires like we did, only two new on the left. Some took a full set because a longer fuel stop, and I was obviously informed that Paul di Resta would be on older rubber than I was. And yeah, I went for the gap. We are good friends off the track. So I hope he wouldn’t do anything stupid to me, and he didn’t. So it turned out well, everything. Q. Then you just drove away at that point. MIKKEL JENSEN: I think we had better tires at that point, and then we drove away but still surprised about the pace. I mean, we were faster than Dillmann having four tires, we only had two tires. So I really had to manage towards the end, I mean, the right front, the right side of the tires. Did a double stint; was harder to make it last. But a TDS car is strong, and it’s all about trying to be smart and not using too much tires in traffic when you get the dirty air, and just make it last over the stint.FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
