SEBRING, Fla. – A big Italian feast prepared by (or at least provided by) Luca Filippi. How’s that for integration into CFH Racing?
That’s down the road. Another, equally satisfying, means was climbing in the No. 20 Fuzzy’s Award Winning Vodka car Feb. 3-4 at Sebring International Raceway to get a baseline on the Chevrolet-powered car’s set-up and work with engineer Matt Barnes and new teammate Josef Newgarden.
Filippi, 29, of Italy, was named last week to compete in the Verizon IndyCar Series road/street course events. Team co-owner/driver Carpenter will continue to contest the No. 20 car at the oval races. Newgarden, driving the No. 67 entry, enters his fourth season with the team.
“We felt like this was an important two days for us for a whole lot of reasons,” Carpenter. “We wanted to get acclimated to Luca and have him get acclimated to us. We’ve been working together as a two-car team all winter but haven’t had the luxury of track testing.
“These days are important for us to build our team – the relationships and the chemistry -- and not necessarily all what we’re doing on track with set-ups. That element is what we’ll need for us to take the next step this season.”
Filippi has made eight Verizon IndyCar Series starts over the past two seasons, but each lacked the preparation he would have desired.
“I can’t tell you how happy I am. I’ve been chasing a (Verizon IndyCar Series) contract for a while and I don’t remember the last time I had the opportunity to have a proper program with a proper contract in time to go testing and make things right before the first race,” he said. “Those situations I had to go as fast as possible; it was the only thing I could do. Now it’s different. Now we have testing and preparing. We have more time and the opportunity to get to the first race well-prepared and go from there.”
CFH Racing will join other teams for additional track time Feb. 10-11 at NOLA Motorsports Park, which hosts the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana on April 10-12. That race will be the second of the season with the new aerodynamic bodywork kits supplied by Chevrolet and Honda.
“We’re trying to try different things on the track and help each other find some interesting packages,” Filippi said. “I’m starting to get used to the car and work with the engineers and Josef, who has been working with them for a while. We start step by step.
“I’m looking forward to working with the guys. The team is getting bigger and the goal is for everybody to do well. I couldn’t ask for a better situation.”
The Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 27-29 is the season opener.
“Having Luca (Filippi) here has been fun to learn his traits what we both like in trying to maximize two cars," Newgarden said. "That’s the big thing for us – how to do that efficiently and keep up with everyone else. It’s been fun just getting back in the car after a long winter break.”
Tuesday, February 3rd - Testing at Sebring International Raceway
