Romain Grosjean's "butterflies" returned for stunning maiden IndyCar pole

Romain Grosjean

Grosjean's "butterflies" returned for stunning maiden IndyCar pole

Grosjean will start the Grand Prix at Indy on pole position in just his third race in the series

Ewan Gale

Saturday 15 May 2021 10:35

Romain Grosjean revealed the chance to compete has "got those butterflies" back after taking his maiden IndyCar Series pole position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The Frenchman, making just his third appearance in the series for Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing, bettered two-time champion Josef Newgarden by 0.127 secs to claim his first pole position in any single-seater category since the 2011 GP2 Series opener in Turkey.

Talking to NBCSN directly after qualifying, Grosjean said: “That feeling, whoa! I forgot what it was... the last few laps, I was on it.”

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“Days that I completely forgot about is when you get to race weekend, you got those butterflies because you know if you do everything right, you may end up on pole or trying to win the race.

“That’s definitely something I had no chance to do over the last few years.”

In his first two races, Grosjean had to contend with the short, undulating high-speed challenge at Barber Motorsports Park before heading to one of America's typical narrow and bumpy street courses in St. Petersburg.

On the F1-style layout at Indianapolis, he added: “All the tracks I’ve been racing in the US, that’s the one that feels the most familiar."

“I can tell it was actually designed for F1, the way the curves are, the layout and the corners.

“I knew I was going to feel OK on the track quite quickly, whereas St. Pete takes a little bit more time to learn. Barber, a few tricks here that you need to understand. Here for me, it’s a bit more straightforward.”