The ultra competitiveness of the Verizon IndyCar Series has been felt by all who have raced this season, top to bottom.
While some are basking in the glow of victory and challenging for the championship, others are helping build a team from the ground up in hopes of one day rivaling those at the top. For now, Max Chilton is the latter.
The 27-year-old Brit has endured a character-building campaign in 2018. After spending his first two seasons at Chip Ganassi Racing, he joined Carlin as it moved up this year to the Verizon IndyCar Series. Although a season-best of 11th place in the first race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix may not electrify the stats column, it brought hope of the potential to come and was backed the following week with 12th-place effort on the daunting oval at Texas Motor Speedway.
Through the first 10 races, Chilton has out-qualified teammate Charlie Kimball – who came to Carlin along with Chilton from Ganassi – on seven occasions. However, Kimball has the upper hand with three top 10-finishes, something Chilton aims to rectify over the final seven races.
“I want to get a good number of top-10s,” Chilton said.
“I feel like I’m driving well this year, it’s just not falling into place, which is quite typical of a new team,” said Chilton, who drives the No. 59 Gallagher Chevrolet. “There’s just things with pit stops, strategies, etc., so I’m not giving up. I actually think I’m driving very, very, very well this year, so I’m going to keep that up and see if it can pay dividends by the end of the year.”
Chilton has shown consistent growth as a driver since entering the series in 2016. In his second season, he equaled or bettered 14 of 16 race results compared to his rookie year. Ultimately, it’s a race craft built on experience.
“It’s a knowledge and understanding of watching other races,” said Chilton, a veteran of 35 Formula One starts (2013-14) prior to coming to the United States to race for Carlin in Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires in 2015.
“History doesn’t sort of repeat itself, but it gives a good understanding of what can happen in the future. So I’ve tried to look at ways to overtake at certain tracks, looking at certain people’s experiences. I now know how critical in and out laps are. Scott Dixon’s like the master of fuel saving, so being his teammate (in 2016-17), I learned a few tips through that and it’s just more knowledge and understanding. And so I feel like I’m driving very well.
“I feel like I’m driving better than I did last year and I finished 11th in the championship, so hopefully we’ll have a car soon to do justice.”
One of the places where Chilton looks to put in a strong performance comes later this week at Iowa Speedway, site of Sunday’s Iowa Corn 300. Chilton’s lone Indy Lights victory came on the bullring oval in 2015. It was also Carlin’s first oval win and the team remains undefeated at Iowa in Indy Lights since, with Felix Serralles winning in 2016 and current AJ Foyt Racing rookie Matheus Leist victorious last year.
“Yeah, it’s definitely a bit of confidence,” Chilton said of returning to Iowa. “We’re not testing (before race weekend), so I think that’ll hurt us a bit, and there’s only 60 minutes of practice before qualifying. For a new team that’s a big challenge, but Carlin have a good understanding of what is needed there, even though we’ve never driven an Indy car there.
“They’ve won a race there in Indy Lights every year since they’ve competed there, so they obviously get what that track needs. Hopefully, it’ll pay dividends and we’ll be quick.”
Verizon IndyCar Series activity at Iowa begins with a 60-minute practice at 11:15 a.m. ET Saturday. Qualifying starts at 3:30 p.m. and airs live on NBCSN. A final 60-minute practice rolls off at 6:45 p.m.
Coverage of the 300-lap race commences at 2 p.m. Sunday on NBCSN and the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network. The green flag is expected to wave at 2:40 p.m.