Alumni news: Pedersen secures 2023 IndyCar drive with AJ Foyt

Alumni news: Pedersen secures 2023 IndyCar drive with AJ Foyt

28 September 2022

BRDC British F3 race-winner Benjamin Pedersen has secured an IndyCar drive with AJ Foyt Racing for the 2023 season and beyond after signing a ‘multi-year’ deal with the team.

Pedersen won British F3 races with Douglas Motorsport and Double R Racing in 2019 and 2020, before moving on to Indy Lights for the past two seasons.

The American-Dane proved a competitive addition to the IndyCar feeder series, taking 11 podiums and a victory and now follows in the footsteps of Matheus Leist, who graduated to Indy Lights after winning the 2016 BRDC British F3 title, and then moved to the top tier series with the same AJ Foyt squad in 2018-19.

The team plans to run Pedersen for multiple seasons as part of their plans to develop the youngster.

“I’m super excited to get going with the team,” said Pedersen. “I’ve spent a lot of time this season with AJ Foyt Racing learning the ins and outs of making the jump to IndyCar and it’s been really nice to do that in conjunction with my Indy Lights season. IndyCar has been my target goal since I started open wheel racing in 2016. The racing, atmosphere, fans, events, tracks, etc. are all awesome.”

Pedersen has already sampled IndyCar machinery earlier this year, and showed promising speed with a different team.

“When I had my debut IndyCar test a few months ago, it was a very successful day topping the time charts and I found it very natural to transition into the car,” he said.

“The biggest differences were the brakes, dampers, tyres, and aero. You have a much higher sensation of grip compared to the Indy Lights car and I actually felt the IndyCar was a bit easier to drive in many regards.

“The carbon brakes are the biggest difference, and they allow you to brake so late and hard, and when combined with all the other things mentioned above, it’s nearly impossible to lock the brakes on the initial brake phase due to how much grip there is. It’s just a really enjoyable car to drive that really rewards attacking the brakes and also asking a lot of the tyre laterally.”

After integrating Pedersen with the team over the past year, team owner Larry Foyt is looking forward to working with the 23-year-old across the next few seasons.

“We are really looking forward to having Benjamin as part of the team,” Foyt said. “His enthusiasm is infectious, and he is 100% committed to IndyCar, AJ Foyt Racing, and doing the best he can to win races.

“It’s been great to have him embedded with the team this past season, and everyone is excited to hit the ground running when testing begins. It is also great to have a multi-year program in place, which will help him and the team grow together.”

Pedersen’s pre-season testing campaign will begin in January.

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