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IndyCar Driver Profile: Getting to know Patricio “Pato” O’Ward

ByBenjamin Kuhl|
BIRMINGHAM, AL - APRIL 10: Dario Franchitti of Scotland, driver of the #27 Clorox Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda, competes during the IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on April 10, 2011 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
BIRMINGHAM, AL - APRIL 10: Dario Franchitti of Scotland, driver of the #27 Clorox Target Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara Honda, competes during the IndyCar Series Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on April 10, 2011 in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)

As we enter a new age of open-wheel racing, it is important to know who will be stepping into the drivers’ seats to carve out their names in History. Patricio O’Ward is a name you will need to know in the coming years.

A quick check of his own website will tell you just what type of driver Patricio “Pato” O’Ward is on his way to becoming. The young Mexican started out in karts and was quick to find success by claiming an impressive number of wins in American and Mexican karting series.

At 13 years of age, O’Ward would move into Formula feeder series and pick up his first race win the following season in a Formula 4 car at the famous Circuit Paul Ricard in Le Castellet, France.

For 2017, O’Ward pulled double duty by taking part in four races in the Indy Lights Series with Team Pelfrey and simultaneously winning the IMSA Prototype Challenge championship with Performance Tech Motorsports.

This season, O’Ward drives full-time for Andretti Autosport in the Indy Lights Series, where he has found a perfect fit and hopes to stay and grow with the organization.

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"“It has been an awesome year so far. They have given me the warmest of welcomes I could ever ask for and they have been right by my side to help me with whatever I need…of course I’d love to move up with them to IndyCar. My goal is obviously to stay within the team and move up with them to IndyCar next year.”"

O’Ward recently took back-to-back wins in the doubleheader races at his current favorite track, Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama, and he currently sits in first place in the Indy Lights championship standings with 110 points over Santiago Urrutia, who has 94 points.

With IndyCar on the rise, the times are ushering in new drivers to take up the driving mantel. Names like Kyle Kaiser, Jordan King, Zachary Claman DeMelo, and Robert Wickens are coming in to take up the flag and are wasting no time in fighting for points.

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It’s always important to know the young names that will be moving up into the sport. You can look for Patricio “Pato” O’Ward to continue making a name for himself before joining the ultra-competitive IndyCar Series.