IndyCar: Lowest-profile rookie Santino Ferrucci having biggest impact

By Asher Fair | Jun 15, 2019

FORT WORTH, TEXAS - JUNE 07: Santino Ferrucci of the United States, driver of the #19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images) /

Santino Ferrucci was the driver in IndyCar’s deep 2019 rookie class who entered the season flying under the radar, but so far, he has had the biggest impact.

Dale Coyne Racing’s Santino Ferrucci entered the 2019 IndyCar season as one of four drivers in what was considered IndyCar’s deepest rookie class in several seasons, but he was overshadowed by each of the other three.

Harding Steinbrenner Racing rookie Colton Herta finished in second place in the 2018 Indy Lights championship behind Patricio O’Ward, whose deal for a full-time ride with Harding Steinbrenner Racing for the 2019 season fell through under one month before the season was scheduled to start.

Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports rookie Marcus Ericsson arrived in IndyCar after spending five seasons competing in Formula 1, and Chip Ganassi Racing rookie Felix Rosenqvist was considered one of the most versatile rookies that the series had ever seen given his large amounts of success in many other series, most recently Formula E.

But with nine of the 2019 season’s 17 races having been contested, it has been Ferrucci who has had the biggest impact.

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The former Haas Formula 1 test and reserve driver entered the 2019 season having compete in four IndyCar races before, all last season and two after his controversy-filled stint in Formula 2 came to an end. He drove for Dale Coyne Racing in each of these four races, but he did not record any top 10 finishes in them.

Rosenqvist started off the 2019 season hot with a fourth place finish in his IndyCar debut in the race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, and Herta ended up winning the season’s second race at Circuit of Americas, which was just the third start of his IndyCar career.

Additionally, after a slow start to the season during which he still showed a lot of speed, Ericsson recorded the first podium finish of his career with his second place finish in the season’s eighth race, the second of two races at the Raceway on Belle Isle.

But it is Ferrucci who currently leads the Sunoco Rookie of the Year championship standings, as he sits in ninth place in the standings ahead of Rosenqvist in 12th, Ericsson in 15th and Herta in 16th.

Here is how these four rookies stack up against one another as far as points are concerned.

Overall Rank (Rookie Rank) – Driver, Car, Team, Engine: Points (Behind)
9th (1st) – Santino Ferrucci, #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda: 193 (-)
12th (2nd) – Felix Rosenqvist, #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda: 181 (-12)
15th (3rd) – Marcus Ericsson, #7, Arrow SPM, Honda: 166 (-27)
16th (4th) – Colton Herta, #88, Harding Steinbrenner Racing, Honda: 158 (-35)

After finishing in ninth place in the season opened, Ferrucci went on a three-race streak of finishing in 15th or lower.

But since then, he has finished outside of the top 10 in just one of five races, and after having never previously competed in an oval race, he drove from his starting position of 23rd to a seventh place finish, just 2.8055 behind race winner Simon Pagenaud of Team Penske, in the season’s sixth race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway en route to winning the 2019 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Award.

Then in the season’s ninth race at the high-banked Texas Motor Speedway, which the 21-year-old Woodbury, Connecticut native described as much harder than Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he drove from his starting position of 18th place to a fourth place finish, just 1.7266 seconds behind race winner Josef Newgarden of Team Penske, to launch himself into sixth in the oval championship standings and just three points out of fourth.

Keep in mind, his career oval start total is now two (2).

While the overall pace has been there more prominently for the other three rookies, especially for Herta and Rosenqvist, it has been Ferrucci who has been able to methodically work his way through the field he also leads and consistently record solid results.

In fact, Ferrucci leads the TAG Heuer “Don’t Crack Under Pressure” standings, which measure how many cumulative positions a driver has gained over the course of the season, and he leads the next highest rookie (Ericsson) by nearly twice his gained position total. Perhaps most impressively, his position total is larger than the position totals of these other three rookies combined.

Here is how these standings currently look.

Overall Rank (Rookie Rank) – Driver, Car, Team, Engine: Positions (Behind)
1st (1st) – Santino Ferrucci, #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda: 58 (-)
T-4th (2nd) – Marcus Ericsson, #7, Arrow SPM, Honda: 33 (-25)
19th (3rd) – Felix Rosenqvist, #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda: 14 (-44)
25th (4th) – Colton Herta, #88, Harding Steinbrenner Racing, Honda: 6 (-52)

Additionally, no driver has completed more laps than Ferrucci has so far this season. Here is how the rookie breakdown looks as far as laps completed are concerned (991 laps available so far this season).

Overall Rank (Rookie Rank) – Driver, Car, Team, Engine: Laps (Behind)
1st (1st) – Santino Ferrucci, #19, Dale Coyne Racing, Honda: 989 (-)
7th (2nd) – Felix Rosenqvist, #10, Chip Ganassi Racing, Honda: 954 (-35)
17th (3rd) – Marcus Ericsson, #7, Arrow SPM, Honda: 857 (-132)
20th (4th) – Colton Herta, #88, Harding Steinbrenner Racing, Honda: 630 (-359)

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Will Santino Ferrucci go two for two and win the Sunoco Rookie of the Year Award for the 2019 IndyCar season to add to his Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year Award? While there are still eight races remaining on the 2019 schedule, he has put himself in a prime position to pull off what would be a major upset.