Ed Jones called his first oval race in the IndyCar Series at Phoenix International Raceway a big learning experience as he finished just outside the top ten.
Ovals are a unique challenge in North American motorsport and call for a completely different mindset to traditional road courses and street circuits, but the Dubai-based Jones had already proved his proficiency in winning the coveted Indy Lights crown in 2016, which included a close second-place finish at Phoenix along the way.
With only a single practice session to prepare for qualifying, the pressure was on the 22-year-old, but he did well to secure 16th spot on the starting grid.
In the following day’s 250-lap Phoenix Grand Prix held under the floodlights, he steered clear of an early melee that removed a number of cars from the reckoning, before settling into 14th position.
He made further progress over the second half of the race, again carefully staying out of trouble, and took advantage of rapid pit-stops by his Dale Coyne Racing crew to cross the finish line in 11th place and consolidating his top-10 standing in the drivers’ classification.
“I felt pretty comfortable, having done well here last year in Indy Lights and following the test a couple of months ago,” said Jones.
“I was optimistic about being able to move forward in the race, but it proved to be quite difficult as I struggled a lot in traffic. So, to finish only just outside the top ten was good. There was plenty to learn and I gained a lot of experience.”
