Indy: Q&A with Sage Karam and Gabby Chaves
Gabby, good to have you with us. Gabby Chaves joins us. Talk about your day. We've not had you in a press conference so far that I can remember this month.
GABBY CHAVES: We made some good changes. The car was working well. It's definitely been the hardest day out there for me. I think here today and tomorrow and Sunday will be the hardest days. I think once we get back to race trim, downforce configurations, it will be a lot easier again. But I'm sure you'll hear the same from Sage; it's not easy out there. Especially I think the track conditions weren't very favorable as well. Very strong winds. Track was very greasy as well and definitely made for some tough times out there.
But I was very happy with the car. We made great progress all day, made some good changes that allowed me to post some quick speeds.
MODERATOR: So based on what you're saying, the two things that made today a hard day were being more in qualifying trim mode, perhaps, also, which is always the concern of the driver here, which is the impact of the wind.
CHAVES: Yeah, I mean it's incredible how much difference the wind can make for you. And depending where it's blowing, you can have a great time out there or a very bad time out there. So I mean, I'm happy. I'm happy because I'm here. I'm happy because our car has been working well all month. And I think we're going to keep on improving. The team has the right ideas. I feel confident, and I feel comfortable. So I think we're headed in the right direction.
MODERATOR: I couldn't help but notice, Sage, while Gabby was talking about the conditions, the wind, et cetera, you were nodding your head. So I'm assuming he's correct that you experienced much the same.
SAGE KARAM: Yeah, we knew that early in the morning or later in the afternoon were going to be the best conditions. But yeah, in the middle there you didn't see a lot of track activity just because of the wind and how hot the track was. It was very slippery. I mean, just in qualifying trim in general, the cars are very sketchy. Every lap I was out there I felt I was pretty much going to crash. So I think tomorrow is going to be the longest five laps of my life, so we'll see how it goes. (Laughter)
The car is very, very fast, but it's on edge. I think we have a good shot at making it to the Fast 9, which is the goal. I think we're going to make some changes overnight, run a little bit in the morning, fine tune it a little bit, and I think we'll be all right.
MODERATOR: You also look like you agree with Sage's suggestions that those qualifying laps are going to be a little bit hairy, as we say.
CHAVES: Definitely. For me, definitely felt like we could run one or two really good laps, and then just gets harder every lap out there. So, you know, I think very few of the drivers that posted a quick lap time today have yet to run the four laps at speed.
MODERATOR: We can open it up to questions. Taylor is on this side.
Q: For both of you guys, you talk about being on edge. Sage, and Gabby, too, what is it like in the car? Is your heart beating big time in these kind of situations? What is it like physically?
KARAM: No, I think once you get out there and you're sitting in the car, you know you're going to go out there in qualifying trim, you know it's going to be very tough. It's a little nervous but once you get going, it's like I can't really tell you what I think about out there. I don't really know what I think about.
But there was one run out there today where I think I was turning right more than I was turning left. It's not a very good feeling, you know. So the car is very on edge and you want to — when you come in, you feel relieved, I know that for a fact. You come in, just take a deep breath, you made it.
CHAVES: And then they tell you you've got to do it all over again. (Laughter)
MODERATOR: A very talented Indiana sprint car driver told me once about a particular racetrack to go fast, you're going to have to scare yourself out there a little bit to find that edge. Is that true? Is that what it feels like?
CHAVES: I think you've got to be comfortable being uncomfortable. That's definitely what it felt like out there today. I'm sure it will be, like, the same tomorrow and Sunday.
KARAM: Yeah, if tomorrow is anything like today, it's going to be whoever is most fearless will win the pole.
MODERATOR: Wow. Other questions for this talented group.
Q: Can each of you talk about that extra 50 horsepower that you got from turning up the boost for today? Obviously you've trimmed out your car, but do you really feel the difference? And does that affect how the car handles in the turns?
KARAM: Yeah, I had to get my neck stretched out today, honestly. Seriously, I came back in, my neck was hurting; I didn't know what was going on.
But no, it's cool. The cool thing I think is when you're coming out of the pits and you're in, like, second gear and then you get up into third gear and up into the power band and turbo and everything, and you're hearing it spool and then it really goes. Then once you look down at your steering wheel, you see the miles an hour and you weren't seeing that miles an hour the day before, you're seeing 10 more miles an hour than you were yesterday, it's pretty cool.
But you don't think the car is going to stick, and it sticks. It almost — I had to turn it off on my dash because I didn't want to see the miles an hour because it kind of messes with your mind, "Oh, you're going that much faster. Is it going to stick or not?" So you turn it off and look straight ahead and just drive.
CHAVES: I agree. You think that at 200-some miles per hour, 50 horsepower might not feel that big, but it definitely does. When you go into each corner five and six miles an hour more and start to trim it out even more, you start to feel that.
I think the coolest experience for me was I was speaking with my mechanic that I started with in go-karts ever since my first day and were just speaking about this experience. I told him I couldn't believe the first time I went out there, and I looked down at the exit of the warmup lane going into the back straight. I looked down, and I'm only in third gear and I'm already doing 190 miles an hour. I was thinking to myself, "I've got three more gears to go here." (Laughter)
Q: For both of you, you both have raced in the Indy Lights series within the last couple of years. How big of a step up is what you're doing now?
CHAVES: I think before you had four corners and four straights and now you've only got two straights and the short chutes become almost the corner in here. It just happens a lot quicker. You don't have the same amount of time to think about things.
KARAM: For me the hardest thing coming from the Lights to here was traffic. In the Lights car you can pretty much run on the car's gearbox all day long. When I raced the Freedom in 2013, we were running — what? — four of us nose to tail the whole race. Here it's all about timing the pass and you can't get close to the guy in front of you at all. You'll lose the front end, and it gets ugly from there. It's an art in IndyCar how to pass here, that's for sure.
Q: Given the extra horsepower today, are you surprised we didn't see some higher speeds out there?
KARAM: No.
CHAVES: Well, I think you've got to look at — yeah. We've got a more efficient aero kit, but they've taken away the floor as well. So at the end of the day we're not really making any more downforce than the cars were last year. It's just a little bit more efficient. So I wouldn't be surprised if we were only able to go just a little bit quicker than last year for qualifying. I mean, the speeds you're seeing out there today, a lot of the guys, that's all we've got.
KARAM: I think to get pole here, best laps are going to be 231, that's it.
MODERATOR: Other questions for these two before we let them go and let them think about tomorrow?
Guys, thank you very much for coming in. Really appreciate it.