Doornbos and Luyendyk speak same language

Robert Doornbos

Robert Doornbos is being coached by fellow Dutchman Arie Luyendyk, a two-time Indianapolis 500 winner. The collaboration is working because they agree that too much advice is worse than too little.

"I'm at a point where I've got to feel it for myself, then we'll talk again," Doornbos said. "This is a place you have to experience for yourself."

Luyendyk took his pupil for a ride around the track Monday in a pace car — "He tried to scare me, but it didn't work," Doornbos said — to show the proper line through the turns and advise Doornbos to not try to do too much too soon. These rookies are getting it from all sides, so I just need to be a calming factor," Luyendyk said. "He just needs that one guy he can ask, 'What do I do here?' We talk about the little things, not a lot about the big things. He's got a lot of talent, but ovals are still new to him."

Both are fluent in Dutch.

"But the only time we use it is on the radio when we're talking about the engineers," Luyendyk joked.