Josef Newgarden’s had a rather amazing year which kicked off with an overall victory at the Rolex 24 At Daytona in the No. 7 Porsche Penske Motorsport 963 hybrid GTP and was complemented by his second consecutive win at the Indianapolis 500 in the No. 2 Chevy for Team Penske.
The Tennessean also signed a new multi-year contract with Penske that will keep him in the NTT IndyCar Series for quite some time, and with his open-wheel future secure, Newgarden says he’d like to add a consistent number of sports car outings to his annual calendar.
“I really enjoyed going to Daytona, I’ve enjoyed going to Petit Le Mans; that was a really great experience,” Newgarden told RACER. “I liked getting to drive with multiple drivers I drove with, particularly Felipe [Nasr]. He was just a great teammate and it was a unique perspective for me at Daytona, because in a lot of ways, that win had nothing to do with me, and it was fun to watch someone else in their environment excel and to oddly be a part of it, but more so just watching from a distance. It was really cool.
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“I was really proud of him, Matt Campbell as well; he made a huge difference, as well as Dane Cameron and the whole team. It was fun for me; it’s a different type of feeling. You’re very singular in IndyCar, and in sports cars, when you’re not the lead guy and it’s not all up to you and you’re just supporting it, it’s fun to see other people excel at their craft. I’m thankful I had that opportunity and I’d love to have a lot more. I think I can do a good job in sports cars. It’s not my main bread and butter, but I want to do more in the future.”
The two-time IndyCar champion also credits his time in the hybrid 963 prototype last year at Road Atlanta during the 10-hour Motul Petit Le Mans event and again in January at Daytona with improving his driving skills.
“It’s a very difficult car to drive, and what I mean is it’s not a Porsche trait; the GTP formula is very difficult,” he said. “It’s fun, because it’s challenging. I actually felt like it made me a better IndyCar driver. I genuinely was loving the opportunity when I was testing and getting the chance to run in the race. You know, it challenges you to rethink what you do, what your procedures are as a driver. But then also, you can’t just be on autopilot driving the car. And I feel like driving in IndyCar for 12 years, you get on autopilot for what works for you.
“You know if you’re really good driving certain ways that the IndyCar likes, and you know what you need to do. You could get lazy in some ways. And I felt like the Porsche taught me to not be lazy, which was really nice.”
The 680 combined horsepower from Porsche’s 4.6-liter twin-turbo V8 motor and its battery-based energy recovery system also proved to be beneficial and intriguing to the winner of 31 IndyCar races.
“You get to drive a lot of power,” Newgarden said. “That’s what I noticed about the 963. It goes down the straight and it doesn’t stop. That was the most thrilling part of it. It’s great to have all the adjustments available to you in the cockpit. When you have an issue, you have something to counter it, and it really expands you as a driver.
“You’ve got to be thinking all the time with the team requesting things; they’re constantly throwing stuff at you. It’s not just pure driving. You’ve got to be an astronaut, taking all the commands and acting on them. You’re always doing stuff; it’s like playing chess and you’re very, very busy. But it’s very fun. I hope I get to do some more of those soon.”