Indy Lights Season is GO for Serralles

Los Angeles, CA – Felix Serralles has taken part in his first Indy Lights race weekend with Belardi Auto Racing, securing points around the street circuit in St Petersburg, FL.

After what feels like several months for Felix since he was last in a race scenario, the Puerto Rican driver has been assessing the performance of himself, his team and his competition over winter testing. Driver and team have been working together to set up the car to the optimum specification, achieving some good milestones in the new Dallara chasis IL-15.

As for many years gone by, Rounds 1 and 2 at St Petersburg are renown for setting the tone for the season ahead and Felix very much hoped to be a podium contender in Florida. Once the weekend got underway, Felix struggled for pace during qualifying as his car would not provide him with a perfect balance. Explaining his experience behind the wheel of his IL-15 car, Felix said “we lacked pace and the car was slow to respond under braking.” He qualified P7 for Race 1 and P8 for Race 2, while his more experienced teammate, Juan Piedrahita, qualified P11 and P10 respectively.

The green flag dropped quickly to signal the start of both races and Felix moved up a place into P6 on Lap 1 of Race. The former Formula One driver, Max Chilton, then collided with Felix in a desperate effort to retain position, resulting in both drivers ending their race on the opening lap – an outcome that was put at the fault of the British driver. Hoping for better fortune in Race 2, Felix said he “struggled again with the car early on in the race. I could keep up with the pack, but I didn’t have the package to overtake.” He finished Sunday’s race in P8.

Whilst Felix acknowledges that the team has been listening to his feedback during sessions to improve the set up of the car, the championship winning team from 2014 will have to dig deep in the coming weeks in order to make up for lost ground over the British newcomers, Carlin, who took 2 race wins this weekend from their rookie driver, Ed Jones. Carlin’s rapid tuning to the new Indy Lights car should give plenty of hope and reason for Belardi Auto Racing to catch up and return to their usual form. Felix will be keeping the pressure on until the next round at Long Beach, CA, on April 19.