Last season, Benjamin Pedersen was given a rare opportunity to shadow AJ Foyt’s IndyCar operation while he was still competing in what was then known as Indy Lights.
He was given the chance to stand on the pit wall, sit in on engineering meetings, and learn a lot of valuable information about how the top-level operation works before he was officially a part of the team.
He impressed Foyt leadership enough, both during his time shadowing and while on track, that the team gave him a full time seat for the 2023 season.
That jump start with the team last year is already giving the 23-year-old an advantage as he prepares to begin his rookie season in IndyCar in a few weeks’ time.
“So valuable,” said Pedersen when asked about his shadowing last year. “I felt like last year I was a part of the team, a driver, the only thing, but the only think I wasn’t doing was driving the car.
“You know, being on the timing stand, seeing strategy come into play, it was a really big help, and kind of made me feel like I got a season’s worth of experience without driving the car. And the only difference is now I’m driving the car.
“Strategy meetings, everything like that will feel very similar, and I am very grateful to the team for letting me be a part of that last year, and can’t wait to do it now for real and as an official driver for them and working together.”
As part of the feeder series last year, Pedersen was not exposed to many of the different elements that make up an IndyCar race, including live pit stops and fuel strategy.
But having seen over a dozen races play out while embedded with the Foyt team has helped him get more comfortable with those concepts before he has to manage them from behind the wheel of the #55 this season.
Pedersen logged the slowest individual fast lap during IndyCar’s two-day test at The Thermal Club, but will be hoping to move up the order once the season gets underway from the streets of St. Petersburg on March 5.
