Bad races are a learning opportunity: Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick has been busy but bewildered for the past few months. It was largely due to the fact that the American female racer failed to improve on her fifteenth place finish in the past four races of the season. Despite the failures, Patrick has decided to try her best and pull off a better finish in the rest of the IndyCar season.
As experts say that ‘you are only as good as you were in your last race’, the season has been a real disappointment for the female racer.
After a row of bad races, the last week at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course came as a major disappointment for the driver. Patrick was only able to qualify at 22nd place. Danica finished at the 21st while driving her No. 7 Dallara-Honda. She produced some pretty good finishes in the earlier races which included a seventh place finish in St. Petersburg. She worked up to the sixth place in the Indianapolis race followed by a second spot finish in Texas. Patricia then finished at the sixth place in Toronto.
While reflecting on her season so far, Danica told the media that she has had some of the best road courses and oval races in her career in this season. However, those races followed a hand full of mediocre races. She further added that the entire team had been struggling on the road courses but the competition was really tough. She continued by informing that a few years back, things were different. Covering 25 cars in one second seemed unlikely but now the contest was fiercer than it had been ever been.
The driver currently ranks at the 11th place in the points’ standings whereas none of her teammates has been able to do very well in any other races. At Mid-Ohio, her partner Marco Andretti ended the race at 9th place which was the highest finish for Andretti Autosport.
As Patrick left Michigan in disappointment, she was forced to ponder about the teams weaknesses. Though she believed that it is important to forget the bad race and move forward with a new spirit, it was also important to learn some good lessons. The upcoming race in Sonoma next week will be the last road course of the season.
The 28-year-old driver claimed that the season had been the toughest one in IndyCar racing for her. However, she added that a win at the end of the season provides an impetus to keep moving on and every race serves as a learning episode for her.
Patrick had been always famous for the word ‘learning’, which she believes is essential at every stage of life.
The last race in Michigan was a great opportunity to speed up as the track was opened on Thursday for a rare full-day session for testing purposes. The chance was nicely availed by Patrick who was the only driver to have run more than 10 consecutive laps and have covered 61 laps overall. However, on the final practice on Friday, she was ranked at the 17th place out of the total 43 drivers.
"It was good to have a test day," she commented later, "It was nice to be able to slowly get up to speed. On tracks I haven't been to before in a stock car, you go out for first practice, and everyone knows what they're doing. Then there's me who doesn't even know how to get out of the garage."
However, as the race ended, she was only able to say “It's another lesson.”
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