Jimmie Johnson at the wheel of a Ligier JS F3 to prepare for his debut in IndyCar
What's the best way to prepare for one's first season in IndyCar? In a Ligier, of course! Jimmie Johnson, 7-time NASCAR Champion and winner of 83 races, has chosen the Ligier JS F3, the exclusive chassis in the FR Americas championship and a launch pad for drivers who dream of making a career in F1 or in other branches of motor sport.
45-year-old American star, Jimmie Johnson, trained with the Velocity Development Racing team to prepare for his move from NASCAR to IndyCar. The squad is present in the F4 U.S. Championship and in FR Americas with their Ligier JS F4s and Ligier JS F3s, and also in USF 2000 and Indy Pro 2000.
On Johnson's programme were four days' testing alongside young drivers on three different circuits (two days at Barber, one at Sebring and another at Homestead) at the wheel of the Ligier JS F3. And to help him make the transition he couldn't have had a better coach than Dakota Dickerson, the 2018 F4 U.S. Champion and winner of the 2019 FR Americas title. Dakota has since then moved on to LMP3 and is now shining in IMSA Prototype Challenge in the #54 Ligier JS P320 run by MLT Motorsports.
“Ultimately, it was about learning different basic racing techniques, learning to trust in the ‘aero' of the car, working on cornering speeds and just a general introduction to the open-wheel ranks,” explains Dakota Dickerson. For that, the Ligier JS F3 with its carbon chassis, its 2-litre Honda engine putting out 303 bhp and its 650 kilos is the ideal tool.
“Trusting in the braking potential of a car that has a couple thousand pounds of downforce, but is also incredibly light, is not an easy feat. We'd be talking about the brake reference signboards and telling them, ‘We're going to the last one,' and you have some of the corners that are very daunting to take for the first time. How you achieve that isn't easy, with massive amounts of peak pressure initially, and then trusting the car enough to ultimately get off the brakes.”
Dakota has seen Jimmie improving; in particular his braking technique and his passage through the quick corners became more fluid. Exiting corners have always been easier for Jimmie thanks to his NASCAR experience.
“It's inevitable. I will make rookie mistakes,” said Jimmie, referencing a 24-hour span at Sebring in his IMSA ride earlier this year when he crashed in qualifying, forced his crew to rebuild a new chassis, and then crashed again less than 15 minutes into a 12-hour race trying to pass lapped traffic. “I got a little ahead of my confidence there. There are times where I will cross that line, and unfortunately, those are the most impactful lessons that any driver will experience on this journey.”
The IndyCar season began on 18 April on the Barber circuit in Alabama. The following week on 25 April, the competitors found themselves in the streets of Saint Petersburg in Florida for the second round. Johnson is still learning. The third round will take place in a few days on the Texas Motor Speedway in the United States on 1st May.
For more information, CLICK HERE.