Lloyd Hopes Indy Pro Success Will Carry Over To IndyCar

By Bruce Martin

NSSN Correspondent

Alex Lloyd has had the year of his life. He won the Indy Pro Series championship and is about to become a father.
But the talented driver from the United Kingdom isn’t satisfied. There is a bigger goal on the horizon and he’s confident he can achieve his next goal: becoming the first IPS champion to strike it big in the IndyCar Series.
He wants to do something that other dominant IPS drivers, beginning with A.J. Foyt IV in 2002, Mark Taylor, Thiago Medeiros, Wade Cunningham and Jay Howard, have been unable to do — parlay IPS success into IndyCar victory.
“I joined the Pro Series at the perfect point,” Lloyd said. “Last year I was able to learn, but this year was the first year the Pro Series really had a huge increase of talent throughout the field and also an increade in the number of teams involved. A lot of the IndyCar teams are involved in the Pro Series and they are paying attention to it. The team owners in IndyCar racing are paying attention to every race and have an eye for who is doing what. That has been helpful to me to show what I can do right in front of them. This is the year with the increased competition, with an average of 22 cars as well, that the series has come into its own.
“In previous years, there were one or two really good drivers in the championship, but the rest of the competition wasn’t that good with nine or 10 cars in it. This year, there were 22 cars with good and healthy competition in every race.”
Lloyd’s wife is due to deliver the couple’s first child — a daughter named Ava Grace. It’s been a year to remember for young Lloyd.
“Now, we’re about to have our first child which is a huge thing,” Lloyd said. “We bought a couple of dogs earlier on in the year, so we’ve grown into living in Indianapolis and grown up a lot as people in the last couple of years. Now, with the possibility of an IndyCar ride next year, things are getting better and better.
“There has to be a point where it will plateau, but I’m enjoying all the good things that have happened at the moment and try to ride the wave for as long as we possibly can.”
He tested an Indy car for Target Chip Ganassi Racing at Sebring in August and there is genuine interest among IndyCar teams that he will be in a seat for next season.
“It was a great thing,” Lloyd said of the test. “One of the biggest things for me was spending time with the whole crew. Scott Dixon was testing on the same day and seeing how they all work, seeing how it is on one of the benchmark teams for a very long time. I gained a lot of experience from that.
“Getting in the car was a real thrill. As soon as they fired up the engine, it brought it home to me that I’m in the IndyCar, which is what I’ve been working for my whole career, and now I get to see what it’s all about; and it’s for Chip Ganassi Racing, one of the biggest teams out there.”
After enjoying success in the IPS cars, Lloyd noticed a huge difference with the Indy car.
“When I drove the car, it was a step forward because it has a lot more power; a lot more grip,” Lloyd said. “What I was very happy for and very pleased about was the Pro Series car really helped me in terms of the IndyCar. It wasn’t such a big jump. In 10 laps driving around Sebring, I felt like I was up to speed. From 10 laps on, we were able to start working on the setup and improve things and really work into the test program. That’s one of the great things about the Indy Pro Series is they’ve done a great job with a car that really resembles an Indy car just a slightly slower version of it, so it gives drivers a great opportunity to learn so that when they do get that chance to move up, it’s not as great a jump.”
The 22-year-old, who was born in Manchester, England, competed with another famous Formula One driver, current rookie sensation Lewis Hamilton, who is battling for the F-1 world title. But Lloyd fell in love with a true American institution, the Indianapolis 500, and that set his career path toward the Indy Pro Series.
Lloyd had a record-smashing season that culminated with his victory at Infineon Raceway in August when he scored a record eighth victory and clinched the IPS championship.
Along the way, Lloyd also captured records for most wins to start the season and most consecutive victories with five.
“Every win that we do have was an extra bit of history for the series, an extra record that we’ve broken, and that has certainly meant a lot,” Lloyd said. “To come away from this year taking all the big records that we possibly can, that means a lot to me.
“Since starting in the Pro Series last year, my career has jumped up to a whole new level. The series has helped enable me to achieve what I had the potential of achieving in previous years, but wasn’t able to show it. It’s a strange feeling knowing it’s the end of my Indy Pro Series career, but certainly a very great one knowing in the nearly two full years of competition I’ve achieved everything I could possibly have achieved and all my goals going into it I’ve managed to achieve.”
Now Lloyd is focused on advancing to the IndyCar Series and winning the Indy 500.
“I knew this was the make or break year for my career,” Lloyd reflected. “I had to win the championship and win it in a dominant fashion. When you know you have that sort of expectation going in and that is the only way you are going to get into IndyCar next year, there is a lot of pressure on you. When it was done, we had won the championship; we had won Indy. I felt a huge weight off my shoulders.”

Alex Lloyd

Age: 22
Residence: Isle of Man, United Kingdom
Wife: Samantha
First racing: Go karts from 1994 to 1998
Indy Pro Series: Won two races in 2006 and posted a record eight victories and the championship in 2007
Other achievements: 2003 McLaren Autosport BRDC Young Driver of the Year; Raced in Euro F3000 in 2004 and Italian F3000 in 2005