There will be plenty of attention on Juri Vips’ return to racing in IndyCar this weekend, and not just because it is his debut.
Last year he raced in Formula 2 and was Red Bull’s Formula 1 reserve driver, but lost the latter position after using a racial slur on a live gaming stream. Following the end of the F2 season, Vips kept a low profile.Although he tested for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at Barber Motorsports Park this March there was limited media interaction. The president of Estonia’s motorsport association even mentioned in an interview that Vips “has not disappeared”.
After his IndyCar debut was announced, a press conference was organised with Vips and Bobby Rahal, co-owner of the RLL team he will race for.
RaceFans asked Rahal how significant Vips’ signing was for the number 30 car he will drive. Jack Harvey failed to record a top-12 finish from 14 starts in it, then Conor Daly replaced him last weekend and finished 13th. Their combined points tally means the car is 23rd in the entrant standings, and falling one place lower would mean it falls out of the Leaders Circle, costing RLL $915,000 in prize money to fund the entry for 2024.
The Leaders Circle consists of the top 22 full-time entries, but a team can only receive prize money for three cars. Chip Ganassi Racing’s fourth car is therefore ineligible, and has put RLL’s number 30 car in the final Leaders Circle spot.
“We’re not breathing easier because it is very close still,” said Rahal. “I mean, we’re going racing [full-time with this car in 2024] either way, but it would sure be nice to be part of the Leaders Circle group. And that was an expectation that, frankly, I took for granted going into this year. And then clearly we’ve been struggling a little bit to get the points in order to do that.
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“Conor did a nice job for us and got us kind of back in the game, but there’s two races left, and we can now really do a good job in those two races.”
Although Vips’ debut would not be possible without Harvey’s exit, Rahal says the door was open to Vips after impressing in tests and he is “excited” to have him in the car: “It’s all about our future, and we’ve asked Juri to participate in these races because we think that highly of him.”
Vips said he had offers in “endurance racing, DTM and stuff like this full-time” for 2023 but “would rather take a chance with IndyCar because if I look at myself long-term, that’s the series I want to be in”.
The time off has “really helped” him to “regroup, refocus and get serious again” and Vips feels he is “in a much better place [than] where I was last year”.
RaceFans also asked if he will be proactive in demonstrating he has learned from last year’s error, such as publicly sharing what he learned from sensitivity courses.
“Yeah, definitely,” he replied. “I haven’t made full plans of what I’m going to do exactly. When I was going through this programme, it was Andrew Macintosh, who helped me with this, he’s from the Rise programme that I just completed. He really mentioned that I should sort of spread my knowledge of what I’ve learned and stuff, and I really do agree with them.
“I just completed the course, so I haven’t exactly thought of what I’m going to do. I think people have learned already because they’ve seen what I’ve done, you know? But I do want to spread what I’ve learned from the sensitivity programmes, and just be a model citizen from now on. Leave the past behind me and grow.”
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SjaakFoo (@sjaakfoo)
29th August 2023, 14:18
I appreciate that, a hell of a lot better response than Ferrucci had, for sure. That’s all it takes, be humble, learn from your mistakes. Don’t be racist again. Not that hard, you’d think.
Asd
29th August 2023, 15:48
He fell victim of the deranged PC police. That’s the correct wat of putting it. I wish those kids like him – whose careers depend on marketing – get smarter and use anonimous accounts to play online.
Ciaran (@ciaran)
29th August 2023, 15:55
And there you go everyone – the full spectrum of comments you’d expect to see here have already been completed. No need to add anything further, let’s all go outside :)
MichaelN
29th August 2023, 16:55
It is somewhat ironic that Vips was dumped by Red Bull, given that the above sounds like something Dietrich Mateschitz might have said. He frequently complained about ‘political correctness’ and ‘international elites’ (apparently a classic there in Austria). Red Bull of course also owns Servus TV, over which Mateschitz was said to have quite a lot of control, which has a rather dubious list of contacts they regularly invite on.
T
29th August 2023, 18:02
the 22 year old man was playing a video game on a live stream and called someone the b word and then the n word as he was getting agitated but sure, he’s the victim here. that’s why he received multiple full time drive offers across multiple disciplines of racing before making the personal decision to hand pick indycar.
anonymity really brings out the worst in people sometimes
Dex
29th August 2023, 20:51
Come on, I’m pretty sure he has to say those things in order to get that drive. It’s probably part of his contract, or at least unwritten agreement.
Exediron (@exediron)
31st August 2023, 1:37
@Dex Not really. Ferrucci has pretty much taken the angle that he did nothing wrong and screw anyone who’s offended, and he got a drive just fine.
MichaelN
29th August 2023, 16:47
Good to see him in action again. He wasn’t that impressive in F2, but certainly good enough to race elsewhere. And also a bonus that more international talent finds its way to Indycar; it’s a fun series.
JA
29th August 2023, 18:04
He was though THAT impressive in F3 finishing best of the none Prema racers with the same wins as Shwartzman (who only had that due to Lundgaard getting dumped in Catalonia). Also won Macau, but sure enough things didn’t work out with Hitech in F2 and yet he hasn’t lost a teammate duel since 2016.
No doubt a talent that would have been talked about more if he like others would have been racing in a Prema in F2.
Dantera87
29th August 2023, 19:56
Good boy! +5 ESG score for you!
Broccoliface
31st August 2023, 14:48
It was all a nonsense anyway, using established AAVE slang in its intended context leading to such a furore. It’s the same as crying that someone sang along to a rap song verbatim. Cultural osmosis is either allowed or not.