Former Formula 1 driver and current IMSA racer Kevin Magnussen has admitted that he would one day like to drive in IndyCar.
The ex-Haas man lost his seat in F1 at the end of last year, before deciding to try his hand at IMSA with Chip Ganassi Racing.
Magnussen will also race alongside father Jan at Le Mans this year in the LMP2 class for High Class Racing, before joining up with Peugeot next season for their entry into the new Hypercar class in the World Endurance Championship.
Magnussen has been unfortunate not to finish on the podium so far since arriving in IMSA, finishing fifth at the most recent Mid-Ohio round.
“I got the opportunity to drive to from Mid-Ohio to Indianapolis and check out some practice for the Indy 500, which was great,” he told RACER. “I’ve always been very open about wanting to have a go in an IndyCar one day.
“I went to stand in the middle of the pit lane, you know, only like five or 10 meters from the cars running at close to 400kph. With only like, half a meter of wall in between me and the cars. And then you see those cars going flat out, not even lifting into Turn 1. It’s definitely something I need to try one day.”
The Dane’s former Haas teammate Romain Grosjean made his IndyCar debut earlier this season and finished second in just his third race after claiming pole at the Indianapolis Road Course.
Grosjean will not take part in next week’s Indy 500 as a result of his crash at last season’s Bahrain Grand Prix, but Magnussen will be watching intently nonetheless.
“It’s a really mystical place,” he added.
“Because you know that they’re going flat out around the lap, you know, at least in qualifying trim and when they’re in clean air in the race they do as well. But even though they’re flat out the whole lap, there’s so much technique that goes into a good lap. It’s all those little inputs, and it’s way more in the details than it is driving a race car on a normal road course. You need to be so precise with your inputs in the car.
“I say this having never driven on an oval or Indianapolis, but that’s what I take from it. And all this happens close to 400kph and it’s just fascinating, and they’re racing each other as well. It’s at that speed and with walls that close to the track. It’s pretty phenomenal.”