Romain Grosjean ‘knocking on the door’ and ready to burst through with first IndyCar win

INDIANAPOLIS – Romain Grosjean is off to an impressive start in the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series for Andretti Autosport. He enters Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix fifth in points, just 15 points behind the leader, defending Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson of Chip Ganassi Racing.

He is only four points behind his newest rival, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, for fourth place.

Through four races this season, Grosjean has two poles and two second-place finishes in the No. 28 DHL Honda and likely should have already been to victory lane.

Therein lies the crux with the talented and likable driver from Geneva, Switzerland, who is also a French citizen.

The veteran of nearly a decade in Formula One has displayed tremendous speed and flashes of brilliance, but victory in IndyCar continues to elude him. In fact, it’s been more than a decade since Grosjean has won a race of any kind.

That could come to an end in Saturday’s 10th GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

“I’m a race car driver. Give me a race car, and I’ll try to win the race,” Grosjean told NBC Sports.

The IMS road course is where he won his first pole in 2021 – the same season Grosjean scored two second-place finishes on the IMS road course (at the GMR Grand Prix and again in the Aug. 14 race.

In a career that is filled with “woulda, coulda, shouldas” team owner Michael Andretti is confident this is the race where Grosjean finally can make it to Victory Lane.

“He is knocking on the door and once he gets through it, he can knock out three or four wins here this year if things go right,” Andretti told NBC Sports before qualifying Friday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “He’s got a lot of self-confidence, but he’s really a nice guy, a down-to-earth guy. DHL