By: Ashley McCubbin

Sometimes when you stick a microphone in front of a driver’s face – especially when they’re mad, you have no clue what they may say and a couple of times you’ll hear something that surprises you or gives you a bit of a perspective.

Throughout the 2023 race season, there were quite a few of these moments. So it seems only fitting we take a glance back through the year at what was said.

“Probably something I’ve had my whole life is whenever things are going my way and I’m comfortable in the car, I’m bulletproof and don’t let anything else affect me. I become quite hard to beat. When I’m not fully comfortable in the situation or what the car is doing or what the track is like, I struggle for those last two or three tenths and struggle to get down to that. The biggest thing I can work on as a driver is one, getting down to that comfort ability quicker, getting confidence in the car and getting what I want from the car quicker, and then being just able to finalize the results the team deserves. The first four races we’ve done, we haven’t really done that in the four races – whether my fault, or someone else’s fault, end of the day the results haven’t been there. So the biggest thing that I can learn as a driver is get the results and be a little more comfortable being uncomfortable, if that makes sense.” – Jonathan Browne

“I struggled a little bit, I have to be honest. The first test, I expected it to go a little better than I was. I was ninth so it was not great. Then I went onto do a few other tests – Barber (Motorsports Park) and Sebring (International) and I found myself a lot better with the car. I found myself familiarized with the car and different tracks more. I think I have a good feeling in the car there, a lot more than I used to before. We have another test coming in a few weeks and like now I’m ready. We will see how much work we need to continue to do.” – Francesco Pizzi

“As a racecar driver, you always want to win. But I think it’s my rookie campaign so I definitely set realistic goals but I’d love to just be fighting for podiums and wins, and be on pace, and do my best, and give the team what they deserve and what they give me in return.” – Reece Gold

“I would say it’s not too late. When I first started, I heard a lot of people saying getting a formula car at 17-years-old was too late to ever make it into the Pro Series. At the end of the day, it’s not. There’s people older than me still doing the Road to Indy. You just keep your eyes down, focus on what you’re doing, and there’s plenty of opportunities to still make it. It’s obviously a grind. Doing this competition, there’s going to days where its rough. It’s not always going to be the time that you want it to be, but that’s fine as long as you stay focused on your things and not worrying about what other people are doing.” – Avery Towns

“So first, it’s not going to be easy. The process is not easy. You’re going to lose way more than you’re going to win, so you need to understand this and not just get pissed, but understand and see what direction you need to get better and fix. It’s not going to be easy. You’re going to have days where you’re going to feel like, “Okay, I don’t have any more energy to do this,” but once you get a victory, you get a championship, everything looks easy even though it was very hard. One piece of advice is keep chasing your dreams, keep working, and one thing that my first coach in karting taught me is a lot of guys have talent, but if you have talent and work more than anyone, you will have the better chance to get there. So it’s working hard is the key.” – Kiko Porto

“I started when I was very young. I started when I was seven-years-old. I actually neighbors with Ricky Rudd who raced in NASCAR and he was really good. He and my dad were good friends and he got me into karting and my dad bought me my first kart when I was about six and I ran my first race when I was seven. Obviously, being in North Carolina, it’s NASCAR world, but I was invited two years ago in 2020 to test an F4 car at Homestead-Miami (Speedway). VRD invited me and test, and I really liked it right when I tried the open-wheel aspect of things. I’ve loved it ever since so that’s where I started and hope to continue.” – Sam Corry