PERONI GETTING TO GRIPS WITH INDY LIGHTS

There’s no doubting young Tasmanian Alex Peroni’s courage and commitment to make it to the top levels of open-wheel racing.

Peroni, 21, survived a monstrous crash at Monza in Italy in 2019 when his Campos Racing Formula 3 car hit a “sausage kerb” at the Parabolica and somersaulted into the tyre barriers, finally coming to rest in the catch-wire fence.

The Hobart-born Peroni walked away from the monumental wreck but was later diagnosed with a broken vertebra and missed the remainder of the season.

After stints racing karts in Italy as a teen and participating in the Italian F4 Championship, Formula Renault series (winning at Pau and Monaco) and in F3, Peroni finds himself this weekend on the bumpy, narrow and physically draining street circuit at Belle Isle in Detroit in the Indy Lights series.

Peroni made the move from F3 to Indy Lights team Carlin at the end of 2020. On Friday, he qualified fourth in his No. 5 Blundstone/Tasmania/RDM Fast Ferries car ahead of Saturday’s Indy Lights Series race, with a second race to follow on Sunday.

Indy Lights is one of two support categories on this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix NTT IndyCar Series doubleheader in Motor City, the other being the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in which former F1 racer Kevin Magnussen qualified on pole.

“It’s balls to the walls out here,” said Peroni after setting second-quickest time in Practice 1 on the 2.3-mile, 14-turn street course.

“You leave it all on the line on this track.”

Peroni confirmed that Indy Lights, the feeder series to IndyCar, “has always been on our radar,” and currently sits fifth in the championship points after six races.

“For sure, my goals have shifted from (Formula 1) to IndyCar. I talked to Carlin for a F2 drive but we didn’t have the budget. But then Trevor Carlin was talking about restarting his Indy Lights program, we signed on.”

Peroni admits Indy Lights “has been a big learning experience.”

“It’s a big challenge, but hopefully we are getting better and we will get to the pointy end.”

Peroni has never raced or even tested on an oval, which is in his future in Indy Lights.

“I don’t know what to expect, but, for sure, it’s going to be a mentality change,” admitted Peroni. “On a normal circuit, you go out trying to find the limit. On an oval, if you find the limit, you are in the wall.”

Peroni smacked just about everything at Monza after sailing through the air, much of the time upside down. Did he remember any of the accident?

“Thankfully, not much,” said Peroni, whose grandparents are from Italy. “It was a big one, for sure. I’ll be honest, when the Halo came out, I wasn’t a big fan … but it probably saved my life. The first thing I really remember was waking up on the way to hospital.”

Peroni is a big fan of Team Penske IndyCar drivers Will Power and Scott McLaughlin. While he also admires Aussie F1 star Daniel Ricciardo.

“I enjoy his work on and off the track,” said Peroni of Ricciardo. “I speak to him and he helps me a little bit, though there’s nothing official. I think he sees me as a young Aussie and wants to keep an eye on me.”

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