Sargeant “Excited to Be Back” in Racing Ahead of IMSA Debut

Ex-Formula 1 driver Logan Sargeant said he is “excited to be back” and “able to compete again” as he prepares for his return to racing on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship grid in today’s Battle on the Bricks with PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports.

The 24-year-old American returns to competition at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 392 days after he departed Formula 1 following the 2024 Dutch Grand Prix.

Sargeant will share the No. 52 Oreca 07 Gibson with co-drivers Benjamin Pedersen and Naveen Rao in the LMP2 class at The Brickyard as well as next month’s season-ending Motul Petit Le Mans.

“It’s my first weekend back in a long time,” Sargeant told Sportscar365. “The goal is really to just have a clean, strong weekend and continue to build pace throughout the weekend.

“It’s exciting. To be able to compete again is always a pleasure, so I’m looking forward to the race. I’m excited to be back. It’s such a different aspect of racing compared to what I’m used to, but at the same time, it’s enjoyable in its own way.

“I feel like I’m pretty close to where I need to be. Hopefully, we have a strong race. I’m just going to try and deliver strong performances every time I get in the car and that’s the best I can do.”

Sargeant said his experience in Formula 1 may come as a benefit to the Bobby Oergel-led team, but added that he’s still enjoying adapting to a race format where information and machinery are shared between co-drivers.

“[I will] bring the knowledge that I have and the experience I have to try and push the car forward the best I can and help my teammates as much as I can,” he said. “We have a great relationship between the three of us.

“We’re all trying to help each other and if I can help them in any way be quicker, then I will absolutely do so. That’s the camaraderie between teammates that you don’t have in any other series.

“I’m learning to deal with traffic and still be quick and all the things that come along with it is another challenge, but a fun challenge. Being able to work with two teammates towards the same goal is pretty cool as well.”

Sargeant does have previous LMP2 and GT racing experience, having briefly been a part of Racing Team Turkey’s European Le Mans Series LMP2 lineup in 2021, where he took pole in his series debut at the Red Bull Ring.

The same year, he produced a pair of poles and as many race wins in Michelin Le Mans Cup competition aboard an Iron Lynx Ferrari 488 GT3 Evo 2020.

After his F1 departure, Sargeant tested with IDEC Sport’s ELMS crew in one of its Oreca LMP2 cars after initially being announced as part of Genesis Magma Racing’s ‘trajectory program’ but pulled out prior to the season.

Ahead of his WeatherTech Championship debut this weekend, Sargeant also turned laps in PR1/Mathiasen’s car.

“We got to do a test here at Indy a month ago,” he explained. “It was great to get a feel for the car and start working on the setup with the car for this weekend.”

Despite a limited number of laps in the car during the weekend’s practice sessions, Sargeant set the sixth-best LMP2 lap time in his first official practice session on Friday before setting the third quickest time in Practice 2 and was confident about his pace going into t0day’s six-hour Michelin Endurance Cup round.

“[It was a] good first run,” said Sargeant. “A lot of traffic, as you can imagine, but [we’re] working through it. Definitely some tweaks that we can make for the remainder of the weekend. We’ll see if we can keep improving each session. It was a strong start.

“I only got a couple of laps, but it was good. There’s obviously a lot more in it, but it’s the same for most people. It’s just about keeping it clean and progressing the car in the right direction and having a good car when it comes to the race.

“From a setup aspect, it’s just about trying to put the car in the window and we’re not far from it. It’s all fine-tuning, which is always positive.

“[I want to] just take it race-by-race. First, enjoy being back in a race car, that’s always a pleasure. And [to] enjoy it and try to have two strong, clean weekends, and wherever that takes me, it takes me.”

Nevertheless, when asked if he would want to continue racing on the WeatherTech Championship grid in the future, Sargeant replied: “Absolutely. 100 percent.

“That’s a target and I’m sure I’ll be back.”