Rounds three and four at the Sebring International Raceway have bitterly come and gone this weekend. After suffering contact on lap one of race one, Zack Ping was forced to retire early while race two followed with its own set of difficulties due to long yellow flags. However, Ping soldiered on to earn his best result of the 2023 season. Despite luck not being on his side this season, Ping left Sebring with his head held high and motivated for the next race events.
“I will be taking the information from this weekend and using it to my advantage when it comes to the rest of this season,” express Zack Ping. “After not being able to compete in race one due to issues beyond my control and not having the results I was chasing after in race two with lengthy yellow flags, it adds fire to my passion to continue to fight for points. It has not been the best start to the season, but we never give up.”
A 15th-place qualifying effort in race one netted Ping an inside row eight starting spot but that was quickly negated after opening lap contact forced him to retire. Returning Sunday, Ping showed the speed needed to fight in the top-ten and ended qualifying two in the 12th position. Excited and anxious for his chance to move forward, Sunday’s second wheel-to-wheel action saw Zack finish 9.129 behind the eventual race winner as he crossed the stripe in the 13th position.
Although it may not have been the weekend Ping envisioned, he has taken the high road and chosen to take the information he learned into the rest of the season.
Looking forward, Zach is excited to get back into the car after this short break. The next race for Zach is at the Indianapolis Grand Prix Circuit on May 11-13 alongside the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
“It is not always the easiest to find the bright side but as it is my rookie season the more I get to experience the more I can continue to grow,” Zach stated as he explained his thought process after this weekend. “I continue to head into every race weekend trying to learn as much as I can and strive to reach constant points in the near future.”
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Photos by: RTD Media