Robert Shwartzman is the first rookie on pole for the Indianapolis 500 since Teo Fabi in 1983. Both have a link to New Zealand with Teo Fabi competing here in 1979 and Robert Shwartzman in 2018. Both having won NZ titles.
Fabi won the NZ Grand Prix in 1979 driving a March 782 for the March Cars team run by Kiwi Murray Taylor. He went on to win the 1979 Formula Pacific title from Kiwi driver Brett Riley (March 77B).
The ’79 series was made up of five rounds (Bay Par, Pukekohe, Manfeild, Teretonga and Wigram) with ten races. Fabi was on pole for eight rounds and won the first six races in a row. An engine change at this point created problems and he won the title by only 12-points from Brett Riley. His March 782 was previously a March factory team F2 chassis which went on to compete in the Macau Grand Prix before it headed to NZ where it was eventually sold to Ken Smith.
Shwartzman and his PREMA Racing team shocked the field to win the NTT P1 Award for the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge in his first-ever oval race with his team in their first ever NTT IndyCar Series season.
Shwartzman wasn’t the fastest driver competing in the 14th running of the Toyota Racing Series in 2018 but he was the most consistent finishing in the top five in every race over five rounds (15 races). His M2 Competition teammates Richard Verschoor and Marcus Armstrong had more podium finishes and race wins but were not as consistent as Shwartzman.
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