Stefan all set for his first ever oval race

On Friday 28 May, Stefan makes his oval racing debut on the most famous oval track in the world, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race is the Firestone Freedom 100, run over 40 laps of the 2.5-mile circuit as a prelude to the spectacle of the Indianapolis 500.

For Stefan and six of his fellow Indy Lights drivers, the road to Indy began on 3 May at Kentucky Speedway where they took part in the one-day Rookie Orientation Program. Racing legend Rick Mears was on hand to coach them in the art of driving on ovals. The Bryan Herta Autosport team improved the car through the day and Stefan was pleased to finish third fastest, feeling he could have gone even quicker on a new set of tyres.

Work at Indianapolis itself began in earnest with the Open Test for all the drivers on 14 May, with another legend, Al Unser, giving them the benefit of his experience. Stefan ended the day in the middle of the timesheet, though there were few opportunities for running in a pack and drafting so the lap times weren't a reliable guide to form.

The next week was really busy for Stefan. He began each day with a session at PitFit Training, which specialises in driver fitness, and then took to the track as part of his Pace Car Team duties. "It was great to get more track time in any kind of car," he said. "The Pace Car does 120mph and has less aero, so you're relying on mechanical grip, but it's all worthwile. It's good for mapping reference points and you can learn about the four corners, because they're all different. The differences aren't huge, but they're very noticeable at 200mph in the Lights car."

Stefan spent the rest of his time watching and learning as the team worked on their entry for the Indy 500 with his team-mate Sebastián Saavedra. Qualifying took place over two days and came to an extraordinary end on 'Bump Day'. Sebastián was 'on the bubble' - the slowest of the 33 qualifiers - when he crashed heavily and was taken to hospital. Before he left the track he knew he had been 'bumped' out of the field, so it wasn't until he was in his hospital bed that he found out that two drivers had opted to withdraw their times and had failed to go faster, which meant they were out of the race and he was back in. Stefan was delighted for his team-mate, who will now be racing twice over the weekend.

Stefan can't wait to get on track himself in the Freedom 100. "I just want to get out there and do the race," he said. "It's going to be very close. I watched last year's race and the cars draft very well, so no one could break away from the pack. They were fighting hard all the way."

Stefan is realistic about what he can do on his oval debut. "I've still got a lot to do to catch the rest of the field, so I want to learn as much as possible and do every lap of the race. I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself, so it will be great just to finish. Anything more than that will be a bonus."

There are two practice sessions on Thursday 27 May, with qualifying the same day at 3pm local time, 8pm BST. The race is on Friday at 12.30pm local time, 5.30pm BST.

Live video and timing & scoring of practice, qualifying and the race at IndyCar.com