The path that led Felix Rosenqvist from Sweden to the Indianapolis 500 victory lane took a turn in Wisconsin a decade ago.
Rosenqvist was at a crossroads in Europe when his manager connected with Brian Belardi and the Indy Lightsteam owner from Mequon set up the youngster with his first American racing opportunity.
“I knew how talented he was because I watched his races, in particular in Macau, where he was just dominant on street circuits,” said Belardi, still beaming two days after Rosenqvist’s dramatic win May 24 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“So we did a test at Homestead … and it was just eye popping, quite honestly. Obviously other teams were there, and they were just like, who is this kid?
“I’m almost certain he would have ended up in the United States with or without me, but I was just fortunate to actually introduce him to U.S. racing, IndyCar.”
Rosenqvist, now 34, edged David Malukas in the closest finish in Indianapolis 500 history with a pass in the final few hundred yards.
Rosenqvist was successful in the European Formula 3 Championship, winning 13 of the 33 races en route to the 2015 title for Prema Powerteam, and hoped to move to GP2 with Prema but didn’t have the sponsor budget to make the move. Under the direction of former Formula One driver Stefan Johansson, his manager and mentor, that setback in Europe led him to North America and Belardi.
Belardi, who had competed at the club and low professional levels, fielded Indy Lights cars from 2011-2019 and then partnered with other teams for three Indy 500 entries.
Belardi Auto Racing won the Lights title in 2014 with Gabby Chavez and also won races with drivers such as Zach Veach, who went on to race four IndyCar seasons, and Aaron Telitz, the Birchwood native who races IMSA sports cars.
Rosenqvist delivered in his second start in 2016, on the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida.
“He was a Mercedes factory driver, so he split his season, which made it definitely more affordable for him to where he was going to do all the street courses,” Belardi recalled. “He didn’t want to do ovals yet at that time.
“And then he would occasionally fly back to Europe to do his thing over there. … I know obviously everybody wants to be a Formula One driver, but the likelihood of that happening is not good. I explained to them, you’re going to have a tremendous opportunity in the United States, in IndyCar, to pursue your professional career. And that’s really how it got going.”
Rosenqvist also raced that season for Mercedes in the Blancpain GT Sprint Cup and briefly in the German touring car series and then in August joined the Mahindra team in Formula E for the 2016-17 season.
Although Rosenqvist made just 10 starts in Indy Lights he won three of them, all from the pole, sweeping Toronto on his final weekend with the team.
A year later he was in Super GT and got a test with Chip Ganassi Racing – driving Scott Dixon’s car at Mid-Ohio – that led to a full-time move to American racing in 2019.
Belardi and Rosenqvist would often get together on race weekends as the driver got settled in IndyCar, Belardi said, and they stayed in contact after Belardi closed his team. Although it’d been a while since they had last talked, he texted his congratulations immediately after the checkered flag at Indy.
“I have an understanding of what happens when you win the Indy 500 and I heard him this morning on ‘Fox & Friends,’ they were interviewing him and he says, ‘Yeah, I still have about a thousand messages on my phone that I have to go through.’ So all in due time,” Belardi said.
Indy was Rosenqvist’s second NTT IndyCar Series victory. His first came at Road America during a doubleheader weekend in 2020, and that’s where Belardi expects to see him next, when the series races at the track in Elkhart Lake on Father’s Day weekend.
“I was just so happy for Felix,” Belardi said. “It was unbelievable.
“It’s just a unique experience and I was fortunate. I’m glad that I was able to convince them to come over here and then things had worked out the way they did.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin team owner helped Indianapolis 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist