DETROIT, MICH — As we approach Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix (3 p.m. ET, NBC, INDYCAR Radio Network), I think most of those in this fan base and equally those in the paddock, are concerned about the racing product that the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will put out there.
In two practice sessions so far, we’ve seen 11 red flags. It was rare to see a lap turned without someone either spinning, getting into the run off or even crashing.
That’s par for the course for most street course tracks now anyhow. However, most are thinking that Sunday’s race will look a lot like the carnage that we’ve seen the last two years on the streets of Nashville.
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The first two years of the Music City Grand Prix each saw nine cautions in both races. 9 cautions for 33 laps in 2021 and 9 for 36 laps in 2022.
“I think it’s going to race similar to Nashville,” second place starter, Scott McLaughlin, says.
“Everyone says we crash a lot in Nashville. I think it’s going to race very well. It’s just going to be up to us with the etiquette of the drivers to leave it up to us and figure it out along the way.”
Championship rival, Pato O’Ward agreed.
“I think it’ll be about survival,” O’Ward said. “Is it going to be as crazy as Nashville, I don’t know. Does it have the potential to be as crazy as Nashville? Absolutely.”
Scott Dixon says that this race will be somewhat similar to Nashville and the last man standing is the one who gets the victory.
The season opener in St. Pete was that way too.
5 cautions for 26 laps that saw two cars get airborne and a visual of a junkyard that was shown at one point of the race.
So far we have seen a lot of attrition here too but this race, could be a Mickey Mouse Show.
“Honestly, I agree with all the drivers, or most of the drivers. It’s too tight for INDYCARs,” pole sitter Alex Palou admitted. “It’s too short for INDYCARs. There’s too much traffic. It’s too bumpy.”
See, street course racing in INDYCAR has become the superspeedway type of carnage for the series as that style of racing is for NASCAR.
This track is narrow. This track is bumpy. This track has little grip levels. This track is small. This series is competitive. Mix all factors together and you get what could be an expensive race for these teams.
“Yeah, I really don’t see a lot of opportunity without it creating carnage,” said Kyle Kirkwood. “Like you can pass into one, you can pass into eight, you might be able to pass into five, but you’re not going to be able to go double file through there. I think the outside guy is going to go into the wall in a few of places that people will try and pass, to be honest.
“The car is always doing weird things all the way through the corners.”
O’Ward calls this track unique and a work in progress.
“I think it has a lot of characteristics from all the other street courses that we go to in terms of, like, pavements, certain type of corners,” he notes.
“I think there’s a lot of first times, first time here, first time with the double pit lane. I think that’s going to be interesting in the race with the blend line where it is. I think the pit exit is going to be something to look out for.
“A work in progress. Probably not a lot of space to work with. I know everybody is doing their best. It’s a challenging track, I can tell you that.”
This weekend is the first race back on the downtown side of Detroit since 1991.
I mean the first time there ever was a race in the Motor City was in 1982 and it was on these streets of downtown. That was for a F1 race. That lasted until 1988. In 1989, CART came to town to replace F1 and they raced on the street course in downtown for three years.
A year later, CART moved from downtown to Belle Isle and would remain there through 2001. They didn’t go back in 2002 and wouldn’t again until Roger Penske got involved. Thank the Super Bowl at Ford Field for that.
Penske, was on the Super Bowl XL committee and strived to bring an INDYCAR race back to his hometown in 2007. That worked. Then came the economy drop out which greatly affected the Detroit area.
INDYCAR stopped going again in 2009 but returned in 2012. With the current contract ending at the end of 2022, Penske Corp, who not only run the series but also promotes the race, is wanting a fresh start and that’s to move the race back downtown.
This layout though is only 1.7 miles in length. The thing is, .9 miles of that is a straightaway. That’s .8 miles for the rest of the track with 9 turns in it.
“It’s a different track. It’s a new track. It’s going to be a great event,” said O’Ward. “I mean, I feel like Belle Isle has a lot of very different corners that get the circuit together. Here we’ve got nine corners, one chicane, a lot of very similar kind of first speed corners I’d say, one hairpin, yeah.”
The track is much slower than Belle Isle because of that which left many wondering, how great of a race will this layout truly put on.
“It kind of is low grip bumpy,” said Kirkwood. “The car is always doing weird things all the way through the corners.”
With the track in Detroit being arguably as narrow, if not narrower, than the one in Nashville, plus being the first time that these drivers have seen this track, we can expect chaos in Sunday’s 100 lap race.
Felix Rosenqvist says that this track will be a technical one. With being so slow, most turns are low gear turns. A bumpy track, a slow track and one that lack grips will make this difficult to maneuver on Sunday.
“It’s very mechanical grip track,” said Rosenqvist. “Pretty much every corner is first gear except for the one leading onto the back straight. You’re just kind of, like Kyle said, the car is always doing something weird. It’s dancing around, bouncing around, and at the same time you’re trying to keep it off the wall. It’s busy from the driver’s standpoint. It’s very busy. It’s probably going to catch people out in the race I think.
“I think it will be really interesting to see going into the hairpin ’cause I was never really close to another car. But to try to make a pass, like how that’s going to work with a bump there and braking. It’s going to be for sure entertaining.
“Yeah, new challenge.”
Turn 1 could be a big problematic area at the start. The tight left hander doesn’t leave much room, if any, for side-by-side action. With 27 cars rolling off in 13 rows of 2 with the final row producing a single car, I don’t know how they’ll come out of the other side all in tact.
Palou hopes that the start of Sunday’s race is different than the one he watched from the INDY NXT on Saturday for which the pole sitter was punted in the braking zone. He is hopeful second place starter, Scott McLaughlin, doesn’t push too hard going into the single groove first corner.
“Yeah, I think it’s going to be hopefully smooth and calm. But it’s also a long straight, so they’re going to get a big tow from me,” said the pole sitter.
“I don’t know. He’s going to go aggressive, and he should. I don’t expect him or anybody to go slow on the first lap. Hopefully we can try and keep the first position, then try and be up front.
“We know we have a lot of speed. If we have clean air, we’ll be able to have a good race.”
McLaughlin though admitted that he is hopeful that it’s on the calmer side for he and those around him.
“Yeah, you don’t know. It is what it is. Same for everyone,” he says. “Hopefully just everyone, cool heads prevail, but you just never know.
“Yeah, we’ll go in with the same aggression, see how we come out. It’s not the track I’m worried about, it’s just the outside. Everyone on the outside line, it’s going to be interesting.”
McLaughlin is also going to defend his boss in those being critical of this event being run.
“We’ll be all right. With the track, there’s been a lot of noise I’ve seen in Twitter, from other drivers and stuff,” he said. “At the end of the day this is a new track, new complex. I think what everyone has done to get this going, like the vibe is awesome. Belle Isle was getting old. We had to do it.
“Yeah, first-year problems. It’s always going to happen. It’s just going to get better from here. The racetrack for the drivers is a blast. We don’t even know how it races yet. Everyone is making conclusions already. They probably just need to relax and wait for tomorrow. I just had to get that in. Sorry.”
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