IndyCar: Saturday Morning Report from Road America

It is a beautiful day here at Road America in the scenic Kettle Moraine Valley in Wisconsin.  Temperatures are cool this morning, with a second practice session for the NTT INDYCAR Series at 9:55 am CT.  Qualifying is scheduled for 12:55 pm when temperatures will be in the mid-70s.

Yesterday’s practice one session in the late afternoon could have been more exciting.  Most drivers only ran about 15 laps in the 75-minute time allowed.  With only a seven sets of primary tire allowance, unless you are a rookie, which allows you an extra set of primary tires, it looked like most teams were saving a set for the race.   Not exciting for the people who paid to get into the track to see IndyCars on track.

Alexander Rossi, winner of this race in 2019, was the fastest in that first practice but was disappointed with the Firestone tires.

“It was interesting for us, having tested here last week, to understand the difference in the tire that Firestone brought for this weekend because no one that tested here had the
actual tire. Obviously trying the reds for the first time. So it was an interesting session.”

“So, it’s just about really diving into, again, the tire differences because it’s a chunk slower than our pace in testing. So understanding the differences there and making any adjustments to the car to kind of combat that going into tomorrow.”

“Obviously track evolution is going to continue being a thing, and other cars are going to keep improving, so you can’t stay still, you have to keep improving.”

AR1 spoke with another race winner, Scott Dixon, driver of the No 9 PNC Bank entry for Chip Ganassi Racing, about his expectations for the weekend on the newly repaved race track.

“The track looks good, really smooth.  Sounds like it is fairly slippery offline.  With a lot of categories here on the weekend, that should get a little bit better.  Be interesting to see the race ability of it come Sunday and how that works for everyone.”

“It is cool to come to a circuit that is historically so fun that we could kind of  updated.  And I think these days, most of the circuits are quite low grip.  So it is nice to come possibly to a circuit with a lot of grip.”

“Tires could be an issue with possible blistering which is normally on the inside edge.  The temperature will be a factor since the higher speeds generate more energy.”

The morning practice should see a lot more laps run before the early  afternoon qualifying session.

Lucille Dust reporting live from Road America