Sunday morning update from Watkins Glen (2nd Update)

UPDATE We have a short break in the rain here at The Glen. If the IndyCar race is not declared a wet race, all drivers except for Marco Andretti and Jack Harvey will be starting the race on the softer alternate tire. Right now the track is pretty wet as the Indy Lights race is in the final laps for this season.

If the race is declared a wet start, all Indycars will start on rain tires. You can tell if they are on the wets by the silver band that was created with the newly designed wet tire.

09/03/17

Rain Tire after warmup

UPDATE The warm up has just completed. It started out dry but started to mist about halfway through the session. So the wet tires went on for everyone. But the racing line did not stay wet and so the back rain tires blistered. Little chucks of rubber are gone from the center of the tire. Which means the track has to be really wet to use the rain tire today.

Rossi likes driving in the wet

09/03/17

Good morning from Watkins Glen. Some rain did fall early this morning but as of right now, it is not raining. The forecast has changed with a dry window until 10 am this morning. Then it will rain. So the new wet tires might finally get used today for the 60 lap race but not for morning practice which is scheduled for 9 am.

After winning his first IndyCar pole, Alexander Rossi was asked how he liked The Glen. He replied, "I love this place. It's one of my favorite road courses in the whole world actually. It's amazing to come here. It's a joy to drive an IndyCar around here. This is IndyCars at their absolute best, Watkins Glen.

"It's a privilege. It was so exciting to me because I'd always watched Watkins Glen as a track in the old races, Formula One. I knew that kind of from hearsay it was an amazing track from guys over in Europe. I'd never been able to be here. There was a period of time when Skip Barber raced here. Because I was under the age of 18, which was a New York state law age to drive at Watkins Glen. Always a place on my bucket list. Never had the opportunity to do it. Such a late addition to the 2016 calendar, when it finally happened, I was pretty stoked about it."

"I'm glad my first career pole is here. It's fitting based on the fact that this is a track that is similar to the tracks that I kind of was racing on in Europe for so many years. It just all clicked here today."

I will keep you posted through the day…

Lucille Dust reporting live from Watkins Glen