Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama: Firestone Race Notes

From left, the rain tire, primary tire and option tire

Firestone will bring more than 1,400 tires to Barber

Each entry will receive:

7* sets of PRIMARY tires
• The primary tires are the same race-proven compound and similar construction to the 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
• After practice session 1, each entrant must return one set of primary or alternate compound tires, and after practice session 2, each entrant must return one set of tires of the opposite compound returned in the first session.
* Does not include rookie set
4 sets of ALTERNATE tires
• The alternate tires are a new compound and similar construction to the 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
• New for 2017, teams will be given an extra set of alternate tires (for a total of 4 sets) to run on the first day of practice.
• Of note, alternate tires are only used at street and road course events.
• After practice session 1, each entrant must return one set of primary or alternate compound tires, and after practice session 2, each entrant must return one set of tires of the opposite compound returned in the first session.

3 sets of RAIN tires
• This is the same specification that was introduced in 2015.

Engineer's Note
"We had a very successful open test at Barber last month," said Cara Adams, Chief Engineer of Bridgestone Americas Motorsports. "Teams ran the race-proven primary compound and we introduced a new alternate compound to tackle the grueling nature of the circuit which will be run in race conditions for the first time this weekend. Fast speeds at the test were set by Will Power at 67.752 seconds (122.21 mph) in very warm conditions, and, pending weather, we expect even faster speeds."

FAST FACT

During the tire building process, heat and pressure are applied in a mold to cure the tire's rubber components in a process known as vulcanizing. This process is named after Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. In Birmingham, a 56-foot statue of Vulcan, the world's largest cast iron statue, overlooks downtown from Red Mountain.

PIT STOP PERFORMANCE

During the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, the No. 5 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports crew of James Hinchcliffe captured the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award with a total pit lane time of 1 minute, 16.76 seconds. Stay tuned for the winner from Barber.

FIRESTONE #WinningMove

Josef Newgarden picked up the Firestone #WinningMove at the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach en route to finishing 3rd – his first time reaching the podium as a member of Team Penske. Newgarden's first career victory came at the 2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.