Houston track a real driver’s track

Race organizers spent at least $200,000 on improvements to the JAGFlo Track at Reliant Park ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix of Houston after drivers last year complained the course was too bumpy and hurt them and the cars.

The most expensive endeavor involved the grinding of portions of the track, particularly the straightaways, in an effort to smooth it out.

After the first day of practice and qualifying, results were mixed.

"Last year, it was really rough, especially on the cars, around the Astrodome and the main straight," said Sebastien Bourdais. "I'm very happy that Mike [Lanigan] and all the guys at Mi-Jack Promotions did that.

"The truth is, as far as driving goes it's still the same because they haven't grinded any braking or cornering or exits. It's still rough concrete racing, but it's a lot of fun. Once you get a good handle on the car and the track rubbers in, it's bouncing around, but it's quite a bit of fun."

"Yeah, it's definitely better, especially around the stadium there," said 2nd fast qualifier Will Power. "They definitely got rid of the bumps there. But it's still fairly rough, like Sebastien said, the braking and so on.

"But, no, I enjoy this track. It's a real challenge to get a balance in the car and also make it ride the bumps well, you know. It's a one-make chassis, one-make shock absorber, it's up to the engineers and the driver to really work well together to get it."