Saturday IndyCar Report from Belle Isle in Detroit

The sun is out this morning after a rainy night in Detroit.  Temperatures will be in the high 80s today.  The weather may include some isolated thunderstorms right around the 2 pm race time today.  But they say predicted so we cannot count on that.

Today the schedule for IndyCars is Qualifying for today’s race at 11:00 am local time and then race 1.   There will be a different format than the normal Firestone Fast Six Qualifying.  Both Saturday and Sunday qualifying will have only two segments instead of the usual three.   And the groups for qualifying for Race 2 on Sunday will swap session order for Sunday’s Group One.

Today Will Power has chosen to go out in group 1,  since he was the fastest in practice yesterday.  The rest of the drivers will be split in two groups based on their times, odd numbered positions will be in one group and the even numbered positions will be in the second group.   They will have 10 minutes in each session.  The fastest six cars from both groups will then have 10 minutes to go out in segment two to determine the first twelve positions.

There is a new familiar face in the paddock this weekend.  Scott Pruett is working for Ganassi Racing as a strategist for Jimmie Johnson in the No 48 Carvan sponsored entry.   Johnson, the seven time NASCAR champion, has struggled in this series but has managed to keep racing without any major incidents.

More to follow today…

Lucille Dust reporting live from Detroit