IndyCar: Sunday Morning Report from The Thermal Club

Good morning from Thermal, California.  The temperature is 80 degrees right now but is predicted to be around 86 degrees by race time for the second NTT INDYCAR Series race of the 2025 season here at the  Thermal Club.

The 8:05 am warmup ended with Alex Palou and Scott Dixon running first and second, respectively.

Firestone tires are the question of the day.  Most drivers say this will be a Red (alternative) tire race.

If the alternative tire is preferred, strategy will play a more significant part in today’s race.  Anyone from position 13 and back on the grid will have an extra set of new Reds.  It should make the front runners nervous.

Autoracing1 spoke with Louis Foster, the No 45 Mi-Jack Honda driver, who qualified tenth, the highest starting rookie.  The Englishman was pretty happy with his warmup.

” I should have a strong race today. It’s looking like a red race. So we’ll see what happens.   The reds (tires) should hold up well.”

“It’s looking like a three-stop race.  But again, we’ll have to wait and see. But I think most people plan on doing three.”

Today’s race is scheduled for green flag at 12:17 pm.

Lucille Dust reporting live from the Thermal Club IndyCar race.