There is no doubt that Nashville and its first Music City GP have been one of the events of the season, both due to the spectacular response from local and television audiences, as well as the extraordinary events on the track that resulted in Marcus Ericsson as the winner after almost three hours of accidents, incidents, broken carbon fiber and, yes, some racing in the middle. Looking to regain peace of mind (which, as you well know, is what is most sought after), the IndyCar Series returns home to a second weekend of competition at the GP version of the Indianapolis circuit, all this in a very special weekend.
The centennial IndyCar will compete on the same variant of the same circuit, and on the same weekend, as the NASCAR Cup Series, for the first time in the more than 70 years of existence of the most popular competition in American motorsports (although not by long). This is so because NASCAR, which had a race at Indianapolis in 1994, has decided leave the oval in which your Brickyard 400 took place, after several years in which attendance had plummeted to unsuspected lows. The massive stands did nothing but worsen this fact in terms of optics, as well as the dubious quality of the races that were held there.
The Cup Series already shared the amphitheater in July 2020 with an IndyCar that placed its postponed Indianapolis Grand Prix on the same weekend as the last Brickyard 400 on the oval. That weekend, the second division of NASCAR (Xfinity Series) did use the mixed circuit, resulting in such a successful test that the organization has also displaced its main category to that version. Seizing the opportunity, the American cars have filled a well-saved gap in their 16-race calendar with this second visit to the 3,925-meter track. East varies in key sections from his time as a Formula 1 host, such as the simplified twisty parts before and after the middle straight, or the use of the chicane section in one of the banked corners that MotoGP implemented, albeit rolling it backwards.
The city of Indianapolis was the scene of the first IndyCar race outside an oval after World War II. It happened in 1965, in a nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park whose circuit, much in disuse today with respect to the small oval in the same facilities, hosted the Hoosier Grand Prix. In this quote, legends like Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Al Unser and Peter Revson they entered their names as winners until its forced last edition in 1970 as a result of an incomprehensible return to “only ovals”. It took 44 years for an IndyCar to turn right at Indianapolis with the arrival of the Grand Prix.
That quote has since retained its location in the second week of May as Indianapolis 500 Prelude Event, except for a 2020 in which the COVID-19 pandemic and the postponement of the Indy 500 to the congested month of August forced the aforementioned cooperation with NASCAR in July. Three months later, In order to complete a schedule of just 14 races, the category returned for a double event in October, called the Harvest Grand Prix, the same weekend that a previously scheduled unsuccessful endurance test took place.
So, this will be the second edition of the non-spring event, although this weekend with a single race. This will take place on Saturday and not on Sunday to basically prevent firefighters from stepping on the hose, and it will do so over the usual distance of 85 laps (330 kilometers), three more than NASCAR despite the agency’s custom of completing more miles. Tires are usually the main talking point when it comes to one of the tracks where there is a greater performance differential between soft and hard, but the incompatibility with the rubber deposited by the ‘stock cars’ will introduce another unpredictable element to a behavior that was already out of the expected in May.
indycar 2021 overall ranking after 11 races out of 16
This circuit also tends to offer relatively unexpected results in qualifying sessions, witnessing in May Romain Grosjean’s first pole position. The Frenchman, who finished second in that race after Rinus VeeKay, has remained highly competitive, but not as competitive that weekend, from which he will try to leave with a positive feeling before his first oval adventure at Gateway. For this he will face a gigantic 28-car grid, with the debuts of Top Gun Racing (RC Enerson) and that of the Danish Christian Lundgaard in Rahal’s third car. Will be The largest grid outside the Indy 500 since the 2011 Oval Races, which in turn is the only year since 2001 in which an IndyCar grid has had so many units on the track (Sonoma and Baltimore).
While inexperience on the ground will be a problem for Alex Palou in the last three dates of the season, that’s not at all the case on this track, where He has already contested four races, always going further until he finished on the podium in the last one. The championship leader, after his competitive performance in Nashville, has his rivals a little further away in the rearview mirror, but now the closest is his partner Scott dixon, who does know what it’s like to win on this track and has inexhaustible experience in this kind of championship fight. If we add to it the usual good Penske performanceWith a Josef Newgarden out for revenge and two drivers who have won here three times (Simon Pagenaud and Will Power), the ingredients are served for a most interesting show. Hopefully, without so much interruption.
Sessions and schedules of the BRICKYARD GRAND PRIX – INDIANÁPOLIS
* The race will be broadcast live through Movistar Sports (Spain), Clear Video (Latin America) and Duck.TV (Mexico)