For nearly a decade we have waited for the IndyCar series to come back to race at one of the nicest and most challenging road course tracks in North America. This weekend the waiting ends as IndyCar teams will return to action at Road America near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
The 14-turn track that is just over four miles (6.4 km) in length features a little bit of everything. Long straightaways with several good passing zones, technical corners and long sweeping stretches that let drivers and the cars stretch their legs and test the limits of performance.
With only minimal testing at Road America prior to this week’s race no one team should have a distinct advantage over another. More than half the field has never competed in an IndyCar on the famed course and that hopefully sets up a wide-open and competitive 50-lap race.
Setting up the car for the challenging course requires a compromise. Do you trim the car out to be slippery along the high-speed straightaways or do you add down force for better performance through the corners. Making the right choice can mean the difference between a good day and a great day.
Overall championship points leader Simon Pagenaud was the lone Penske driver who participated in a recent test session at the track and it will be his car setup that teammates Juan Pablo Montoya, Helio Castroneves and Will Power begin track activity with on Friday. All will be hoping for the kind of performance that Pagenaud has achieved during the first half of the season as he piled up three victories and three runner-up finishes along with four pole position starting spots.
The approach to the balance of the schedule remains the same for the Frenchman who has an 80-point lead over second place driver Scott Dixon. “We’ll continue to race smart, but attacking is the best way to defend, in my opinion.”
Of the nine drivers who’ve previously competed in an IndyCar at Road America the only driver in the field who’s scored a victory is Sebastien Bourdais of KVSH Racing. Bourdais along with Dixon and Mikhail Aleshin spent last weekend participating in the 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race where Bourdais was also part of the winning squad.
Josef Newgarden has been listed on the entry sheet as the driver of the No. 21 car for Ed Carpenter Racing. Newgarden suffered a broken clavicle and a small fracture to his right hand at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago after he was collected in Conor Daly’s incident and the two crashed hard into the outside wall. If Newgarden is not cleared to drive, JR Hildebrand will occupy the seat.
Oakville, Ont., native James Hinchcliffe, like the rest of the field, is keenly excited to be back racing at Road America. A favourite track of his since his first visit in 2004, it is also the track where Hinchcliffe made his return to the cockpit last September as the final step in his recovery from his Indianapolis crash last year.
Advance tickets sales for the weekend are reported to be brisk and a successful event could be a nice boost for the series after the Texas rain delay and having the planned race in Boston scuttled by the promoter, forcing the series to put together a last minute plan to replace it with an event at Watkins Glen.