IndyCar have recently announced several rules changes for the upcoming season, changing qualifying procedures at some tracks and allowing extra sets of tires at road/street courses.
Among the race-weekend schedule modifications are:
• Phoenix and Gateway qualifications: Qualifying at these two oval tracks – Phoenix Raceway (April 29) and Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis (Aug. 26) – will be held on the same day as those Saturday night races. The first day of those event weekends will focus on a pair of practice sessions.
Firestone alternate tires: At road and street courses, each car will receive an additional set of Firestone’s red-sidewall alternate tires, bringing the total to four sets of the softer-compound tires available for the weekend. That allows teams to better gauge performance of alternate and primary-compound tires before qualifications. Each entry must return one set of tires – either primary or alternate – following the first practice session of a weekend, and another set – the opposite compound from the first returned set – following the second practice session.
• Overtake assist time allotment: Push-to-pass overtake assist in road and street races will be based on a maximum time allotment for each car instead of the number of uses. The events at St. Petersburg, Belle Isle and Sonoma will have a total overtake time allotment of 150 seconds, with the other road/street races set for 200 seconds.
• The road course event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: It will consist of two days, May 12-13. All three levels of the Mazda Road to Indy development ladder will compete on May 11.
• Qualifying at Detroit: For the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix doubleheader in June, qualifying sessions for each race will see the field divided into two groups based on practice times, with 12 minutes of track time allotted for each qualifying group (with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time). Previously, qualifying for the first race followed the advancement round format used at other road/street events. Qualifying groups for Belle Isle will be based on best lap times from the practice session immediately preceding Race 1 qualifications.
Standardized road/street practice times: Practice sessions on the first day of most road/street course event weekends will have start times of 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. local. Each session will last 45 minutes.
Dont forget the 2017 Season season opens with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on March 12, and includes the running of the 101st Indianapolis 500 on May 28 and concludes with the Grand Prix of Sonoma on Sept. 17
Source information is from IndyCar and Photo is from the David Turner Collection from the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 in 2016 on race day morning.
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