Oilpressure

Not only will this be a review of Qualifying Weekend, I will also look back at the entire week of practice leading up to the weekend. A frustrating and disjointed week of practice that was frequently interrupted by rain evolved into a sun-drenched Fast Friday and enjoyable weekend of qualifying.

This was my third time to spend the entire week of practice at IMS, and I have to say that this was definitely my least favorite of the three. I’m sure every bit of that was a result of the rainy weather that interrupted portions of Tuesday through Thursday. The part that I looked forward to the most, sitting in the stands and relaxing while race cars go by. Instead whenever cars were on the track during that three day span there was a sense of urgency among the teams, media, and track officials that made relaxing out of the question.

I never even made it to the track on Tuesday because the day was called for rain before I ever made it to town. Wednesday morning I got up early and drove to the track in a downpour. A bunch of us sat around in the Media Center chatting away the time until the track finally opened at 3:05 pm EDT. By 5:30 it was raining again. Thursday started out sunny and they started practice at 10:00 instead of noon due to all of the track time missed over the previous two days. Around 11:30 a.m. we had our first incident of the month when Chip Ganassi Racing’s Linus Lundqvist lost the back end of his car and smacked the SAFER Barrier exiting Turn Two. Around 3:30 Marcus Ericsson lost control of his Andretti Global Honda as he was coming out of Turn Four. Both drivers were unhurt, but Ericsson had to move to a backup car; a move that would have major implications going into the weekend.

Fast Friday was the first day all week not affected by rain. However, the day turned gloomy for rookie Nolan Siegel when he lost control in Turn Two when he flipped his car and skidded along the backstretch upside down. The nineteen year old driver for Dale Coyne Racing was forced to go to a backup car, which was Jack Harvey’s road course car. That too had major implications later in the weekend.

Fast Friday saw a jump in speeds by about 5 mph, by adding more boost to artificially increase speeds for the weekend. It was fun to see the teams flirt with approaching the track record, but not once did I ever feel like Arie Luyendyk’s record from 1996 was ever in danger.

TV Coverage:  Due to the weather and other reasons I found myself in the Media Center more than usual, therefore I saw and heard more of the Peacock coverage than I normally do at a racetrack. On the positive side, I am always amazed how they can fill so much airtime on practice days with good quality segments. They did another good job in doing this throughout the week of practice, especially during rain delays. On the downside, I felt that all three booth personalities were way over the top in trying to create dramatic moments, which weren’t really dramatic. And if I hear Townsend Bell talk about “The Thirsty Threes” one more time I might scream (speaking of being dramatic).

Too Much Boost? Over the last several years I’ve made it clear that I am not a fan of adding boost for Fast Friday in Qualifying. I always felt like it unnecessarily and artificially manufactured excitement just so fans could think they were getting closer to a new track record. I always felt for authenticity that they should leave the boost alone and keep it where they have it at every other IndyCar race.

Now we have another reason to leave the boost alone. On Saturday at least six Chevys experienced a plenum event on their qualifying runs. Chevy officials held a press conference after Saturday’s qualifying session. They cited the increased boost for the weekend as one of the possible factors contributing to the plenum problems. I don’t know if Chevy found out what the issue was, but there were no plenum events with Chevys on Sunday.

Still, it begs the question; are they stressing the engines too much by adding more boost for qualifying weekend?

Absolute Dominance:  After Saturday’s Qualifying session, it raised a few eyebrows to look at the Firestone Fast Twelve and realize that only three of the twelve cars were powered by Honda. After the field was finalized on Sunday, it was even more revealing to look at the first three rows and notice that positions one through eight were all Chevys. Sitting on the outside of Row Three, Felix Rosenqvist is the fastest Honda on the grid.

Will the Hondas be more reliable on Race Day, or are the Hondas just flat out slower than the Chevys? We will know the answer by late Sunday afternoon.

Just Curious:  When did the Last Row Shootout become Last Chance Qualifying? I was corrected by someone in the Media Center on Sunday, informing me it was now Last Chance Qualifying. I found it particularly annoying when the Peacock announcers kept referring to it as LCQ.

Rahal Woes Continue:  For the second year in a row Graham Rahal’s fate was placed in the hands of a competitor. It worked out better for him this year, but what was he doing back there again in the first place. It’s not as if Rahal has suddenly forgotten how to drive the historic 2.5 mile oval. He was competitive earlier in the week, but started moving backwards on Friday. I don’t necessarily blame Rahal, and I don’t know enough about the team’s dynamics to lay the blame on them. But something is wrong when Rahal’s teammate, Takuma Sato was one of only three Hondas that was competing for the pole just an hour earlier, while Rahal was battling for his life at the back of the grid.

Color Me impressed I:  I have never been a huge fan of Rinus VeeKay, I always considered him a good qualifier, but not a great racer. That has been proven by his outstanding starting positions in the Indianapolis 500 that usually end up with his car in the wall. At other tracks, he has shown flashes of potential, yet never seems to be able to close the deal.

I came away this weekend with a newfound respect for VeeKay. Yes, he put his car into the wall on his qualifying run, but five hours later he crawled into the cockpit of his rebuilt car. Instead of being spooked, he worked with the car on Saturday afternoon, got it dialed in and ultimately put his car safely in the Fast Twelve. That took guts and showed me that he may be a real racer after all.

Color Me Impressed II:  going into the week I knew very little about Nolan Siegel. I knew he was a very successful Indy NXT driver, but I also knew he was nineteen years old and had never driven in a points-paying IndyCar race. Before the Chevys showed their dominance with the extra boost, I had predicted Sting Ray Robb to be the one going home. After the boost put Robb mid-pack, I shifted my prediction to Nolen Siegel, simply because he was so inexperienced driving an Indy car. That was even before Siegel had his frightening crash on Friday.

He had to go to a backup car that was set up for a road course. I thought the nineteen year old would wither under the pressure. But the moment was not too big for the young man, he never seemed spooked and he even found more speed in the car on Sunday. When he was making his final run to bump a seasoned veteran, he took the approach that he was not going to go home because he lifted. He put it in the wall simply because he was giving it everything he had. At the press conference at the end of the day, Rahal told everyone that Siegel is a racer and a winner, and we should all get used to hearing his name. I tend to agree.

All in All:  Although the week of practice was somewhat disjointed by the weather, I thoroughly enjoyed the two days of qualifying. I was not a fan of this backwards format that has the pole decided on Sunday, but I’m leaning to appreciate it. The only tweak I would make would be to run the fast six for the pole beginning at 11 am when the temperatures are cooler, then decide the Last Chance Qualifying as the final segment on Sunday. For the past several years, including this one, the Last Chance Qualifying has produced a lot more drama and excitement than the run for the pole has. In this current format where the pole is decided at the end of the day, the pole run has ended up being rather anticlimactic.

Except for some minor logistical issues and a few potholes leading to our parking lot, I thought it was a good weekend for IMS. They were on top of their game.

There is one more practice this afternoon – I hope there are no issues that sees a driver injured and have to be replaced. We have seen too much of that over the last decade.

Reminder:  The answers to the Trivia Contest are due Tuesday, May 21st at 6 p.m. EDT.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 20, 2024 at 4:03 am and is filed under Indianapolis 500. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.