Oilpressure

One rule that’s always been wise to live by is to be careful what you wish for, you just might get it. Such may end up being the case for this weekend’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear.

If you’ve read this site for a while, you know that the former site for the Detroit Grand prix – Belle Isle, in the Detroit River – was not my favorite venue on the IndyCar schedule. Some readers always took offense to my stance, especially since I had never actually attended a race at Belle Isle. That was a fair point, but I was basing it strictly as a television viewer. It may have been a glorious site to visit and watch a race from the stands, but from a TV standpoint – it always came across as a very confined circuit that was generally a parade with little passing, especially in the early days.

I will concede that some of the more recent races on Belle Isle were better than some in the 90s and early 2000s. Part of my disdain for Belle Isle was its place on the schedule, immediately following the Indianapolis 500. I always felt that it was a momentum killer after a thrilling Month of May. Still, I was not a fan of the site and I let it be known each year at this time, that Belle Isle was my least favorite track on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule.

Well, I’ve gotten my wish and Belle Isle is no longer part of the schedule. Race organizers have moved the race back across the river and into downtown Detroit, incorporating the picturesque GM Renaissance Center. The question is, will we be longing for a return to Belle Isle after this coming weekend? That remains to be seen.

At first glance, one would think not a whole lot of imagination went into the development of the new downtown track, mainly because it features mostly 90° turns. But if you take time to really study it, there is some uniqueness to the track.

First of all, like Nashville and Mid-Ohio, the starting line and finish line are at different parts of the track. The starting line is in the midst of what appears to be a very long straightaway, which could really make for some tense moments in the Turn Three complex. Turns Six and Seven look as if they could offer a decent passing zone, unless it is more of a chicane instead of a set of turns. It’s hard to tell by looking at a map.

The most unique thing about it is that pit lane will have cars on both sides. I’m not quite sure how that will work. It could flow beautifully, or it could be an accident waiting to happen. We’ll know by the end of the weekend.

One misperception regarding this weekend is that the Indianapolis 500 winner always does poorly in this race. I did some research and going back to 2015, the lowest the Indianapolis 500 winner from the previous week ever finished at Detroit was tenth (Juan Montoya). Marcus Ericsson finished seventh last year. Helio Castroneves was not entered at Belle Isle after his win in 2021. Belle Isle was cancelled in 2020 due to COVID. After Takuma Sato won the Indianapolis 500 in August of that year, he finished second in his next race at Gateway. So the idea that Josef Newgarden will be a zombie after his whirlwind media tour this week is really a myth. He may not win this weekend, but I think he will be just fine.

Now that the Indianapolis 500 is over, everyone’s attention turns back to the IndyCar championship. Alex Palou now leads the points off the strength of his win in the GMR Grand Prix. He leads Marcus Ericsson by twenty points and Pato O’Ward by thirty-four points. Indianapolis 500 winner is in fourth place and only trails O’Ward by three points. Scott Dixon is in fifth, but trails teammate Palou by a hefty fifty-seven points.

Right now, I would classify the championship as a four-way battle. Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Romain Grosjean, Will Power and Colton Herta round out the Top-Ten in points and they all have a lot of work to do, while hoping others ahead of them run into problems. Kudos to Ganassi’s Marcus Armstrong. He is nineteenth in points, despite missing the two oval races this season. Even with a second DNS after the Indianapolis 500, Armstrong is still in front of eight fulltime drivers including Conor Daly, Helio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud.

It sounds like race organizers have gone out of their way to host a very fan-friendly event this weekend. There are concerts and lots of free ticket areas for fans. The track layout borders the waterfront, so there should be lots of scenic TV shots this weekend.

Of course, the key underlying factor this weekend is that we have a more level playing field. This is a new layout that no one has ever driven on. It’s basically starting from a clean sheet of paper for the drivers and teams.

Practice gets underway this afternoon at 3:00 pm EDT on Peacock. Practice Two will be held at 9:05 am EDT Saturday, also on Peacock. Qualifying gets underway at 1:20 pm EDT Saturday on Peacock. The morning warmup will be Sunday morning at 10:00 EDT, and the race broadcast gets underway Sunday on Big NBC at 3:00 pm EDT.

Who’s going to win? I’ll be surprised if it’s Josef Newgarden. I think he’ll have a decent finish, but he can’t be 100% focused can he? Penske cars did well at Belle Isle, but this new layout is not Belle Isle. I’m not sure just how much transfers. With nothing more than a gut feeling, I think Arrow McLaren has been knocking on the door all season, but they’ve yet to win. That comes to an end on Sunday, as Pato O’Ward will finally get into the win column on Sunday. That will give Chevy a win in their own backyard. We’ll see.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 2, 2023 at 4:04 am and is filed under IndyCar. 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.