Less than per week after the second spherical of the season, in the streets of St Petersburg, the Indycar picks up the tempo with the primary oval assembly of the season and on this system two races in lower than 24 hours, in the evening from Saturday to Sunday (departure at 1 hour French time, over 318 miles or 480 km) then Sunday night (11:10 p.m. French time, over 372 miles or 600 km). The program was disrupted by the rain that lingered over Fort Worth on Saturday. The race administration determined to cancel the qualifying session (which was to find out the grid for the 2 races) and to carry the beginning of the primary race ahead by half an hour. Suddenly, the beginning grid might be composed from the championship classification as is all the time the case in such a configuration.
This weekend is of course going down with out Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne) or Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi) who aren’t competing in the oval races this season. The Frenchman might be changed by Pietro Fittipaldi whereas Tony Kanaan will take his place in automobile quantity 48, bringing all his expertise in an occasion the place he has received 4 occasions, a document shared with Scott Dixon. New Zealander Chip Ganassi is the defending champion. In 2020, he received the inaugural occasion of the season right here, completely launching the conquest of his sixth private title.
10
This is the quantity of drivers who stand in twenty factors (the equal of a tenth place) in the standings from Alex Palou (67) to Josef Newgarden (47). A driver successful the 2 weekend races would pocket a minimal of 100 factors.
Sébastien Bourdais (AJ Foyt), who returns for the primary time since 2019, stays on three prime 10 in 2016, 2018 and 2019 on this 2.4 km observe with very sharp turns. He will wish to affirm his wonderful begin to the season which permits him to level to sixth place in the final classification (one row and three factors behind Pagenaud) with 51 factors, sixteen lower than the chief Alex Palou, who will due to this fact begin from pole on Saturday evening. The Spaniard (Chip Ganassi) will attempt to do higher than final yr. For his nice Indycar debut, he had solely been capable of full 36 laps in Texas, his automobile being swept away by a distressed Rinus Veekay after hitting the wall.
This Saturday, throughout free follow and through the first race, all of the drivers may also be curious to see if the observe will permit them to overhaul this yr. Since 2018 and a change in each asphalt and aerodynamic regulation, Indycar races have misplaced their insanity on the Fort Worth ring with the close to impossibility of with the ability to maintain its course on the higher half of the observe.