Round 17: Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, Laguna Seca, CA. September 8 - 10

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 17: Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, Laguna Seca, CA. September 8 - 10

Here we are again, with the final race of the season. 17 rounds doesn't seem long
enough.

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History
Laguna Seca's origins go back to the sports car races held at Pebble Beach in the
1950s, which used public roads through the Del Monte pine forests on the Monterey Peninsular. When road racing was abandoned on safety grounds by the SCCA (Sports Car Club of America) in 1956, organisers sought an alternative, purpose built race track. $1.5 million was raised from local businesses and individuals, with the track being built in 1957, on part of the maneuvers area and field artillery target range of the U.S. Army's Fort Ord.

The very first race was held on November 9, 1957 and was won by Gerard Carlton "Pete" Lovely, an American racecar driver and businessman, driving a Ferrari 500 TR.

Sportscar racing had always been a mainstay at Laguna Seca. However since
opening, the track has hosted rounds, of other racing series, including Can-Am,
Trans-Am, Formula 5000, IMSA GT, CART, American Le Mans Series, Grand
American, Monterey Historic Automobile Races and Speed World Challenge, as
well motorcycle series including the FIM Superbike World Championship and
MotoGP.

The Monterey Grand Prix dates back to 1960 and has traditionally been held in
the autumn/fall, either in September or October. The race was first run on
October 23, 1960 and was the final round of USAC Road Racing Championship,
which was won by legendary British driver Stirling Moss, in a Lotus 19-Climax.

After USAC's road racing series ended in 1962, the event became a non-
championship sports car race for three years and then became part of the Can-
Am schedule from 1966-1973. After the initial demise of Can-Am in 1974, the
event shifted to Formula 5000 for two years, then to IMSA for two more years.

The revived Cam-Am series returned from 1978-1982. However in 1983, with
the growing popularity of the CART IndyCar series, Laguna Seca became a
perennial on the CART/Champ Car calendar through to 2004. The first CART race
was the Cribari Wines 300K, on October 23, 1983 and was won by Italian Teo
Fabi, for Forsythe Racing, in a March 83C-Ford Cosworth DFX. The last race was
won by Canadian Patrick Carpentier, for Forsythe Racing, in a Lola B04/00-Ford
Cosworth XFE, on September 12, 2004.

After a brief hiatus from 2005-2007, the race was set to return as part of the
Champ Car World Series in 2008. After series unification between Champ Car
and the IRL, Sonoma, which had been part of the IRL season from 2005 took
preference.

Sonoma is roughly 115 miles North of Laguna Seca, as the crow flies and held a
"geographical exclusion" clause, which effectively precluded IndyCar races from
being held at both venues. In 2018 Monterey County and the track owners,
pushed for IndyCar to return to Laguna Seca and with Sonoma having run at a
loss, Laguna Seca was added to the 2019 calendar, after a fifteen-year hiatus,
signing an initial three-year deal and replacing Sonoma as the IndyCar season
finale for 2019.

In 2020 the race was cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic but was
back on the calendar in 2021. However, the 2021 race schedule was still being
affected by the Covid pandemic. The Long Beach Grand Prix, which was
originally due to take place on 18 April 2021 as the third round of the
championship, was rescheduled to 26 September 2021, replacing Laguna Seca
as the 2021 season finale. The following year, Laguna Seca returned to the
2022 calendar as the season finale.

On August 3rd, just before this year's Big Machine Music City Grand Prix at
Nashville, It was announced that the event would host the season finale from
2024 on wards. With the 2024 IndyCar calendar yet to be finalised, it's not sure
when Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey will take place. It was suggested it could
to fill the gap between St. Petersburg and Texas, or be held in March. Rainfall
though, is prevalent along the California coast that time of the year and
therefore this is no longer under consideration, which could push the race it to
early summer.

Some Trivia:
The driver with the most wins: Bobby Rahal, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987.
Team with the most wins: Team Penske, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 2000.
Last year, Will Power broke Mario Andretti's all-time pole record, with his 68th
career pole.*

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Track layout
Since 1957, the track has undergone some very significant changes, the first
one in 1988 being the most notable, as it redefined the visual layout of the
track. The original left-hander at Turn 2, became a 180º hairpin, which created
an infield loop that also extended the track from its original 1.9-mile length to
2.214-miles.

The second most significant change, was in 1996, when Turns 9-10-11 were
re-profiled. This had the effect of slightly extended the start-finish straight,
as well as the run-off for the final turns.

Further upgrades were funded by Yamaha, in time for the tracks hosting of the
8th round of the 2005 MotoGP season. In 2006, an additional $7 million of
major improvements were made, to improve safety and the facilities for
motorcycle races. This included resurfacing of the entire track, while extra run-
off was added to Turn One, which meant that a portion of the hillside, as well as
the former media centre building that was above it, was removed and a state-
of-the-art hospitality center, with commanding views of the track replaced it.

There was also a change to the track from Turn 6 to Turns 8 and 8A, otherwise
known as the Corkscrew, with run-off added to both sides of the straightaway
and the dip just before the Corkscrew flattened.

The Corkscrew is considered one of motorsport's most challenging corners. At
the apex to Turn 8 (the left-hander and entry to The Corkscrew), the elevation
change is a 12 percent drop. By the time a race car reaches the apex of Turn 8A
(the right-hander), the elevation is at its steepest, with an 18 percent drop. In
total, the course drops 59 feet between the entrance of Turn 8 to the exit of
Turn 8A, in only 450 feet of track. From Turn 8 to Turn 9, the elevation falls 109
feet. It was at the Corkscrew, in 1996, that Alex Zenardi audaciously pulled of
what became known as "The Pass", on Bryan Herta, on the last lap to win the Bank of America 300.

Further renovation was completed in June this year, that included resurfacing
the entire track, as well as replacing the pedestrian bridge at the start/finish line,
all costing approximately $20 million.

1957 original layout:


1988 layout:


1996 to present:


Length: 2.238 miles (3.602 km)

Lap record:
Hélio Castroneves. September 9, 2000. 1:07.722, 118.969 mph (191.462 km/h)
Reynard 2KI-Honda HR-0
FedEx Championship Series

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Last Year's Race:
https://www.indycar.com/news/2022/09...guna-nics-race

Pole:
Will Power*
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6

Winner:
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI22TT Indy V6

Laps: 95
Distance: 212.610 Miles (342.163 Km)
Race Time: 2:03:31.0628
Average Speed: 103.277 Mph (166.208 Km/h)
Fastest lap: Pato O'Ward-Arrow McLaren SP, Lap 88. 73.848 sec. 109.099 Mph
(175.578 Km/h)

Cautions: 1
Laps: 39 - 41

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Practice and Qualifications
Practice 1
Friday, Sep 8
5:30 PM - 6:45 PM ET

Practice 2
Saturday, Sep 9
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1
Saturday, Sep 9
5:09 PM - 5:10 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2
Saturday, Sep 9
5:25 PM - 5:35 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 2
Saturday, Sep 9
5:50 PM - 6:00 PM ET

Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6
Saturday, Sep 9
6:05 PM - 6:20 PM ET

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TV Broadcast:
Sept 10 - NBC. 2:30pm ET, 6:30pm UTC, 7:30pm BST
Sky Sports F1 - 7:30pm BST

[joeb]

All time lap records are going to be shattered this weekend after the track was repaved. In the test session yesterday Power had a 1:07.2 beating the previous record of 1:11.6 from last year. Sounds like the new surface is behaving a bit like Road America's too, with loads of grip online and none off.

https://racer.com/2023/09/07/power-l...est-at-laguna/

[bjohnsonsmith]

Officially, Hélio Castroneves still holds the lap record, with a time of 1:07.722, set during qualifying for the 2000 CART Honda Grand Prix of Monterey. Subsequently, on August 20, 2006, Toyota F1 test driver Ricardo Zonta set an unofficial lap record of 1:06.309. The unofficial record was broken by Sébastien Bourdais on March 10, 2007, who lapped in 1:05.880 during Champ Car Spring Training. The unofficial record was again broken on May 19, 2012, by Marc Gené, who lapped in 1:05.786 in a Ferrari F2003-GA F1 car, during the 2012 Ferrari Racing Days at Mazda Raceway, Laguna Seca.

The lap times of Zonta, Bourdais and Gené were set during exhibition and testing sessions and official records can only be set in race conditions, either in practice, qualifying, or during the race itself.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Colton Herta set a lap time of 01:07.5382, 119.292 Mph (191.982 Km/h) in practice yesterday, topping the IndyCar Series track record of 1:07.722 set by Hélio Castroneves in 2000.

[joeb]

Practice 2 and nobody can keep it on track just like the first one.

[joeb]

Santino had his engine let go to cause yet another red flag

[The Fat Clerk]

The NXT race was just as bad with the Safety Car very busy.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by The Fat Clerk

The NXT race was just as bad with the Safety Car very busy.

I did not watch, was on to football instead. But now switched on qualifying. I'm guessing this is also going to be a red flag show

[joeb]

All of the rookies are in the first group, only top line driver is Herta and Dixon and Ericcson

[joeb]

Rhr first to cause a red and Vips is p1!

[joeb]

Wild finish with 1 flying lap only. Herta out!

[joeb]

Stingy!

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by joeb

Stingy!

YES!

[joeb]

Holy **** Lundgaard with a 1:06!

[joeb]

Felix on pole!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying Result

Felix Rosenqvist, in his last drive for Arrows McLaren, pipped Scotty Mac by 0.01s to take pole, with a lap time of 1:06.6416. However, the official track record of 1:07.722, held by Hélio Castroneves since 2000, was broken by Christian Lundgaard in Round 2 of qualifying, with a lap time of 01:06.4610. He qualified 3rd. Ironically Hélio Castroneves qualified last. Newly crowned driver's champion Alex Palou was 6th.

[fergus_r]

Fantastic session. I never tire of this circuit, just fabulous.

[The Fat Clerk]

Well done Christian Rasmussen on winning Indy NXT, look forward to see you out with the big boys next year.

[joeb]

Getting ready to start here, Helio's final whole season race.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I was going to say a clean start but there is a caution on the course. Rahal visibly not happy with Vips but not his fault.

[joeb]

Messy start, Rahal and Vips out

[fergus_r]

Carnage at Turn 1 and multiple cars in the gravel. Looks a bit like the start of the British GT race I saw at Brands Hatch earlier…

Rahal trying to blame everybody.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Second FCY, as Newgarden comes to halt, though eventually gets underway.

[joeb]

Messy in the pack, and Palou easily dominating. Could first stint for Canapino

[broadrun96]

Well that was a joke of everyone there to start. And why haven't I seen anything from Herta being a blatant cheater, well out of line and actually off the track before the green.

And Rahal is just an ass, that's at least the third time this season he runs his mouth and turns out he didn't have a clue. Every time you want to like him and struggle against the bigger teams he reminds you why the team is where it is

Easy call on Scotty Mac too, get it he got loose in front of you but you still gotta be able to dance away