Round 5: GMR Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. May 13 - 14

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Colton Herta, well deserved and a great strategy call from his dad.

That's got to be one of the most chaotic races I've ever seen.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Colton Herta, well deserved and a great strategy call from his dad.

That's got to be one of the most chaotic races I've ever seen.

I agree. During the race I thought the best strategy call was when Rossi and Rahal were the first to change back to wet tires when the radar looked like there was significant rain headed in. I wish one of them had not pitted for reds as the track dried. Perhaps the lack of pace on the drying track wouldn't have made for any gains once the rain came back but it would have been interesting to see how it worked out. Brian Herta made the best call of the day bringing Colton in to be the first driver off the wet tires. At the time I thought that weather and yellows might put Colton back in mid pack but it worked out well for him. His one sideways moment cost him very little time and it was fun to see.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Started fun. Could've been more fun, but a bit sloppy. I guess it could've been worse.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Colton Herta, well deserved and a great strategy call from his dad.

That's got to be one of the most chaotic races I've ever seen.

I just got the chance to finish the race. I found it pretty exciting despite all of the stops and starts. Whenever weather is variable during a race it really makes for some interesting strategy calls. And the announcers kept talking about if somebody was getting it right, but it really just seemed like luck by the way the radar looked and then how wet the track got.

Power's consistency pays off again and he is now in the lead of the championship! After the luck he had last season it is pretty amazing to see him doing so well.

Pato is my favorite driver so I was gutted to see him have to pit for wets at the end. But also made me wonder about Rossi. He pitted early for wets, and it stayed dry. What would have happened if he put on wets again after burning up that first set? Can't remember how many more dry laps there were. Could he have made it work?

[fieldodreams79]

With conditions very poor, it made it fun and ever changing, but I just wish they could've stayed green a little more as just when it seemed it was getting really good, FCY.

[fieldodreams79]

This is pretty incredible

https://twitter.com/marshallpruett/s...36124806467584

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

With conditions very poor, it made it fun and ever changing, but I just wish they could've stayed green a little more as just when it seemed it was getting really good, FCY.

Agreed, just a bit more green flag racing would have done it. However, despite the chaos and the FCYs, I enjoyed the race and was intrigued as to how the teams and drivers were going to adapt their strategies under the ever changing circumstances.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race Result:

After a chaotic race Colton Herta's win puts him 6th in the driver's championship. However, Will Power's 3rd place puts him on top with 170 points. Current champion Alex Palou is 2nd on 156 and Scott McLaughlin is 3rd on 152.

A couple of solid results from Marcus Ericsson 4th and Conor Daly 5th. Rookies, Callum Ilott and Christian Lungaard finished in the top 10 in 8th and 9th.


Honda will be pleased, with 4 cars in the first 6 finishers.

[bjohnsonsmith]

This was the first time the Aeroscreen had been properly tested in wet conditions and there are some very interesting comments from a number of the drivers.


https://racer.com/2022/05/14/rain-po...en-at-indy-gp/

[PointDSM]

That was a very good 1st indycar race to attend for myself (not counting a CART race in the 90's at Road America).

• No ticket necessary - We arrived 45 minutes prior to the revised start time to find out they were not scanning tickets, gate people were just welcoming people to the track, very pleasant!
• I thought I would be spoiled by Road America (where you can roam free), however that was also the case for this event (why I chose it over the 500). Bought the cheapest ticket I could, then went anywhere I wanted. It was nice to get under the awning at the end to watch the finish in the rain, however having full access to go anywhere, regardless of ticket chosen, was AWESOME. Penske needs to just have TWO ticket classes for next year (PREFERRED, which is checked and gets you the VERY upper levels) and GENERAL, which gets you the infield and any/all oval stands, also pit infield stands.
• Packed house. TV didn't catch much, but before the the storm came, it was much more packed than i though. Infield was full, Turn 1 oval was PACKED, turn 4 oval had ~6k people I'd say. I'd say overall attendance was ~20k.
• TV's are awesome, PA system easy to hear, food/drink prices reasonable ($8 burger is good for event pricing).
• Parking was awesome, they are just setup for the 500 so well that anything smaller seems too easy.
• Indycar fans seem to drink/yell more than NASCAR fans, it was a bit annoying the level of "drunk" fans (versus casually drinking).
• Cars look slow when compared to the massive facility. They should change the course a tad to allow it to flow more (carry more speed).

[joeb]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

This was the first time the Aeroscreen had been properly tested in wet conditions and there are some very interesting comments from a number of the drivers.


https://racer.com/2022/05/14/rain-po...en-at-indy-gp/

I wondered how it was for the drivers, I had a set of wipers on my car this week yet I couldn't see driving 25 mph on city roads during the worst conditions I've seen locally. It was wild, picked kids up from school and the first 2 miles I was just guessing, then got out of the cloud and it was fine. But it was bizarre for me too, rain was just sticking to my windshield. I wondered if going through the automatic carwash had left some residue that held water. It also hailed, which you never want to have on your car.

[MR_LON]

was there a timing error during the race? both grosjean & palou were listed as finishing behind mclaughlin at the flag but the official results have them back up in 17th & 18th respectively.

[tux]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

This was the first time the Aeroscreen had been properly tested in wet conditions and there are some very interesting comments from a number of the drivers.


https://racer.com/2022/05/14/rain-po...en-at-indy-gp/

They're gonna do it arent they? They're going to stop running in the rain on road courses too.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by tux

They're gonna do it arent they? They're going to stop running in the rain on road courses too.

I'm guessing a wiper of some type for next season. then might as well put a roof on it, make the cockpit a little wider......

[fieldodreams79]

Hell yea! Love it!

https://twitter.com/RGrosjean/status...20231764672513

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Hell yea! Love it!

https://twitter.com/RGrosjean/status...20231764672513

That's cool. Romain is another guy that I've done a 180 after he started racing in the States. Same with today's winner.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by joeb

I'm guessing a wiper of some type for next season. then might as well put a roof on it, make the cockpit a little wider......

No, no, no. This is all that is needed. It should be required by law for street cars, IMO.

[broadrun96]

Straight in the washer bottle, green in summer, pink I think it is for winter now that we can buy actual cold weather mix