Round 7. Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit, June 2 - 4.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 7. Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit, June 2 - 4.

On November 3, 2021, Detroit City Council and Penske Entertainment reached an agreement to move the Detroit Grand Prix back to downtown Detroit and the streets around the Renaissance Center, making last year's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix the final race at Belle Isle and ending a 30 year association with AOWR, which began with CART in 1992. It was also a single race event, ending the series of double headers, which had been held since 2013.

This season's return to the Renaissance Center, will introduce a new feature to IndyCar and to motorsport in general, the dual pit lane, with some cars pitting to the left and some to the right. The pit lane needs to be 1000 feet long and this video clip explains how the idea for a dual pit lane came about. https://youtu.be/F3x7nH8Jkxo

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History
Detroit was originally the venue for the F1 Detroit Grand Prix, held from 1982-1988. However, it was dropped from the F1 calendar after the 1988 season, when F1's governing body FISA declared the temporary pit area sub standard and because of the drivers dislike of the event due to track disintegration, which was particularly bad that year. It was planned to move the F1 Grand Prix to Belle Isle in 1989 but no agreement was finalised and F1 went to Phoenix instead from 1989-1991. Detroit became a CART event, with the race held on a slightly modified version of the F1 track. The winner of the first race and last race to be held there was Emerson Fittipaldi, driving a Penske PC-18/Chevrolet for Patrick Racing and later a Penske PC-20/Chevrolet for Penske Racing.

In 1992, the event was moved to Belle Isle, where it became a perennial fixture on the CART calendar, up to and including 2001, during which time the track was extended from 2.1 mi (3.4 km), to 2.36 mi (3.80 km) in 1998. The inaugural 1992 CART race was won by Bobby Rahal, driving a Lola T9200/Chevrolet for Rahal/Hogan Racing. The final CART race was won by Hélio Castroneves, driving a Reynard 01i-Honda HR-0 V8t, for Marlboro Team Penske.

The race was revived from 2007-2008, as part of the IRL's IndyCar Series, using the original CART layout but with Turn 8 tightened and was won by Tony Kanaan, driving a Dallara IR-05-Honda V8, for Andretti-Green Racing. However, the race was cancelled from 2009-2011, due to the downturn in Detroit's automotive industry and the city's economic problems. The race was revived again in 2012 and since 2013 the track held the first in a series of double headers, as well as reverting to the 1998-2001 CART layout, with changes to Turns 3, 7 and The Strand. In 2020 the Detroit Grand Prix was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, returning to the IndyCar calendar last year but as a single race.

The return to the Renaissance Center was due to a number of issues, that had gradually arisen over the years: it was difficult to access on race weekend, there was not enough space to expand seating and the residents of Detroit did not appreciate the section of the park on which the circuit was on, being shut down for the length of time it took to construct and disassemble the circuit facilities.

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Track Layout:
1982 - 1988 F1 Renaissance Center layout:


1992-1997 Original CART Belle Isle layout:


1998-2000 CART and 2013-2022 IndyCar Belle Isle layout:


2023 - onwards new Renaissance Center layout:


Length: 1.700 Miles (2.736 km)
Turns: 9

Race distance: 100 laps, 170 Miles

Lap record:

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Some Trivia:

Driver with the most wins, 3
Will Power. 2014, 2016, 2022
Hélio Castroneves 2000, 2001, 2014.
Scott Dixon 2012, 2018, 2019

The team with the most wins, 9.
Team Penske: 1991, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2014 Race 1 and 2, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022.

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Last Year's Race.
https://www.indycar.com/news/2022/06/06-05-detroit-race

Pole:
Josef Newgarden,
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Winner:
Will Power,
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Laps: 70
Distance: 164.5 Miles (162.624 km)
Race Time: 1:32:08.8183
Average Speed: 107.111 Mph (172.378 Km/h)
Fastest lap: David Malukas - Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports. Lap 52. 76.4034 sec, 110.728 Mph (178.199 Km/h)

Caution periods: 1
Laps: 70 - 70,

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Practice and Qualifications

Friday, Jun 3 - Practice 1, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET

Saturday, Jun 4 - Practice 2, 9:05 AM - 10:05 AM ET

Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1, 1:20 PM - 1:30 PM ET

Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2, 1:45 PM - 1:55 PM ET

Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 2, 2:10 PM - 2:20 PM ET

Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6, 2:35 PM - 2:50 PM ET

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Race broadcast:
Sunday, Jun 4.
NBC, 3:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM UTC
Sky Sports F1, 8:00 PM BST

[broadrun96]

Will be interesting to see how the split pit lane works out and if the drivers can remember what side to look for traffic to blend

[fieldodreams79]

Man, that new layout looks LAME! I'll miss Belle Isle but always like street circuits. Maybe it'll be fun?

Saturday looks pretty warm with a potential for rain. Sunday is clear.

[Born Racer]

Thanks for the informative preview, bjohnsonsmith.

The layout looks uninspiring. At least the F1 circuit had a greater proportion of non-90 degree bends. It might not be much fun to drive, but the racing could be another story.

[NaBUru38]

The hairpin looks interesting, and by that I mean it will be chaos.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The exit from the dual pit lane joins the circuit at 90°, just after Turn 9. That looks a little too close.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The exit from the dual pit lane joins the circuit at 90°, just after Turn 9. That looks a little too close.

This all looks a bit odd on paper, but hopefully it races well.

[joeb]

First practice sounded messy for Indycar, and in NXT 14 of 19 cars went off!

https://racer.com/2023/06/02/oward-l...ce-in-detroit/

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Man, that new layout looks LAME! I'll miss Belle Isle but always like street circuits. Maybe it'll be fun?

Makes the Phoenix F1 track look fantastic. Although I did really like it I’m Microprose Grand Prix.

[v8supes]

I dont know, its not as good as Belle Isle is it? Still might be decent? Seems much nicer than the track map made it look though.

[Mogster]

Maybe I’ve been spoiled by F1s offerings but at first glance this really is an awful layout. Feels very FE, in a bad way. From onboard it looks very narrow.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by joeb

First practice sounded messy for Indycar, and in NXT 14 of 19 cars went off!

https://racer.com/2023/06/02/oward-l...ce-in-detroit/

I hope the race doesn't turn into another Nashville, that would be a little embarrassing.

[Adam43]

I love the pit lane.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Mogster

Maybe I’ve been spoiled by F1s offerings but at first glance this really is an awful layout. Feels very FE, in a bad way. From onboard it looks very narrow.

After the way the 500 ended, I have a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, and we will probably see a lot of the same come race day here. Just finished watching practice. Practice 2 and so many people went off not being able to make corners. Luckily not a lot of damage, but if people can't keep it on track, it's going to be a long day.

Originally Posted by Adam43

I love the pit lane.

When I first read that it was on the right and left I thought it was two separate pit lanes on either side of the track, not one pit lane with two sides!

I'm about to watch the NXT race on peacock. This will give us a better idea of how the track races

[joeb]

Well the opening of the NXT race started poorly, didn't quite make the first corner and the second place car ran into the back of the pole sitter and spun him into the wall, then there are some other contact back in the pack

[joeb]

Great NXT race, going into the last 2 corners the leader lost his gearbox! Would have been 3 rookies on the podium until that happened. That meant Francis Jr got up to 3rs and Parnelli Jones grandson finished 2nd.

[fieldodreams79]

Okay, the double pit lane is kinda cool with the rest looking a bit disastrous thus far, so we'll eventually see some sort of pit exit shenanigans, too.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The Chevrolet Detroit Sports car Classic is later today, I think around 4:00pm ET, so it will be interesting to see how that goes.

[Adam43]

So Qualifying. What a silly track. But people will race anyway.

Congratulations Palou.

[Adam43]

First few laps of the “Chevrolet Sports Car Classic” (Michigan Pilot Challenge) were pretty clean.

I’m a bit behind so time to catch up…

We had John and Bruce, but lost them. I skipped quite a few minutes forward and they are still out back.

Edit: Oh, NBC peeps have just burst into life!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Adam43

First few laps of the “” (Michigan Pilot Challenge) were pretty clean.

I’m a bit behind so time to catch up…

We had John and Bruce, but lost them. I skipped quite a few minutes forward and they are still out back.

I was watching some of Chevrolet Sports Car Classic and the track doesn't seem too bad, apart from that section between Turns 2 and 3.

[Adam43]

And then utter madness. A BMW tried to mount an Aston. Poor Rory.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Adam43

And then utter madness. A BMW tried to mount an Aston. Poor Rory.

That sounds most unseemly.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

That sounds most unseemly.

It was dirty.

Rory shaken by that one.

I know this is off topic, but it seems to be where the posting is. Here is the entry list: https://www.imsa.com/wp-content/uplo..._EntryList.pdf

Pit stops are happening now.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Adam43

It was dirty.

Rory shaken by that one.

I know this is off topic, but it seems to be where the posting is. Here is the entry list: https://www.imsa.com/wp-content/uplo..._EntryList.pdf

Pit stops are happening now.

It ended up mounting the tyre barrier!



I'm intrigued to see how the pit stops work.