The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge. March 22 -24.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge. March 22 -24.

This weekend will see the running of the much anticipated, Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge, a new event on this year's IndyCar calendar.

History
The Thermal Club is an exclusive, private, luxury motorsports country club and was established in 2012 at Thermal in California’s Coachella Valley, just outside of Palm Springs.

Membership requires the purchase of one of the 70 luxury villas that overlook the circuit and deemed one of the defining attributes of the club, thus creating an exclusive venue which caters for the automotive enthusiast's every need. Members have access to three race tracks, a kart track, autocross, skid pad, tuning shop, garage, detail shop, club house and spa.

In 2022 talks were held regarding the Thermal Club hosting IndyCar's 2023 pre-season test; IndyCar subsequently held its 2023 pre-season test at the venue in February. In September 2023, IndyCar announced that 2024's test would be concluded by the $1 Million Challenge non-championship race on the Thermal Club's Twin Palms layout.

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Track
The track was opened in 2014 and was initially expanded in 2015. It then underwent further expansion in 2017. It is over five miles in length with multiple layouts, several of which can be run simultaneously.

Twin Palms Layout
The Twin Palms layout has 19-turns and is 3.067 miles, (4.936 kms) long. The layout includes most of that South Palm circuit and consists of sweepers, tight corners, long straightaways and elevation changes.




The Event
The race is designed to be a "made-for-TV" all-star event, with a $1.756 million purse, the largest in IndyCar Series history outside of Indy 500.

First Place: $500,000
Second Place: $350,000
Third Place: $250,000
Fourth Place:$100,000
Fifth Place: $50,000
Sixth through 27th Place: $23,000 each

The race weekend format is quite different from that of a regular IndyCar race, with the somewhat intricate format for the event explained by Racer.com

https://racer.com/2024/03/14/indycar...l-race-format/

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Open Test Session 1
Friday, Mar 22
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET

Open Test Session 2
Friday, Mar 22
5:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET

Open Test Session 3
Saturday, Mar 23
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM ET

Open Test Session 4
Saturday, Mar 23
4:00 PM - 6:00 PM ET

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Qualifications - Group 1
Saturday, Mar 23
8:00 PM - 8:12 PM ET

Qualifications - Group 2
Saturday, Mar 23
8:27 PM - 8:39 PM ET

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Heat 1
Sunday, Mar 24
12:30 PM - 12:45 PM ET

Heat 2
Sunday, Mar 24
12:45 PM - 1:05 PM ET

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The Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge.
Sunday, Mar 24
NBC: 12:30 PM ET,
Sky Sports F1: 4:30 PM GMT, 4:30 PM UTC

[bjohnsonsmith]

The two qualifying groups after last nights draw.

[joeb]

Group 1 looks dangerous.

[v8supes]

Am I rich enough to watch? Or is it only for the “elite?”.

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by joeb

Group 1 looks dangerous.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by v8supes

Am I rich enough to watch? Or is it only for the “elite?”.

Rofl

You have to fork over $5.99 for a Peacock subscription. Or whatever your equivalent currency is.

[joeb]

I don't know what is going on at Rahal these days, but the fact that Christian is 20 places ahead of his teammates has to tell you something.

[v8supes]

Originally Posted by joeb

Rofl

You have to fork over $5.99 for a Peacock subscription. Or whatever your equivalent currency is.

It was more that when i was watching "test 1" all they spoke about was how exclusive the club is, how the members get all these benefits, how great it was. All that nauseating stuff. Made me feel like maybe this was an event that i was not supposed to be watching.

Watched a small bit of "test 3" this afternoon, i am loving the violent bumps. Needless to say i expect they will be ground down at some point, cant have little Graham bruising his bottom.

[Adam43]

Just primed the ‘cock to watch some of the testing.

It’s pretty much the configuration I drove round, or at least all of that I did is included. A few double apex type bends.

I’ve just checked the weather it is low 70s high 60s. It was 92 degrees Fahrenheit when I was there!

[joeb]

Originally Posted by v8supes

It was more that when i was watching "test 1" all they spoke about was how exclusive the club is, how the members get all these benefits, how great it was. All that nauseating stuff. Made me feel like maybe this was an event that i was not supposed to be watching.

Watched a small bit of "test 3" this afternoon, i am loving the violent bumps. Needless to say i expect they will be ground down at some point, cant have little Graham bruising his bottom.

I watched a bit of testing and was surprised at the bumps. I just thought in my head that an exclusive and relatively new track would be smooth.

Originally Posted by Adam43

Just primed the ‘cock to watch some of the testing.

It’s pretty much the configuration I drove round, or at least all of that I did is included. A few double apex type bends.

I’ve just checked the weather it is low 70s high 60s. It was 92 degrees Fahrenheit when I was there!

I wonder if any rookies will make it to the main event after qualifying tonight. They were mostly at the bottom today with a few exceptions. But as the announcers kept mentioning. Nobody was showing anything, there were people just doing general road course setup things and other testing bits. Qualifying will be the first time anybody actually tries. I am going to need about 4 screens though because it is at the same time as every other sport I'm interested in today.

[joeb]

Not a good look for Andretti on qualifying. Kirkwood and Herta failed to make the top 10 in their heat.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying results for Group 1 and 2

[Adam43]

In your face Ericsson.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Ericsson spun off at Turn 9, backing into the tyre barrier, bringing out the red flag and stopping the clock with just 1 minute, 19 seconds to go.

[Adam43]

Whereas Stingy kept it on the island. Tells you all you need to know right there.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by Adam43

Whereas Stingy kept it on the island. Tells you all you need to know right there.

Somehow I got confused on the format and thought qualifying was for the actual race. But we still have the heats before the money round.

[joeb]

GREEN GREEN

[bjohnsonsmith]

Green flag and Grosjean and V Kay touch. FCY.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by joeb

Group 1 looks dangerous.

Originally Posted by Adam43

I meant because of Grosjean and he crashed but not his fault this time

[joeb]

T&S isn't quite right for me, still has Veekay in 3rd and Grosjean in the lineup as well

[ScotsBrutesFan]

Oh dear, nota great start

[joeb]

Stingy ahead of Power and Dixon, just like we all expect.

edit, now just ahead of Dixon, just like we all expect

[joeb]

Seigel just misses out on advancing, but a solid 7th.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Heat 2 green flag.

[joeb]

10 laps takes a surprisingly long time!