Round 4: Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, April 28 - 30

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 4: Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, April 28 - 30

This Sunday will be the 13th running of the Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park.

Barber Motorsports Park is owned by George Barber, a successful businessman and accomplished driver, who raced Porsches in the 1960s and early '70s. He amassed a collection of motorcycles and after establishing a non-profit foundation in 1994, opened a museum displaying 325 motorcycles from around the world, plus some vintage cars. In 1998, he sold the family business and donated $54 million to the foundation in order to build a new museum and a road course on which to run the collection.

In 2002, a 740 acre site east of Birmingham was chosen and a new museum was built, housing an expanded collection of 1,200 motorcycles, with up to 600 on display at any one time. It's been certified by Guinness as the largest museum of its type.

In October 2007, Barber Motorsports Park hosted a testing session for IndyCar, the success of which led to a full-field three-day testing session in March 2009. An open date became available on the 2010 season race calendar, with Barber Motorsports Park making a successful bid to hold the race over Cleveland (Burke Lakefront Airport), Houston, Baltimore, Nashville, Charlotte and Portland. The first IndyCar race was held on April 11, 2010 and was won by Hélio Castroneves driving for Team Penske, in a Dallara IR05-Honda.

The road course was designed by South African race track designer Alan Wilson, with three layouts. The main circuit, which is a 15-turn, 2.370-mile (3.70 km) road course, the short circuit and the club circuit. The venue, opened in 2003 and has hosted Grand-Am, Vintage Racing Series events and AMA Superbikes. It serves as the home of the Porsche Sport Driving School and the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School. One feature that stands out are the series of metal sculptures around the track. The large spider alongside Turns 5-6 has lead to this section of track being nicknamed 'Charlotte's Web'.

Track layout:


Length: 2.3 Miles (3.7 Km)

Turns: 15

Lap record:
Pato O'Ward, April 17, 2021, 1:05.5019, 126.409 Mph (203.4355657 Km/h),
Arrow McLaren SP, Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6
NTT IndyCar Series.

Some trivia:
The driver with most wins: 3.
Josef Newgarden, 2015, 2017, 2018.

The team with most wins: 6.
Team Penske, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018.

-

Last year's race:
https://www.indycar.com/news/2022/05/05-01-barber-lead

Pole:
Rinus van Kalmthout AKA VeeKay,
Ed Carpenter Racing,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Winner:
Pato O'Ward,
Arrow McLaren SP,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Laps: 90
Distance: 207 Miles (333.134 Km)
Race Time: 1:48:39.4368
Average Speed: 114.304 Mph (183.955 km/h)
Fastest lap: Alex Palou - Chip Ganassi Racing. Lap 62. 66.8182 sec, 121.489 Mph (195.518 Km/h)
Caution periods: 1, Laps: 32 - 34

-

Practice and Qualifications:

Practice 1
Friday, Apr 28, 3:40 PM - 4:55 PM ET

Practice 2
Saturday, Apr 29, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1
Saturday, Apr 29, 3:00 PM - 3:10 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2
Saturday, Apr 29, 3:20 PM - 3:30 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 2
Saturday, Apr 29, 3:40 PM - 3:50 PM ET

Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6
Saturday, Apr 29, 4:00 PM - 4:15 PM ET

-

Race Broadcast:
NBC April 30, 3:00pm ET, 7:00pm UTC.
Sky Sports F1: 8:00pm BST

[Greem]

Thanks for the intro

Not that I've ever been, but I do rather like this circuit. However... it's looking likely to be wet, again, and we know how treacherous the green bits are in the wet!

[mstets]

Practice 1 results. Nice to see eight different teams represented in the top half of the results.

[Born Racer]

Nice intro, bjohnsonsmith.

Pato O' Ward had a nice save in practice. Did a good job to keep it out of the wall. https://youtube.com/shorts/7DUrjnVeUwU?feature=share

[mstets]

Practice 2 results. Palou's .235 second gap over Newgarden seems massive considering the average gap between 2nd and 17th is .035 seconds. Big Four teams looking good, hoping Lundgaard can slip into the Fast Six.

[mstets]

Group 1 and 2. No big surprises except Herta missing the cut.

[mstets]

Fast 12 results.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Romain Grosjean on getting pole, can he convert that into that first win which has been eluding him?

[mstets]

Grosjean takes the pole.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Romain Grosjean on getting pole, can he convert that into that first win which has been eluding him?

I'm hoping for a 4th different winner to start the year. With only Newgarden in the front 5 rows having a win so far it looks promising.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying Result:

Honda continue where they left off after Long Beach, by dominating the Fast 6 with only two Chevy powered cars making it through. Just looking at the Fast 6 and the drivers that make up the top half of the mid-field, this has the makings of a potentially excellent race.

[mstets]

Pato and McLaughlin are right there within a tenth on used reds. Looks like anybody's race to me - with pace during the stint on reds being key. With most of the field being so close on pace, some alternate strategies could be a big factor. It will be interesting to see tire choices for the start. There was a report of possibility of rain on Sunday earlier in the week. It wasn't mentioned during today's coverage, so perhaps it's no longer a wild card.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by mstets

Pato and McLaughlin are right there within a tenth on used reds. Looks like anybody's race to me - with pace during the stint on reds being key. With most of the field being so close on pace, some alternate strategies could be a big factor. It will be interesting to see tire choices for the start. There was a report of possibility of rain on Sunday earlier in the week. It wasn't mentioned during today's coverage, so perhaps it's no longer a wild card.

I agree about the tires. That always seems to play a bigger part in the finishing order than i give it credit. Yes everyone has to use both types, but when you use them can be crucial depending on how the stint lengths and cautions shake out.

[joeb]

Cleanish opening to the race. Good mix of some people on 2 stops and 3 stops

[bjohnsonsmith]

First FCY. Looked like Sting Ray with a mechanical issue.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

First FCY. Looked like Sting Ray with a mechanical issue.

Dang that really changes the complexion of this race!

[broadrun96]

Just got home from sweet sweet cars on track and what could have been, the Panoz DP01 but with a Judd V10. She's a screamer.

Just jumped in live, not looking like great driving further back but it seems Nascar is producing the video today. All leaders all the time with back in side by side.

Doesn't appear Grosjean is saving much and extending on the 3

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

Just got home from sweet sweet cars on track and what could have been, the Panoz DP09 but with a Judd V10. She's a screamer.

Just jumped in live, not looking like great driving further back but it seems Nascar is producing the video today. All leaders all the time with back in side by side.

Doesn't appear Grosjean is saving much and extending on the 3

Still lots of laps left but Grosjean and Scotty Mac left the rest in the dust

[broadrun96]

That was close to being way too much blocking and moving there Scotty

[broadrun96]

Damn, Grosjean used 2 min of push to pass in the last 3 laps

[bjohnsonsmith]

How did Will Power get up to third?

[bjohnsonsmith]

Scott McLaughlin takes the lead as Ro Gro makes a mistake and over cooks it.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Scott McLaughlin takes the lead as Ro Gro makes a mistake and over cooks it.

I wonder if the third and fourth place cars can use their push to pass to catch up to Romain

[broadrun96]

Well that's over

[broadrun96]

Power maybe but further back not likely