PREVIEW: KOHLER Grand Prix at Road America

By Jun 24, 2016, 8:30 AM EDT
Photo: IndyCar
0 Comments

The return of the Verizon IndyCar Series to Road America to race this weekend is real, and it is spectacular.

There’s a lot of excitement and pontification about the race and naturally there will be more to write and note.

Here’s some of the interesting story lines heading into this weekend’s KOHLER Grand Prix (Sunday, 12:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN) (full TV schedule linked here).

2016 KOHLER Grand Prix – Talking Points

Corner speed and track physicality

One of the big talking points coming out of the couple tests IndyCar has had at Road America is just how fast the track is, particularly the cornering speeds. In September, Tony Kanaan spoke of cars being about 12 mph faster in the corners than in the supposed “heyday” of speed at Road America from the late 1990s into the early 2000s. Kanaan, driver of the No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, has four past starts here from 1999 to 2002.

There’s the three long straights leading into Turns 1, 5 and 12, followed by heavy braking points. Then there’s a bunch of high speed corners and that will be fascinating to watch how drivers handle the track layout.

Josef or JR?

Josef Newgarden was entered on INDYCAR’s initial entry list to drive the No. 21 Direct Supply Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing, and on Thursday after the Hendersonville, Tenn. native was cleared to drive for practice.

If he doesn’t continue past Friday, JR Hildebrand, who’s at Road America either way on standby, will get the call.

Newgarden sits fourth in the points standings and any hope of contending for his first championship would go by the wayside if he doesn’t race. That being said, given his collarbone and hand injuries sustained at Texas, the fact he’s even considering giving it a go is stunning enough.

How much might past track experience matter?

It might not be that much. Most of the field has past starts here in other disciplines, either in IndyCar or Atlantic, Formula BMW, USF2000 or sports cars. There’s only a handful of drivers who could be making their first starts at Road America this week.

And with the higher downforce levels, lower horsepower and higher cornering speeds, and different tire configuration compared to the past, it’s likely to be a different race.

Pagenaud vs. the field, again

With Texas now on a temporary hold until August 27 after the floods and heavy rain swept through Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago, the points haven’t changed. Simon Pagenaud still leads the points by 80 over Scott Dixon, who is fresh back like several other drivers from the 24 Hours of Le Mans. That list also includes Sebastien Bourdais, who won there in the GTE-Pro class and won the most recent open-wheel Road America race in 2007 in Champ Car, Mikhail Aleshin and NBCSN IndyCar analyst Townsend Bell, who won the GTE-Am class.

And it was all, yellow…

With Dixon’s usual red No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet shifted to bright yellow Clorox colors, and with Pagenaud back in the bright yellow No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet and Graham Rahal in the No. 15 Gehl/D-A Lubricant Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, there’s a lot more yellow in the 22-car grid than usual.

The final word

From James Hinchcliffe, who freaking loves this place and once made an ode to the track’s bratwursts:

“I’m so excited to go back to Road America. This has been my favorite road course in the country from the moment I first went there in 2004. It’s the kind of track that Indy cars are built for. I hope that it’s a great race and it stays on the calendar for a long time.”

Here’s the IndyCar weekend schedule:

At-track schedule (all times local):

Friday, June 24
11 a.m. – 12:15 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #1, NBCSN (Live)
3 – 4:15 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #2, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)

Saturday, June 25
11 – 11:45 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice #3, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)
3 p.m. – Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award (three rounds of knockout qualifying), NBCSN (5:30 p.m. ET, same-day delay)

Sunday, June 26
8 – 8:30 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series warmup, RaceControl.IndyCar.com (Live)
11:32 a.m. – Driver Introductions
12:07 p.m. – Command to Start Engines
12:15 p.m. – KOHLER Grand Prix (50 laps/202.4 miles), NBCSN (Live)

Here’s race’s most recent top 10 (from Champ Car 2007): 

1. Sebastien Bourdais
2. Dan Clarke
3. Graham Rahal
4. Oriol Servia
5. Alex Tagliani
6. Jan Heylen
7. Tristan Gommendy
8. Justin Wilson
9. Bruno Junqueira
10. Neel Jani

Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
0 Comments

Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”