IMSA Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta Saturday: How to watch, schedules, TV, streaming info

By Oct 17, 2020, 9:00 AM EDT
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Suddenly stuck in a pressure-packed race for NTT IndyCar Series championship, Scott Dixon will switch up his schedule this weekend to find escape in the Petit Le Mans — smack in the middle of another pressure-packed title battle.

Dixon, whose IndyCar points lead shrunk significantly during an Oct. 2-3 doubleheader at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, will be racing this weekend with the No. 10 Cadillac of Wayne Taylor Racing as a tuneup for IndyCar’s Oct. 25 season finale at St. Petersburg, Florida.

“It’s pretty nice, actually,” the five-time IndyCar champion said. “The IndyCar championship was looking fairly easy there for a while, and through mistakes by myself and the team, we’ve made it a little bit tougher. It’s kind of nice to focus on something else and take your mind away from it, especially when you’ve got a lot of down time going into the IndyCar final race.”

There will be a single focus for his IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teammates Ryan Briscoe and Renger van der Zande, who have a three-point lead in the premier DPi division with two races remaining.

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They have been consistent but are without a victory since opening the season by winning the Rolex 24 at Daytona with co-drivers Dixon and Kamui Kobayashi.

“I’m excited to be back in the car,” Dixon said. “This has been a crazy year, and Daytona was the last race that felt somewhat normal, especially with all the victory celebrations and things like that. It’s great to see that the No. 10 team is still leading the championship, just the way it started off. Hopefully I can add to the championship fight, keeping it clean and helping these guys go on to another victory.”

There are only nine points separating the top five in DPi with the No. 31 Cadillac ranked second and Team Penske’s No. 7 Acura of Ricky Taylor and Helio Castroneves surging with three consecutive victories.

That team will welcome back Alexander Rossi (who also drove the Rolex 24) as a third driver, and Simon Pagenaud (No. 6 Acura Team Penske) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (No. 55 Mazda) also are among the Indianapolis 500 winners moonlighting in sports cars at the Braselton, Georgia road course.

The Motul Petit Le Mans typically closes the IMSA season, but because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, it will be followed this year by the Hyundai Monterey SportsCar Championship on Nov. 1 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Nov. 14.

Here are the details for IMSA Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta (all times are ET):

IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta

WHEN: Saturday, 4:05 p.m.

TV:  12:30-6:30 p.m., NBCSN; 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. NBC Sports App, NBCSports.com; 9:30-11 p.m., NBCSN

TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold Coverage: Flag to flag beginning at 12:40 p.m.

STARTING GRID: Click here for how they will line up Saturday

RACE STREAMING: NBC Sports App, NBCSports.com and TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold

RADIO: IMSA Radio will have live radio coverage on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com, as well as SiriusXM

RACE DISTANCE: A 10-hour race on the 12-turn, 2.54-mile course in Braselton, Georgia.

FORECAST: According to Wunderground.com, it’s expected to be 61 degrees with a 0% chance of rain at the green flag.

ENTRY LIST: Click here to see who’s entered in the Petit Le Mans

IMSA at Motul Petit Le Mans schedule

Thursday, Oct. 15

11:15 a.m.-12 p.m. — WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Practice #1

3:45-4:45 p.m. — WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Practice #2

7:30-9 p.m. — WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Practice #3

Friday, Oct. 16

12:30-1:35 p.m. — WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Qualifying

Saturday, Oct. 17 

9:10-9:30 a.m. — WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, Warmup

12:40 p.m. — Green flag for the Motul Petit Le Mans (10 hours)

After New York whirlwind, Josef Newgarden makes special trip to simulator before Detroit

By Jun 2, 2023, 10:00 AM EDT
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DETROIT – There’s no rest for the weary as an Indy 500 winner, but Josef Newgarden discovered there are plenty of extra laps.

The reigning Indy 500 champion added an extra trip Wednesday night back to Concord, N.C., for one last session on the GM Racing simulator before Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

After a 30-year run on the Belle Isle course, the race has been moved to a nine-turn, 1.7-mile layout downtown, so two extra hours on the simulator were worth it for Newgarden.

INDYCAR IN DETROIT: Entry list, schedule, TV info for this weekend

JOSEF’S FAMILY TIES: Newgarden wins Indy 500 with wisdom of father, wife

“I really wanted to do it,” he told NBC Sports at a Thursday media luncheon. “If there’s any time that the sim is most useful, it’s in this situation when no one has ever been on a track, and we’re able to simulate it as best as we can. We want to get some seat time.

“It’s extra important coming off the Indy 500 because you’ve been out of rhythm for a road or street course-type environment, so I really wanted some laps. I was really appreciative to Chevy. There was a few guys that just came in and stayed late for me so I could get those laps before coming up here. I don’t know if it’s going to make a difference, but I feel like it’s going to help for me.”

After a whirlwind tour of New York for two days, Newgarden arrived at the simulator (which is at the GM Racing Technical Center adjacent to Hendrick Motorsports) in time for a two hour session that started at 6 p.m. Wednesday. He stayed overnight in Charlotte and then was up for an early commercial flight to Detroit, where he had more media obligations.

Newgarden joked that if he had a jet, he would have made a quick stop in Nashville, Tennessee, but a few more days away from home (where he has yet to return in weeks) is a worthy tradeoff for winning the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – though the nonstop interviews can take a toll.

“It’s the hardest part of the gig for me is all this fanfare and celebration,” Newgarden said. “I love doing it because I’m so passionate about the Indy 500 and that racetrack and what that race represents. I feel honored to be able to speak about it. It’s been really natural and easy for me to enjoy it because I’ve been there for so many years.

“Speaking about this win has been almost the easiest job I’ve ever had for postrace celebrations. But it’s still for me a lot of work. I get worn out pretty easily. I’m very introverted. So to do this for three days straight, it’s been a lot.”

Though he is terrified of heights, touring the top of the Empire State Building for the first time was a major highlight (and produced the tour’s most viral moment).

“I was scared to get to the very top level,” Newgarden said. “That thing was swaying. No one else thought it was swaying. I’m pretty sure it was. I really impressed by the facility. I’d never seen it before. It’s one of those bucket list things. If you go to New York, it’s really special to do that. So to be there with the wreath and the whole setup, it just felt like an honor to be in that moment.”

Now the attention shifts to Detroit and an inaugural circuit that’s expected to be challenging. Along with a Jefferson Avenue straightaway that’s 0.9 miles long, the track has several low-speed corners and a “split” pit lane (teams will stop on both sides of a rectangular area) with a narrow exit that blends just before a 90-degree lefthand turn into Turn 1.

Newgarden thinks the track is most similar to the Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

“It’s really hard to predict with this stuff until we actually run,” he said. “Maybe we go super smooth and have no issues. Typically when you have a new event, you’re going to have some teething issues. That’s understandable. We’ve always got to massage the event to get it where we want it, but this team has worked pretty hard. They’ve tried to get feedback constantly on what are we doing right, what do we need to look out for. They’ve done a ton of grinding to make sure this surface is in as good of shape as possible.

“There’s been no expense spared, but you can’t foresee everything. I have no idea how it’s going to race. I think typically when you look at a circuit that seems simple on paper, people tend to think it’s not going to be an exciting race, or challenging. I find the opposite always happens when we think that way. Watch it be the most exciting, chaotic, entertaining race.

Newgarden won the last two pole positions at Belle Isle’s 2.35-mile layout and hopes to continue the momentum while avoiding any post-Brickyard letdown.

“I love this is an opportunity for us to get something right quicker than anyone else,” he said. “A new track is always exciting from that standpoint. I feel I’m in a different spot. I’m pretty run down. I’m really trying to refocus and gain some energy back for tomorrow. Which I’ll have time to today, which is great.

“I don’t want that Indy 500 hangover. People always talk about it. They’ve always observed it. That doesn’t mean we have to win this weekend, but I’d like to leave here feeling like we had a really complete event, did a good job and had a solid finish leading into the summer. I want to win everywhere I go, but if we come out of here with a solid result and no mistakes, then probably everyone will be happy with it.”