Tagliani Applauds New Edmonton Layout
“I think it’s really good. The track needed to be revamped a little bit so we can out on a better show, he said. “In the past, one thing that I was suggesting was to take away or straighten the chicane so we can get more speed and be less affected by the high-speed chicane so we could more easily pass into Turn 1. And now you look at the new track and it has the long, long straights and some slow corners leading onto them, so it basically covers what we’ve always needed for the Edmonton track. We need a long straight in front of the grandstands, some hard braking, and that’s what it looks like from the drawings. They did a good job. I appreciate their desire to make this race a classic race for the fans."
With two extremely slow corners on the new circuit—similar to the final corner at Long Beach, but with much higher entry speeds—the potential for pile-ups appears to be a risk Cotman’s team was willing to accept, but with the proper safety measures in place, Tagliani thinks Edmonton’s hairpins will make for better racing.
“In some ways, every series has those type of tracks with a really tight hairpin. F1 has Montreal and Monaco, for example. It’s a good place to pass. It’s what we need. I’m not going to deny the fact that it is the type of corner we need to make moves, but we need to make sure there’s plenty of run-off area. If we have the proper run-off, that’s all this type of corner needs. You’re coming into Turn 13 really fast, and if you have run-off area protecting you, and I’m sure there will be a lot, everything is OK."