IndyCar: Friday Morning Report From Road America

Good morning from the beautiful rolling hills of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  The weather is cool this morning and today will be the coolest of the three days for  NTT INDYCAR Series and the INDY NXT by Firestone race weekend.  Today’s high is predicted to barely reach 70 degrees.

The 4.014 mile, 14 turn permanent road course has been resurfaced and should make Sunday’s 55 lap race pretty exciting.   The  Arrow McLaren drivers that tested here last week experienced a more grippy track and a really fast surface.

Now the topic will be how will the tires degrade with the new surface.  Temperatures for race day will be in the mid 70s.

Cara Krstolic, Director of Bridgestone Race Tire Engineering and Production, talked about the newly paved track and the tires.

“Road America is historically INDYCAR’s fastest road race accompanied by an elevation gain of about 211 feet per lap which totals a climb of 11,600 feet in the 55-lap race. To help tackle the elevation gain on the 4-mile-long natural terrain road course, Firestone modified its standard road course tires with slightly less tread gauge and lower thickness to assist with load changes and generate more temperature through turns. With the newly paved surface, both primary and alternate tires will be more heat resistant with improved wear.”

Practice is scheduled for 3 pm local time for 75 minutes today.

Stay tuned for more updates

Lucille Dust reporting live from Road America