IRL changes aero to improve racing
The Indy Racing League has announced tweaks to its aerodynamic rules for oval races in a bid to improve the quality of racing in the IndyCar Series
For the Kentucky event on 1 August, which is the next oval on the schedule after July's trio of road and street courses, the teams will have additional aero options with tyre ramps, sidepod extensions and brake backing plates.
The intention is that these modifications will give the option of adding up to 300 pounds in additional downforce, which the IRL hopes will encourage more overtaking.
Recent processional oval races have come in for increasing criticism, with the nadir being reached at Richmond last weekend when first and second place finishers Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti apologised to the crowd for the lack of entertainment.
The race saw most passes completed in the pits, and the leaders struggling to lap backmarkers whose times were a second slower around the 0.75-mile track. Although the Milwaukee and Iowa events saw more on-track passes, the Kansas, Indianapolis and Texas rounds had also featured very little of the wheel to wheel action for which the championship's superspeedway races used to be renowned.
IRL competition president Brian Barnhart said it was extremely important that the series restored its reputation for close racing.
"We have always prided ourselves on doing our best to create the most entertaining and compelling on-track product in motorsports, and I think in the last several years - especially with this version of race car - we've been very successful in achieving that," he said.
Last weekend at Richmond championship leader Franchitti refuted suggestions that the lack of passing was due to all the teams being so closely matched now that many had six years' experience of the Dallara-Honda package used by all competitors.
"I don't think it's because things have equalised because there were some people out there with horrible handling cars," he said.
"We couldn't get around them. At the start of the run, we'd run 16.8s, then dropped to 17.0s, as the things equalised. And you catch traffic and you'll be running 18.0s and 18.2s on a normal lap."
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
What the Chinese GP's highlights reveal about its first F1 race for five years
Acosta: 2024 MotoGP title "not the priority" as expectations mount
Horner: Red Bull’s 2026 F1 engine project “hitting targets”
Mercedes becomes first F1 team to exceed £500m turnover
The apprenticeship that will aid Ilott's IndyCar to WEC switch at Jota
The long evolution of Dallara's Indy 500 winner
Nigel Mansell’s greatest F1 and Indycar drives
How Ericsson achieved Indy immortality as Ganassi's main man stumbled
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments