New Indy corners surfacing completed

Although there is still a lot of further earthwork, guardrail and fencing work to do, Indianapolis Motor Speedway's director of engineering and construction Kevin Forbes says that everything is on schedule to be completed several months before the September 14 race.

"The creek relocation and concealment is finished," said Forbes. "All of the paving is finished. We have 80 percent of all of the earthwork and grading finished. We have 40 or 45 percent of either relocated or new guardrail installed and have 20 percent of all the fencing completed.

"We had an extremely ambitious, almost unrealistic schedule. So we're right on schedule. Had we developed a schedule that was a lot more realistic, we'd be way ahead of that schedule.

"It really bordered on the unrealistic to expect to have all of the paving done this autumn. And with just a lot of perseverance, determination and great weather, it's done."

Representatives of MotoGP's commercial rights holder Dorna and motorcycle sanctioning body FIM visited Indy last week to inspect the work and were delighted with how much had been completed since the venue was given the green light in August.

MotoGP rider safety representative Franco Uncini said: "They did a fantastic job - big improvements. We feel satisfied about the layout, the improvements, everything. We will come back for the final inspection, but for the moment, we feel very, very happy about the layout of the racetrack."