New kid on the block: IndyCar, IMSA look ahead to question-heavy Detroit GP

The race moves to a street event this year after many years at the Belle Isle Park on Detroit's riverfront
New kid on the block: IndyCar, IMSA look ahead to question-heavy Detroit GP
New kid on the block: IndyCar, IMSA look ahead to question-heavy Detroit GP /

While the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship continues its month-long break in part due to the 24 hours of Le Mans, and IndyCar comes off a wild Indy 500 weekend, both series will join together for a somewhat mysterious Detroit GP.

This weekend, there is a mindset of uncertainty as Indy cars and IMSA's Michelin Pilot Challenge cars both hit the track for the first time on the streets of downtown Detroit, moving the race off Belle Isle Park after having off-and-on stints at the track for the past 40 years.

On the IndyCar side of the house, Arrow McClaren will be looking toward this weekend as a rebound after what was a chaotic and disappointing weekend in Indy, having only one of their full-time drivers finish the race in Alexander Rossi.

As for the other McLaren cars at Indy, Pato O’Ward ran into trouble with an aggressive pass for the lead on Marcus Ericsson, crashing into the wall in a move uncharacteristic for Pato, and Rosenqvist would get caught up in the wreck with Kyle Kirkwood that sent Kirkwood to his side and snapped off his left rear wheel, ending his weekend prematurely.

As for IMSA, it will bring their Michelin Pilot Challenge to a Grand Sport-only race, with the TCR (or touring) cars off this week as they will have their own class-only race in the latter part of the season.

There will be some intrigue heading into this weekend’s festivities and some compelling stories coming into race day, with new being one of the keys of the weekend:

The New Track

Many people will say that track conditions will come into play, such as tire wear, or that passing may be tough to do at a track that is completely unknown. However, with Detroit there is the saying, "I have no idea" how things will play out.

While that may sound cliché, the streets of downtown Detroit are an all-new circuit -- similar to what NASCAR will experience in just over a month in Chicago for its first-ever street race in downtown Windy City -- where the circuit hasn’t seen laps run on it.

For drivers, there is no sense of how the course races or how to attack.

And while in some instances there would be chances to mock up what it would be like on the simulator, there is currently no option to do that on the sim, according to IndyCar drivers who have tried to get pre-practice in.

On paper, the track doesn’t appear to be the most technical of courses, having a main long straightway towards the back end of the course and only a handful of corners during the earlier sectors of the circuit.

Street courses can create some tight windows for passing due to the width of the streets themselves, especially downtown, so it will be intriguing to see how aggressive drivers are with moving up the grid.

Nonetheless, having a track that everyone will be new to will certainly create some tests for the drivers in both IndyCar and in the Michelin Pilot Challenge race, and it comes to wonder, will this race allow for an underdog winner?

Not New to the Block

The track surface may be new to the weekend, but it will not be the only thing new to the Detroit event.

The addition of a new Mercedes AMG GT4 entry to the GS class will be featured this weekend with the debut of Thaze Competition by MC Squared at the Pilot Challenge.

The locally-based Detroit race team will be set to compete for the class championship starting at their home race this weekend, as they will only feature one of the two entries they will have for this season, which is intriguing, especially with being a new team.

While performance may be an unknown as to how the team will be on-track in terms of competitiveness, this is their home race, and it may add some extra fuel towards finishing well.

Furthermore, Thaze Competition could surprise with the unknowns of what the track has in store for the weekend, and with their two drivers --  Marc Miller, who is a Mazda MX-5 runner-up and hometown hero if you will, and Michael DiMeo, who also has his fair share of GT racing -- it could create a solid opening tandem for the weekend that brings some experience behind the wheel.

Redemption Race

After what was a chaotic weekend with everyone trying to battle for a prestigious Indy 500 win, many drivers can now cool down heading into the weekend for Detroit, but this may be a must-win for some drivers heading into race day as they look at this as redemption.

Someone such as Marcus Ericsson will be one of those drivers who will be looking towards Detroit as redemption this weekend, coming off of an emotional defeat to Josef Newgarden, who did a stellar job of passing Ericsson on the final lap on Sunday and defending his lead with only a third of the track to go in the race.

While Ericsson wasn’t thrilled about the finish on Sunday, saying the restart was "unsafe," losing a race such as the Indy 500 may give Ericsson the extra motivation to get back on the podium.

Beyond Ericsson, Arrow McClaren as a unit will look towards regrouping after a disappointing ending for O’Ward and Rosenqvist, who showed speed all week for the team heading into the 500 and also played it very aggressively, which ultimately cost them in the long run.

While Detroit may be looked at as a cool-down race emotionally and mentally, it is also an opportunity for these drivers to put away the tribulations that the Indy 500 may have brought.

It also may be a chance for one of them to put away the pain of losing the shot at the win at Indy.

As mentioned, with the new track for the race on Sunday, it does provide some intrigue heading into practice. Expect to see much more track time from drivers and potentially consistent changes as they head into the first street course since Long Beach back in April, in which Kyle Kirkwood grabbed the win, another driver who would love to flip the script after a such a scary crash at Indy.

Final Thoughts

Detroit and chaotic could be words used to describe what Saturday and Sunday may bring.

For a track that has no simulation and hasn’t seen laps turned on the surface, the planning and strategy for teams heading into the weekend are truly out the window.

We won’t get a feel for the racing on the track and the gameplans behind how to race the circuit until Friday, when IndyNXT and NTT IndyCar will be on-track for the first time.

Expect to see many of the drivers watching the NXT and Michelin Pilot Challenge races heading into the weekend so they can potentially gain race insight and maybe a set strategy for Sunday’s main event.

Downtown Detroit is looking to create a great race weekend experience for fans, teams and drivers alike, and with the automotive heart embedded in Detroit, the racing should be high, even with no idea of what to expect.


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