MARKHAM, Ontario – Now that IndyCar drivers have gone on track following construction delays at the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham, teams and drivers are adjusting to their first practice session on the new street circuit. While drivers got some time to do simulator work for the 12-turn, 2.19-mile course in the weeks leading up to the event, racing on the real surface has some differences.
The biggest question coming into the weekend was how the tight, right-handed hairpin in Turn 5 would race. Marcus Armstrong said he and Meyer Shank Racing teammate Felix Rosenqvist thought there’d be a lot of grip at the top of the turn, which would make entering Turn 5 high and wide the ideal path. After one practice, Armstrong isn’t so sure.
“I think I tried everything just to see what works,” Armstrong said. “As the track evolves, it’s probably going to change. Just like Long Beach, that really tight hairpin, it builds a lot of rubber. The line that you take at the start of the weekend can vary a lot towards the end of the weekend. I guess we’re going to have to keep adapting to that grip. It’s a very tricky corner. Zero grip. You’re like sliding in, sliding mid-corner, and sliding out.”
Team Penske’s David Malukas felt the simulator was “spot on” except at the hairpin. Malukas didn’t realize the elevation that takes place on the straightaway between Turns 4 and 5 until he did the track walk Friday. He’s not confident that cars will be able to go two-wide into the turn, which leads into the longest straightaway on the track.
“If it is clean air running, I don’t think it’s big enough of a run,” Malukas said. “You can maybe do a dive bomb, but you’re going to go wide when the other guy does the normal corner, so I don’t know.”
Other than the difficulty of figuring out the hairpin, drivers mainly seemed pleased with the course’s layout. Malukas said the repaved streets are “taking the lead on smoothest street course that we’ve had,” surpassing St. Petersburg, and Will Power said it’s “one of the coolest tracks I’ve been on” in an Andretti Global X post.
The one spot that isn’t entirely smooth is Turn 10, where Rosenqvist hit a bump and lightly tapped a tire barrier. Multiple drivers noticed it during the track walk, and it caused a bit of hesitation during the first practice.
“There’s definitely a big bump on entry,” Malukas said of Turn 10. “I love it. Bumps just add technicality. You’re trying to figure out how to get around it from a braking perspective. It’s difficult, but I think it’s nice; it’s good.”
No one knows what to anticipate as far as passing zones go for the race, which could make Saturday’s qualifying session at 6:30 crucial. Temperatures will be in the low-70s by the evening session, making lap times quicker than in the morning. Armstrong expects quite a bit of mayhem during qualifying, which is incident-free most weeks.
“I imagine it’s going to be a red flag festival,” Armstrong said. “Everyone is going to be pushing like crazy. It’s an easy place to make a mistake, especially now with no grip. I expect a whole bunch of people to be doing balls-to-the-walls kind of stuff, crashing.”
Rather than having two days to figure out how the streets of Markham race, IndyCar teams are getting only one before Sunday’s race at noon. Those in the paddock will continue to tweak their setups throughout the day.
Zion Brown is IndyStar’s motorsports reporter. Follow him at @z10nbr0wn. Get IndyStar’s motor sports coverage sent directly to your inbox with our Motor Sports newsletter. Subscribe to the YouTube channel IndyStar TV: IndyCar for a behind-the-scenes look at IndyCar and expert analysis.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar drivers on quick turnaround at Markham: ‘Balls-to-the-walls kind of stuff, crashing’
Reporting by Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star / Indianapolis Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Zion Brown, Indianapolis Star | USA TODAY Network
