IndyCar officials announced a series of changes to help improve the on track racing in the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series.
IndyCar officials announced a series of changes , with the first of the changes to a change to the overtake rule and the use of the push-to-pass. A 60-second timed fixed amount of boost allowed rather than the limited number of 60-HP boost was confirmed.
“events at the streets of St. Petersburg, Raceway at Belle Isle Park and Sonoma Raceway will have a total overtake time allotment of 150 seconds for each race, with the other road/street races set for 200 seconds.”
Drivers will also be able to disengage the Push-To-Pass and use it at another time as well.
“Once engaged, push-to-pass will run for a pre-established duration equivalent to approximately the time needed to drive the length of the track’s main straightaway (15-20 seconds),” IndyCar said “Drivers will now have the ability to disengage an overtake activation midway through its use to save time for a later use. In addition, push-to-pass will not be available at the start of a race or for any restarts, with the exception of a restart commencing with two laps remaining in the race.”
IndyCar officials also announced the addition of another set of Firestone alternate tires. These are the tires with the red branding, and often are usually the quickest of the sets of tires, but wear the quickest as well. Teams can now use one more set of tires in practice without having to worry of major concerns about going into race day with high-mileage reds. The extra set of reds will also benefit the rookies who struggle with the cars in practice. With the extra set of tires, they can now gain much-needed track time and experience.
Phoenix International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park will now feature qualifying in the day as opposed to the night in 2016.
Practice times also were set at 45 minutes for 11 A.M. and 3 P.M. for each Street and Road course. The Grand Prix of Indianapolis was also shortened from 3 days to 2 days, and IndyCar’s double-header, Detroit’s Belle Isle will have the qualifying process reduced. Now, qualifying will consist of individual qualifying for each race. During each qualifying session, half the field will get 12 minutes to qualify with the other half of the field qualifying afterwards, with the fastest times setting the grid.
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