Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski/IndyCar
On June 20, Simon Pagenaud, James Hinchcliffe and Scott Dixon were at Watkins Glen International for a Firestone Tire test prior to Labor Day weekend when IndyCar goes back to the Glen for the race.
Pagenaud had a pretty decent test session today as he ran three seconds faster than the track record. Ryan Briscoe set the track record in 2009 at 137.657mph. The French driver said as usual Firestone sent them really good tires to test. The teams were trying to gather information to see which tire will degrade and which one will have the best consistency for the cars on the new paved track.
“Firestone always brings us such consistent tires,” Pagenaud said. “The goal is to find a product that they like, that they want to bring to all the competitors. So far there were no surprises for them. I think they have a good direction where they want to go.”
Hinchcliffe knows there will be track records set when they race at the track in the fall. He says the cars would have set the record even with the old surface; however with the new surface he thinks the cars are going to be really quick in qualifying. Hinch says the track is extremely physical and will take a lot out of the drivers.
“You do have some long straights to rest, which helps, but you have some incredible high-G corners – and a lot of them,” Hinchcliffe stated. “Turn 1’s really fast, the esses are really fast, the bus stop is fast, Turn 5 is fast, 6 is fast, 7’s pretty quick – actually pretty much other than Turn 9, they’re all fast corners here.
“It beats you up, man. It’s going to be really physical, especially on reds (Firestone alternate tires). I can only imagine what that’s going to be like. Definitely will be hitting the weight room before we get here.”
Dixon thinks because of the repavement of the track it will make the racing pretty good and exciting. He says there is a lot of grip to the track which will give the drivers a few options to make passes during the race.
“And typical Watkins Glen style, I think if you trim out (the car), especially for the back straight, I think you’re going to have some good speed going into the bus stop,” Dixon quoted.
