Despite all the controversy they created at the first round of the 2011 IndyCar series in St-Petersburg, the double file restarts will again be used this weekend as the series moves to the Barber Motorsports Park in Alabama.
There were five restarts following caution periods totaling 13 (of 100) laps at St. Peterburg, with the final two executed without incident.
The field was depleted by two (Andretti Autosport teammates Marco Andretti and Mike Conway) on the green flag lap incident involving six cars entering Turn 1.
The procedure goers like this. After the starter gives the one lap to go signal and before the Honda Accord Safety Car pulls into pit lane for restarts, drivers are instructed to line up double file relative to their track position as they head toward the restart zone near the start-finish line.
The race leader has column/lane selection. All cars must maintain their respective track position until they cross the start-finish line.
Driver representatives again will weigh in to set the restart zone distance and speed (it was 200 feet and 70 mph for St. Pete) on the 2.38-mile, 17-turn Barber Motorsports Park natural-terrain course following the three rounds of qualifications April 9.
“It’s a radical change in the process from what’s been done in IndyCar for more than a decade so it’s going to be a learning process for everybody – from a competitor’s standpoint, from the teams, from the drivers and from the officials,” IndyCar president of competition and operations Brian Barnhart said.
“It’s a work in progress. They were far from perfect at St. Pete, but they also weren’t bad in terms of getting lined up and not moving out of line for a passing opportunity before the start-finish line. We’ll continue to remind them that respect between competitors is a two-way street.”
There were five restarts following caution periods totaling 13 (of 100) laps at St. Peterburg, with the final two executed without incident.
The field was depleted by two (Andretti Autosport teammates Marco Andretti and Mike Conway) on the green flag lap incident involving six cars entering Turn 1.
The procedure goers like this. After the starter gives the one lap to go signal and before the Honda Accord Safety Car pulls into pit lane for restarts, drivers are instructed to line up double file relative to their track position as they head toward the restart zone near the start-finish line.
The race leader has column/lane selection. All cars must maintain their respective track position until they cross the start-finish line.
Driver representatives again will weigh in to set the restart zone distance and speed (it was 200 feet and 70 mph for St. Pete) on the 2.38-mile, 17-turn Barber Motorsports Park natural-terrain course following the three rounds of qualifications April 9.
“It’s a radical change in the process from what’s been done in IndyCar for more than a decade so it’s going to be a learning process for everybody – from a competitor’s standpoint, from the teams, from the drivers and from the officials,” IndyCar president of competition and operations Brian Barnhart said.
“It’s a work in progress. They were far from perfect at St. Pete, but they also weren’t bad in terms of getting lined up and not moving out of line for a passing opportunity before the start-finish line. We’ll continue to remind them that respect between competitors is a two-way street.”