Indianapolis Motor Speedway track guide
Take a tour of the IMS with Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist
Why do we need a track guide for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS), it’s an oval? We love them, but we know them… Don’t we? Wrong. There’s so much more to the IMS. It may look like an oval, but it doesn’t feel like one. Comparable to a road course, the 2.5-mile-long circuit is a lungful.
Built in 1909, the IMS is more than 100 years old, although it has been through one crucial change in that time. Originally built with a racing surface of 3.2 million bricks, it has since been almost fully paved with asphalt, barring a 36-inch strip of the original bricks at the start-finish line, dubbed the Yard of Bricks.
We spoke with our 2022 Arrow McLaren SP drivers Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist to get the lowdown on the historic circuit and what we can expect.
Tunnel vision
Pato O'Ward: This is where you win. It is a massive straight; it’s where we start and end the race and where we want to kiss the bricks if we finish first. The start is pretty chill here because everyone respects each other more. The cars don’t accelerate as fast, so everyone usually falls in line.
Felix Rosenqvist: You have the grandstands on both sides, and it might be the only place in the world where that is the case. It makes you feel like you’re in a tunnel, especially on race day when everyone is there. It feels tighter, and as a result, makes it feel like you’re going quicker. When you head into Turn 1, the grandstand bends into the corner, and on race day, it feels really tight. It is such a quick corner. Ask any driver, and they will tell you that it is very different from the backstretch.
A trick of the light
POW: The first turn is so different from every other corner on the circuit - it’s the turn that can catch you out the easiest with the car's rear. It’s usually the more front-heavy turn and makes the rear a bit livelier.
FRO: Visually, it is very different. The shadows from the grandstand make it very difficult. Depending on the time of the day, your references change a little bit. It’s tricky. Sometimes you can turn in too late because you get tricked by the shadows. It’s the second-fastest corner but the one where you feel more hesitant to stay flat.
A bumpy ride
POW: Turn 2 is the most unpredictable corner because of the nature of how it flows. Often, you have a crosswind there and not much headwind, which makes the car behave differently every lap.
FRO: Turn 2 is the trickiest corner because you have a bump on entry. That bump doesn’t feel bad, but it can put people in the wall. It’s tricky because it doesn’t feel hard, but for some reason, people often crash there. Both me and Pato have crashed there - you can find those on YouTube – and it hurts.
Flat out
POW: The backstretch is long, but it’s important if you’re looking to make a pass on the exit of Turn 4 or the next lap, exiting Turn 2. A tailwind on the backstretch, heading into Turn 3, makes a big difference. On Fast Friday, for example, we had a tailwind down the backstretch, and we entered Turn 3 at 243 mph – that’s fast.
FRO: This is where you start to set up your pass for Turn 1. You give yourself a gap and begin to make a bit of a run, hoping to go flat through Turns 3 and 4 to pass into Turn 1. You start early to set up a pass later in a lap. It depends on the wind, though. You could set up the same way on the front stretch to make a pass into Turn 3.
Gone with the wind
POW: With a tailwind, it opens it up and allows for sudden, big moments on the exit where the wall approaches really fast. It is difficult to determine where the balance will be depending on where the wind is coming from.
FRO: This is the fastest corner. Turn 3, for me, feels very different from Turn 1 because it is more of a gradual banking going into the corner. You have what feels like a cushion in the mid-corner where you can lean on the banking. Technically they say they are all the same, but I think the drivers would all agree that Turn 3 somehow feels way easier than Turn 1.
A smooth landing
POW: Turn 4 is the easiest corner on the racetrack. Why? I have no idea. But usually, it’s the corner that gives you less of a headache than all of the others.
FRO: I think Turn 4 is prone to an exit snap. Many people try and stay close to someone, and they lose the car on the exit. It’s very common for people to crash there on the exit. It’s very interesting because the four corners are drawn to be the same radius, but they are very different characteristically. People often crash exiting Turn 4, on the entry of Turn 2, and anywhere in Turn 1, but then nobody really crashes in Turn 3. IMS has a very unique layout.
