Motorsport Week
  • Formula 1
    • 2023 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2023 Formula 1 Standings
    • 2023 Formula 1 Driver Line-Up
    • 2023 Formula 1 Driver Penalty Points
    • 2024 Formula 1 Driver Line-Up
  • Formula E
    • 2022/23 Formula E Standings
    • 2022/23 Formula E Calendar
    • 2022/23 Formula E Team/Driver Line-up
  • IndyCar
    • 2023 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2023 IndyCar Driver Line-Up
    • 2023 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2023 WRC Calendar
    • 2023 WRC Standings
    • 2023 WRC Driver Line-up
  • MotoGP
    • 2023 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2023 MotoGP Team/Rider Line-Up
    • 2023 MotoGP Standings
  • WEC
    • 2023 WEC Calendar
    • 2023 WEC Hypercar Team/Driver Line-up
  • IMSA
    • 2023 IMSA GTP Team/Driver Line-up
    • 2023 IMSA Calendar
  • More
    • Formula 2
      • 2023 Formula 2 Race Calendar
      • 2023 Formula 2 Driver Line-up
    • Formula 3
      • 2023 Formula 3 Race Calendar
      • 2023 Formula 3 Driver Line-up
    • DTM
    • WSeries
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
  • Formula 1
    • 2023 Formula 1 Calendar
    • 2023 Formula 1 Standings
    • 2023 Formula 1 Driver Line-Up
    • 2023 Formula 1 Driver Penalty Points
    • 2024 Formula 1 Driver Line-Up
  • Formula E
    • 2022/23 Formula E Standings
    • 2022/23 Formula E Calendar
    • 2022/23 Formula E Team/Driver Line-up
  • IndyCar
    • 2023 IndyCar Calendar
    • 2023 IndyCar Driver Line-Up
    • 2023 IndyCar Standings
  • WRC
    • 2023 WRC Calendar
    • 2023 WRC Standings
    • 2023 WRC Driver Line-up
  • MotoGP
    • 2023 MotoGP Calendar
    • 2023 MotoGP Team/Rider Line-Up
    • 2023 MotoGP Standings
  • WEC
    • 2023 WEC Calendar
    • 2023 WEC Hypercar Team/Driver Line-up
  • IMSA
    • 2023 IMSA GTP Team/Driver Line-up
    • 2023 IMSA Calendar
  • More
    • Formula 2
      • 2023 Formula 2 Race Calendar
      • 2023 Formula 2 Driver Line-up
    • Formula 3
      • 2023 Formula 3 Race Calendar
      • 2023 Formula 3 Driver Line-up
    • DTM
    • WSeries
    • Technical Insight
    • Galleries
    • About/Contact
    • Privacy Policy
No Result
View All Result
Motorsport Week
Home Single Seater IndyCar

IndyCar considering revisions to qualifying format

by Kevin Dejewski
2 years ago
A A
0
IndyCar considering revisions to qualifying format

Shorter tracks have been getting congested during qualifying in the past couple years. Photo: Kevin Dejewski

Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

IndyCar is considering small changes to its current knockout qualifying format for next season in order to better handle the expected increase in participants.

The current format, which is used for most road and street events, is a three-tier arrangement. In it, the 12 fastest drivers advance to the second qualifying round, and from there a final ‘Fast 6’ session determines the front three rows.

The initial round has traditionally been broken into two groups of cars, but as the field is set to grow to near 30 entrants on any given weekend, that could make for a very busy track at the start of qualifying.

IndyCar president Jay Frye talked with RACER recently, and explained how the increasing car count is forcing the series to consider modifying the format.

RelatedPosts

Perez unhappy with ‘not ideal’ Suzuka qualifying session

Perez unhappy with ‘not ideal’ Suzuka qualifying session

27 mins ago
Piastri ‘frustrated’ to not improve in Q3 despite maiden front row

Piastri ‘frustrated’ to not improve in Q3 despite maiden front row

1 hour ago

“An increased car count is a great problem to have,” Frye told RACER. “So how do we manage that? What does that look like?

“In knockout qualifying, where sometimes it’s too busy with cars on track, maybe there’s a way to have the same amount of cars on the track all the time. So say there’s 27 cars, you would have nine cars go out, three cars advance. You have nine more cars go, three cars advance, and then the last session where three cars advance.

“Then instead of having a Fast Six, you’d have a Fast Nine. So that also matches up with the Indy 500’s Fast Nine qualifying, and then we’ve got the 500 and the road and street courses are the same.

“There were times last year as we got up to 27 or 28 cars where the track was very busy in qualifying. I mean, very busy. So we want to get ahead of this and make it easier for our drivers to set their laps without being on top of each other.”

The as-yet unconfirmed changes would leave the same number of total sessions, but the fastest qualifiers from each initial group would be directly promoted to the final Fast Nine and would battle each other for pole.

At some events this past year, lap times from the second session that included 12 cars directly set the front of the grid, with the final round removed for time considerations. This adjustment worked well, and closely mirrors the proposal for next season.

“We’ve done this a couple different ways last couple years, based off of the things that we’ve been dealt, like we shortened the overall length of the knockout qualifying process,” continued Frye.

“We’ve had that the last couple years and like the faster approach, so we’re just looking ahead and figuring out how we should do it as the car count is expanding.”

Finer details of the proposal are still being worked through, and any changes would have to be approved by team managers and drivers before being finalized.

Tags: IndyCarqualifying
Share289Tweet181

Related Posts

Perez unhappy with ‘not ideal’ Suzuka qualifying session
Formula 1

Perez unhappy with ‘not ideal’ Suzuka qualifying session

27 mins ago
Piastri ‘frustrated’ to not improve in Q3 despite maiden front row
Formula 1

Piastri ‘frustrated’ to not improve in Q3 despite maiden front row

1 hour ago
Sainz frustrated with P6 as set-up woes persist into qualifying
Formula 1

Sainz frustrated with P6 as set-up woes persist into qualifying

2 hours ago
Load More
Newgarden gets first look at his Borg-Warner Trophy likeness
IndyCar

Newgarden gets first look at his Borg-Warner Trophy likeness

September 22, 2023
Honda Racing combines motorsport divisions to form HRC US
IMSA

Honda Racing combines motorsport divisions to form HRC US

September 21, 2023

Drivers’ Standings

#DriverPoints
1Álex Palou656
2Scott Dixon578
3Scott McLaughlin488
4Patricio O'Ward484
5Josef Newgarden479
6Marcus Ericsson438
7Will Power425
8Christian Lundgaard390
9Alexander Rossi375
10Colton Herta356

Click here for full Drivers’ Standings

 

Motorsport Week

© 2023 Motorsport Media Services Ltd

Other Links

  • About & Contact
  • Privacy Policy
  • Motorsport Monday

Follow Us

No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • Sign Up
  • Home
  • Formula 1
    • Latest News
    • Championship Standings
    • 2023 F1 Calendar
    • Team/Driver Line-Up
    • Session Results
    • Driver Penalty Points
  • Formula E
    • Latest News
    • 2022/23 Formula E Standings
    • 2022/23 Formula E Calendar
    • Session Results
  • MotoGP
    • Latest News
    • Standings
    • Calendar
  • WRC
    • Latest News
    • Standings
    • Calendar
  • IndyCar
    • Latest News
    • Calendar
    • Standings
  • WEC
    • Latest News
    • Calendar
  • Live Updates
  • Other
    • Formula 2
    • Formula 3
    • Moto2
    • Moto3
    • WSeries
    • DTM
    • IMSA
  • Galleries
  • About/Contact
  • Privacy Policy

© 2023 Motorsport Media Services Ltd

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
X