If there’s one thing Santino Ferrucci is banking on with IndyCar’s newest circuit, it’s that it’ll be bumpy.
The series has ditched its iconic 14-turn course on Belle Isle this year for an all-new nine-turn downtown circuit just across the Detroit River in the CBD.
Through IndyCar’s various guises, the Detroit Grand Prix has been held on the Belle Isle course since 1992.
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Prior to that, IndyCar hosted three races around the Renaissance Center from 1989 to 1991 on a slightly modified course from what Formula 1 used between 1982 and 1988.
This year’s circuit uses a small part of that Renaissance Center layout but is otherwise brand new.
Ferrucci hasn’t had the privilege of cutting any simulator laps but knows from the reconnaissance in a Chevy Tahoe pick-up truck that the circuit will be a filling rattler.
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“I’ll probably buy a mouth guard at Dick’s Sporting Goods before I head over there because it was still bumpy in the Tahoe that we took a hot lap in, so I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like in the IndyCar,” said Ferrucci.
The layout is perhaps one of the most basic on the calendar with six 90-degree turns. Albeit basic on paper, Ferrucci is optimistic the circuit will provide entertaining racing.
He expects the high-speed run down Jefferson Avenue from turn two to the turn three hairpin to be a hot spot for overtaking.
“Yeah, I think this track is actually going to run a little bit more like Long Beach in a sense than Belle Isle,” Ferrucci explained.
“Belle Isle is challenging because it was multiple different types of pavement, concrete, old stuff, new stuff. It was like a blend of everything. Versus this track, they repaved most of the city, changed everything.
“This is actually a pretty wide street course, believe it or not. This is going to be really fast. Might run more like a race that was pre my time in this series, might run more like Baltimore or Houston.
“The straight is longer than the one at the (Long Beach) GP,” he added. “The GP, you do have a lot of passing at the end of that straight going into the hairpin or the first turn.
“It will provide for some great racing. I hope we have a great strategy race like we did on Belle Isle.
“I think that was our best street course race as far as entertainment goes. I’m hoping the new Detroit track lives up to that.”
Unique to the new Detroit circuit is the double-sided pit lane.
Most pit lanes typically pit cars on the left or right. However, the new circuit will pit cars on both sides of a wider lane.
Pit lane can be a chaotic place at the best of times, let alone with cars going left and right.
“I’m actually really excited,” he said of the pit lane.
“I think it’s one of those things to where it’s already chaotic enough in an IndyCar to have the pit lane in Detroit the way it was.
“I think Max Papis (driving standards advisor) is going to have a really rough two weeks with going from the 500 now to Detroit with the zero contact rule in pit lane.
“That one might have to get waived a little bit.”
The Detroit Grand Prix takes place on Monday at 5am with coverage live, ad-free, and exclusively on Stan Sport.
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