IndyCar can cope with the problem of its pit lanes becoming increasingly cramped when its grid grows again next year, says president Jay Frye.
However he admitted the series may have to introduce a cap on the number of entries if its full time grid continues to grow.The arrival of Prema next year will increase the total number of regular entries from 27 to 29. While the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can accommodate the 33 cars which start the Indy 500, other venues IndyCar visits have much shorter pit lanes.
However Frye is confident the series can cope with the logistical challenge. “We’ve talked about it before,” he said. “There’s problems now with some of the places we go to, right?
The series’ most cramped pit lanes include those at the Mid-Ohio road course and its street circuits in Toronto and Detroit. The latter, which the series used for the first time last year, features a novel two-lane pit configuration (pictured).
The arrival of Prema is also expected to increase competition for staff among IndyCar teams. “Like… the car count, it’s a problem, but it’s a great problem to have,” Frye acknowledged.
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“We have tried to do things like last year we set up a job portal to help the teams do [recruitment]. There have been a lot of teams that actually used that portal.
“Again, it’s a problem, it’s a good problem, one we’re all addressing together. I think we’ll get through it.”
The arrival of Prema, which has won many championships in series such as Formula 2 and Formula 3, shows the attractiveness of IndyCar to new competitors, said Frye.
“It’s amazing. You think about the rolling five-year plan we implemented in 2017. One of the goals was to recruit new and elite race teams and owners, that type of thing. Obviously [Prema have] 80 championships in 40 years, that’s pretty elite.
“We’re certainly thrilled to have them. We’ve been talking with them for the last six, eight months. We worked on the plan, let them see what it looks like going forward. We’re really excited to have them.”
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The series is having “ongoing conversations with two or three different entries or entities” which could join the series in the future, Frye added. “There is currently a lot of interest in IndyCar, yes.”
However he admitted they may have to limit the number of cars which are allowed to start races if it continues to rise into the thirties.
“We will do all we can to start as many cars as we can,” said Frye, “But… obviously there are limits. There will be a time where that has to be addressed and we will address it.”
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S
16th April 2024, 12:15
A good problem that even F1 used to have. But not anymore, or ever again…..
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
16th April 2024, 15:38
Indeed, reading this I’m just embarrassed for f1.
An Sionnach
16th April 2024, 17:12
Yes. Even if the F1 field was brimming with quality, fewer than 24 cars seems anaemic.
MichaelN
16th April 2024, 19:07
In a way, I guess. But a handful of more guys won’t really matter that much other than for the people trackside – and there aren’t many of those in Indycar. The big pack of guys between 10th and 20th in the standings are all full season entries but largely inconsequential, most don’t even have a single stand-out result.
Indycar having 7 different winners in 17 races and still complaining about Palou dominated… now that’s something F1 could learn a thing or two from.
MacLeod (@macleod)
17th April 2024, 8:01
As I saw GP with pre-qualiflies to qualify for the race (30+ cars) i kind miss that..
But current cars are wonders of Technic only they should make them much smaller then they will be lighter and nimble again.
Tristan
16th April 2024, 12:39
29 cars? That sounds crazy exciting honestly. Good on them. It’s the right attitude to attract anyone who has the gumption, better competition, and if it’s too many, make them qualify. I’d try and catch it if it weren’t 5am for me.
Retired (@jeff1s)
16th April 2024, 13:22
Bring back the double pit road, no do not !
Don
16th April 2024, 14:46
It actually worked quite well at Detroit, and was very interesting to watch.
Louis
16th April 2024, 15:30
Great for the Indy folks. As a F1 fan, I can only drool and sigh about this …….
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
16th April 2024, 20:46
And are there any other sports in which a high percentage of the entrants have big results? I can’t think of any, and that should not be an excuse to keep the F1 field below 24 entrants.
ADUB SMALLBLOCK (@waptraveler)
16th April 2024, 20:48
Should have added this to my comment: When we have boring races with no real action at the front, certain people are quick to reply “you weren’t watching the good racing toward the back of the field”. I still say we should have 24 teams in F1.
Rick
16th April 2024, 23:17
This is what makes IndyCar special and way above F1 in many ways. IndyCar will welcome anyone as long as you have the resources and the gumption to race. A team of nobodies is at times able to win. It’s tight and close racing. they are allowed to race which may mean bumping or even some not so nice moves. All of which in F1 would be a penalty. Also they are about being racers. There is no fake ceiling of entry. If you wanna race bring it. They also will have cars come who will not make the show. That’s even more entertainment for fans seeing who will make the race or not. If they got their product out there more people would fall in love with the racing over F1 any day of the week.
MacLeod (@macleod)
17th April 2024, 8:04
This is what F1 was in the old days lots of entries who didn’t make the qualify from a pre-qualiflier. It has it charm but the differance were huge and could be dangerous.
Gavin Campbell
17th April 2024, 22:35
The thing is it costs maybe $10 million a year to run a two car IndyCar team. (Or as low as 6-7 million for smaller teams with technical support).
The whole 29 car field are running for the budget of a single F1 team. Liberty fought hard for the budget cap and we are seeing it work (the field is incredibly tight – just unfortunately Red Bull is ahead of everyone). But adding a team will be a significant hit, especially to the bottom 5 and could pull them away from running at the budget cap. I can see why they didn’t want to do it.