IndyCar setup sheet: Road America

What: Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America / Race 8 of the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series

Where: Natural-terrain road course at Elkhart Lake, Wis.

When: Sunday, June 18, 1:00pm ET (green flag 1:15pm ET)

From the near-flat and often flat-out turns of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to the first and second-gear point ’n’ squirt, bump ’n’ grind street course in Detroit, to the hold-your-breath open sweepers and technical medium-speed turns at Road America this weekend. There’s no sequence in the 17-race NTT IndyCar Series schedule where the series more obviously demands its drivers to be the most versatile racers on earth.

People — drivers and fans alike — wax lyrical about Road America, calling it the United States’ greatest road course, with frequent comparisons to Formula 1’s Spa-Francorchamps. And with good reason, too: huge elevation changes, varied track surfaces, and unforgiving corners. Even where there’s runoff it can be hard to return to the asphalt without damaging the car; and where there is runoff, it’s often a gravel trap. Road America has barely changed since the year it was opened in 1955 — certainly its 4.048-mile configuration remains as it was, with only the curbing and the amount of asphalt and grass on either side of it shifting over the decades.

This venue is a mecca for campers, who are spoiled for choice as far as sightlines are concerned. Stay for the full three days, and you can move around the track and capture hugely different views for all five of the IndyCar sessions. 

At Road America, race engineers who’ve seen their cars qualify badly tend to look gloomy on Saturday evening as they contemplate the chances of getting their car back up front through strategy. The length of the course means the race is only 55 laps long, which makes it a fairly obvious three-stop strategy, especially given the yawningly long pitlane. The scope for strategic variations is naturally limited. 

Yet, time after time, we’ve seen that it takes just a single yellow in any of the three stints to allow the drivers to turn up the fuel mixture and let fly. And a driver who’s struggling on fuel strategy or who’s burned off their Firestone alternate-compound tires too soon cannot indefinitely fend off a close pursuer, for the track is wide, making for obvious passing opportunities at Turns 1, 3, 5, 6 and 10. 

Last year at Road America, the top four teams looked very evenly balanced in terms of pace, with the top 10 on the grid containing three cars from Andretti Autosport and Chip Ganassi Racing, and two from Team Penske and Arrow McLaren. Andretti’s Alexander Rossi took his first pole for three years, putting himself in frame to score his first win over the same period.

Fellow front-row starter Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Penske crew scotched that idea at the first round of stops, when he emerged from pit lane ahead of Rossi — as did Ganassi’s Marcus Ericsson when he stopped a lap later, although Rossi got past him when the Swede ran wide at Turn 7.

Through the second and third stints, Rossi kept nibbling at Newgarden’s lead, and a late caution gave him a last chance to get fully on terms. Instead, he turned from hunter to hunted, with Ericsson slipping past him to claim second, 3.3710s behind winner Newgarden (below). Still Rossi headed a 3-4-5 for the Andretti team, followed home by Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta.

You can follow all the practice and qualifying action on Peacock on Friday, June 16, and Saturday, June 17, and the warmup on the morning of Sunday, June 18. Then the 55-lap/220.55-mile race will be carried on the USA Network as well as Peacock. And to get even closer to it all, grab the best seat in the house with the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA and its 14 race day live onboard cameras.   

TUNE IN

Friday, June 16 / 4:00pm – 5:15pm ET – Practice 1 – Peacock

Saturday, June 17 / 10:55am – 11:55am ET – Practice 2 – Peacock

Saturday, June 17 / 1:55pm – 3:25pm ET – Qualifying – Peacock

Sunday, June 18 / 10:15am – 10:45am ET – Warmup – Peacock

Sunday, June 18 / 1:15pm – 3:45pm ET – RACE – USA Network, Peacock

• All sessions and the race are also available as audio commentary on SiriusXM and INDYCAR Radio.  

Ride along with the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA

Taking you inside the action, 14 drivers will be carrying in-car cameras. During the race, you can live-stream every one of them with the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA. You choose who you ride along with, and you can switch drivers at any time. The App’s free to download for fans worldwide and you can find out more HERE. If you’re not already onboard, take your viewing experience to a whole new level HERE.

Bringing you the onboard action from the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America are…

Alexander Rossi / No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet

Rossi deserves to be excited about this race, for it’s the scene of his most recent pole position, in 2022, and the seventh of his eight NTT IndyCar Series wins, in 2019. The high-commitment corners are his forté and his willingness to get the throttle down early and clamber over curbs can produce considerable rewards on Road America’s medium-speed turns. He’s still seeking his first win for the Arrow McLaren team, after seven years with Andretti Autosport, and currently lies sixth in the championship.

Colton Herta / No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda