Two of the largest car classes at this year’s Runoffs, Spec Miata and Spec Racer Ford Gen3, have made their first on-track appearance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With about 100 entries, the SRF3 class was broken into two qualifying groups so drivers had a better chance of finding some space on the track during their 18-minute sessions. Tray Ayres set the SRF3 pace Monday with a 1:50.533.
The nearly 90 SM racers were also divided into two qualifying groups. The top eight drivers managed lap times in the 1:59 range, but Chris Haldeman emerged at the top with a lap time of 1:59.608 Monday.
“This layout is really fun,” Haldeman said about the 15-turn, 2.592-mile Indianapolis road course. “It’s technically challenging. There are some rhythm sections where you really have to have your timing down. If you’re offline an inch, you’re offline six feet.”
“The track really punishes overdriving and requires patience,” Haldeman continued. “But it’s playing into my favor so far.”
Totally Tires
An event with nearly 1,000 cars is an operation; but remember, each of those cars have four tires each. That’s where Hoosier Tire comes in.
Hoosier’s setup this weekend is a modified version of the Continental Tire setup at the Rolex 24 at Daytona. Their trucks have approximately 7,000 tires total to start the weekend. Drivers will bring tires (of all brands — because most importantly, Hoosier is here to help racers) to be mounted, then dismounted, then remounted, as they try to find that extra bit of time on track.
All in all, the workload for Hoosier this week is just about equal to the 24-hour race — a race that runs twice around the clock, on professional budgets, with pit stops.
Keeping Up with the Runoffs
Follow all the action — with live timing, audio commentary and a static camera — right here!