Harvest Grand Prix presented by GMR – pre-race notes
By Steve Wittich..Trackside Online
First up, a massive thank you to an anonymous ghostwriter who covered qualifying for me.
I was at the Race for Equality & Change update. I’ll have more on that later.
Strategy
Harvest Grand Prix presented by GMR Race #2 is is a 75-lap race.
With 25 lap pit windows, that makes Saturday afternoon’s race three stints, with extremely tight pit windows.
Unfortunately, that means that unless there is quite a bit of early yellow running, the drivers will be saving fuel early and often, to widen the window for the final stop.
Usually, in a race with such narrow pit windows, you’ll have a few drivers make an extra stop to be able to run with the right foot to the floor. (Think Simon Pagenaud at Sonoma Raceway in 2017)
However, the pit road delta is around a painstakingly long 37 seconds, making a three-stop race a highly unlikely option.
The drivers are still required to use each of the two Firestone Firehawk at least once, but because it’s a doubleheader, those tires don’t need to be new.
Despite a few drivers struggling on the reds yesterday, they are still the preferred tire. We agree with Alexander Rossi, who said the race would be a little more straight forward.
Obviously, the red tire is going to be the preferred tire,” said Rossi, who grabbed his third straight podium in Friday’s 85-lap race. “It was a little bit jumbled today because you had the guys in group one of qualifying that didn’t get to use the red tires. They had two reds. Guys in group two had used reds. I think it will be a little bit more consistent tomorrow than it was today.”
According to Cara Adams. Director, Race Tire Engineering and Manufacturing, Chief Engineer, Motorsports at Bridgestone Americas, the following allotments of the Firestone Firehawk Alternate Tires (reds)
- used reds only – Álex Palou and Rinus VeeKay
- one set of sticker reds – Helio Castroneves, Max Chilton, Conor Daly, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Santino Ferrucci, Jack Harvey, Colton Herta, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Sage Karam, Charlie Kimball, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, and Takuma Sato
- two sets of sticker reds – Marco Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais, Dalton Kellett, Pato O’Ward, and Felix Rosenqvist
Starting line-up with tire designation
| START | CAR NO. | DRIVER | TIRE |
| 1 | 12 | Will Power | Alternate (Red) |
| 2 | 88 | Colton Herta | Alternate (Red) |
| 3 | 27 | Alexander Rossi | Alternate (Red) |
| 4 | 55 | Álex Palou | Alternate (Red) |
| 5 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | Alternate (Red) |
| 6 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Primary (Black) |
| 7 | 60 | Jack Harvey | Alternate (Red) |
| 8 | 10 | Felix Rosenqvist | Alternate (Red) |
| 9 | 1 | Josef Newgarden | Alternate (Red) |
| 10 | 15 | Graham Rahal | Primary (Black) |
| 11 | 18 | Santino Ferrucci | Alternate (Red) |
| 12 | 98 | Marco Andretti | Alternate (Red) |
| 13 | 26 | James Hinchcliffe | Alternate (Red) |
| 14 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Primary (Black) |
| 15 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Primary (Black) |
| 16 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Primary (Black) |
| 17 | 30 | Takuma Sato | Alternate (Red) |
| 18 | 59 | Max Chilton | Primary (Black) |
| 19 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Primary (Black) |
| 20 | 7 | Helio Castroneves | Alternate (Red) |
| 21 | 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | Primary (Black) |
| 22 | 24 | Sage Karam | Alternate (Red) |
| 23 | 20 | Conor Daly | Primary (Black) |
| 24 | 4 | Charlie Kimball | Alternate (Red) |
| 25 | 41 | Dalton Kellett | Primary (Black) |
Points permutations
Championship
First, only Scott Dixon or Josef Newgarden will win the NTT INDYCAR® SERIES championship. Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward, Will Power, Graham Rahal, and Takuma Sato were all eliminated yesterday.
There is no simple way to explain all of Dixon’s clinch scenarios, so we’ll share a few options.
Let’s get the easiest one out of the way.
If Dixon wins, he is the 2020 NTT INDYCAR® SERIES champion.
Dixon can still clinch the championship with a finish all the way down to 17th, depending on where Newgarden finishes.
A couple of scenarios:
- Dixon clinches with a finish sixth or better if Newgarden finishes outside of the top 10.
- Dixon clinches with a finish of ninth or better if Newgarden finishes sixteenth or worse.
- Dixon clinches with a finish of 12th or better if Newgarden finishes worse than 20th.
- If Newgarden finishes last (25th), Dixon clinches with a finish of 17th or better.
Rookie Of The Year
This one is much simpler.
If Rinus van Kalmthout (VeeKay) finishes ahead of Álex Palou, he will clinch the Rookie Of The Year crown. The Dutchman will also clinch if Palou does not outscore VeeKay by nine points in Harvest Grand Prix presented by GMR race #2.