Extra IndyCar session in bid to rubber in top Texas lane

Texas Motor Speedway

A special IndyCar session has been added to this weekend’s programme in a bid to rubber in Texas Motorsport Speedway’s problematic top lane.

Seven drivers will partake in the half-hour session, between Qualifying and Practice 2, using tyres from last year’s race with the express purpose of running high on the track’s banking.

The decision comes after a substance called PJ1 TrackBite was applied to the top of the track in November 2019 to give NASCARs more grip.

While that helped with the stock cars’ Goodyear tyres, it proved extremely slippery for the Firestone-shod IndyCars, as did the resin which was used subsequently.

The seven drivers in question will be Will Power (Team Penske), Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing), Helio Castroneves (Meyer Shank Racing), Pato O’Ward (McLaren SP), Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan), Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren SP), and Takuma Sato (Dale Coyne Racing w/ RWR).

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The session will take place 08:00 AEDT, with final practice pushed back to 08:45 AEDT.

Qualifying starts at 05:00 AEDT.