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Pit Lane Exit, Qualifying Changes Made In INDYCAR
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IndyCar announced a number of changes to its procedures and will make technology upgrades in response to problems encountered during the Long Beach Grand Prix. The changes will be in effect starting this weekend in Alabama for the Barber Motorsports Park event.
Long Beach's pit lane exit controversy has been addressed with "an electronic pit exit commit line [that] has been embedded in the track surface," IndyCar said. "The transponder in each Verizon IndyCar Series car must cross the embedded line to determine a legal pit exit. This procedure will be in use this weekend at Barber and at other series tracks where conditions permit."
It's believed IndyCar could also station a dedicated official at the pit exit blend line to add a visual element to policing the rule.
"The addition of the electronic pit exit commit line uses technology to improve enforcement of the lane usage rule and creates a system to determine if an infraction has occurred," said Jay Frye, the series' president of competition and operations. "The race stewards' penalty guidelines remain unchanged."
A failure of IndyCar's timing and scoring system during Saturday's qualifying session created confusion after incorrect lap times were recorded and shown, leading the series to add a new layer of backups.
"Adding backup data decoders at the alternate start/finish lines puts a system of redundancy in place to assure accurate and quick results," said Frye.
Team Penske's Will Power spun as the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session was winding down and brought out a red flag while IndyCar's Holmatro Safety Team retrieved his car. The series, citing rule 8.3.4.1.1, permitted the Fast Six to complete one additional timed lap after the incident, which also caused some confusion for those who were unaware the rule existed. IndyCar made further amendments to its rulebook to handle qualifying time loss and to penalize a driver who causes a Power-like situation.
Per the series, "Segment 3 of road/street course qualifying (the Firestone Fast Six) shall consist of six minutes of guaranteed green-flag time (Rule 8.3.4.6 of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Rule Book). The timing clock stops during any red-flag situation. If a red flag occurs near the end of the session and the remaining time is not enough for entrants to complete a timed lap, all entrants will be given an opportunity to complete one timed lap when green-flag conditions return. In order to receive the one guaranteed lap, cars must leave pit lane within 30 seconds of the green being called. Previously, the rule called for Segment 3 to run for 10 minutes, with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time."
And on the penalty front, the series said "Rule 8.3.5.1 has been added to the Verizon IndyCar Series Rule Book, which states that a car involved in a red-flag condition in Segment 3 will not be permitted to continue in the session. Rule 8.3.5 remains in effect, stating that a car causing a red flag in any qualifying segment shall have its two best timed laps disallowed and it shall not advance to the next segment."
According to Frye, "The change in Segment 3 of road/street course qualifying was made to simplify the process, create a sense of urgency to have cars on track and give the fans a better show. We want to avoid situations where the Firestone Fast Six concludes on a red flag, so we've put in place the opportunity for each car to post one timed lap at the end of the session."
IndyCar also adjusted the time period where drivers can earn an extra set of Firestone tires to encourage increased on-track activity when many teams opt to sit and save tires for later sessions.
"Entries completing five laps on one set of tires (including 'in' and 'out' laps) within the first 20 minutes of green-flag conditions during the first on-track session of an event weekend at a road or street course, including promoter test days, will receive an additional set of primary tires for use during the weekend (Rule 15.2.1.1)," the series said. "Previously, the time limit to complete the five laps was 15 minutes."
Long Beach's pit lane exit controversy has been addressed with "an electronic pit exit commit line [that] has been embedded in the track surface," IndyCar said. "The transponder in each Verizon IndyCar Series car must cross the embedded line to determine a legal pit exit. This procedure will be in use this weekend at Barber and at other series tracks where conditions permit."
It's believed IndyCar could also station a dedicated official at the pit exit blend line to add a visual element to policing the rule.
"The addition of the electronic pit exit commit line uses technology to improve enforcement of the lane usage rule and creates a system to determine if an infraction has occurred," said Jay Frye, the series' president of competition and operations. "The race stewards' penalty guidelines remain unchanged."
A failure of IndyCar's timing and scoring system during Saturday's qualifying session created confusion after incorrect lap times were recorded and shown, leading the series to add a new layer of backups.
"Adding backup data decoders at the alternate start/finish lines puts a system of redundancy in place to assure accurate and quick results," said Frye.
Team Penske's Will Power spun as the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session was winding down and brought out a red flag while IndyCar's Holmatro Safety Team retrieved his car. The series, citing rule 8.3.4.1.1, permitted the Fast Six to complete one additional timed lap after the incident, which also caused some confusion for those who were unaware the rule existed. IndyCar made further amendments to its rulebook to handle qualifying time loss and to penalize a driver who causes a Power-like situation.
Per the series, "Segment 3 of road/street course qualifying (the Firestone Fast Six) shall consist of six minutes of guaranteed green-flag time (Rule 8.3.4.6 of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Rule Book). The timing clock stops during any red-flag situation. If a red flag occurs near the end of the session and the remaining time is not enough for entrants to complete a timed lap, all entrants will be given an opportunity to complete one timed lap when green-flag conditions return. In order to receive the one guaranteed lap, cars must leave pit lane within 30 seconds of the green being called. Previously, the rule called for Segment 3 to run for 10 minutes, with five minutes of guaranteed green-flag time."
And on the penalty front, the series said "Rule 8.3.5.1 has been added to the Verizon IndyCar Series Rule Book, which states that a car involved in a red-flag condition in Segment 3 will not be permitted to continue in the session. Rule 8.3.5 remains in effect, stating that a car causing a red flag in any qualifying segment shall have its two best timed laps disallowed and it shall not advance to the next segment."
According to Frye, "The change in Segment 3 of road/street course qualifying was made to simplify the process, create a sense of urgency to have cars on track and give the fans a better show. We want to avoid situations where the Firestone Fast Six concludes on a red flag, so we've put in place the opportunity for each car to post one timed lap at the end of the session."
IndyCar also adjusted the time period where drivers can earn an extra set of Firestone tires to encourage increased on-track activity when many teams opt to sit and save tires for later sessions.
"Entries completing five laps on one set of tires (including 'in' and 'out' laps) within the first 20 minutes of green-flag conditions during the first on-track session of an event weekend at a road or street course, including promoter test days, will receive an additional set of primary tires for use during the weekend (Rule 15.2.1.1)," the series said. "Previously, the time limit to complete the five laps was 15 minutes."
