FORCES OF NATURE
Less grip this time ’round for Newgarden and Canadian-loaded field
Defending champ Josef Newgarden explains why this weekend’s Indy might be more exciting than past editions — for drivers and fans,
Josef Newgarden, the Honda Indy Toronto’s defending champion, feels new aerodynamic kits on cars this year will render the always challenging road course here, well, even more challenging this weekend.
“These new cars, there’s less downforce, so I’d say about 25 per cent (less grip),” Newgarden said Thursday as a group of drivers from all of the series racing over the next few days gathered for a press conference. “Figuring out how to get these tires to be consistent will be important.”
Newgarden, the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series champion who won the Toronto race last year and in 2015, broke down the effects of the new aero kit — a mix of less downforce and more “communication from the car.”
In effect, the cars will break loose out of corners, he said. By making the cars trickier to handle, the theory is that more of a premium will be placed on a driver’s racing talent, rather than the set-up of the vehicle. On the Exhibition Place course, which is famous for its asphalt-to-concrete-to-asphalt transitions in the corners, the race could be decided by who best manages those transitions.
“It’s going to be key for all the teams, and the team that figures it out the quickest is going to have success,” said Newgarden.
Newgarden also weighed in on the local angles while sharing a podium with several other IndyCar drivers as well as Canadians Alex Tagliani, of the NASCAR Pinty’s Series, and Parker Thompson, who is atop the standings in the Pro Mazda Series. The focus was Oakville’s James Hinchcliffe, who picked up his first win of the season last weekend in Iowa.
“I think it would be sweet to beat him here … last year I was just saying that, but this year I mean it,” Newgarden said, drawing laughter and highlighting the balance between friendship and competitiveness among the drivers. “But really, James has always energized this race when he runs here.”
Newgarden wasn’t the only driver who pushed Hinchcliffe’s buttons. Zachary Claman DeMelo of Montreal said it took roughly four hours to drive from his hometown and Toronto. That surprised Hinchcliffe, who felt the drive should take “a solid five hours.”
“A solid five with Hinch driving,” DeMelo replied, drawing more laughter from drivers and the media.
Hinchcliffe, for whom last weekend’s victory was a boost after failing to qualify for the Indy 500 in May, said the addition of Canadian rookie Robert Wickens has had a positive influence on their Schmidt Peterson team. The two push each other as drivers but are also close friends off the track, Wickens said.
“He’s been a huge help to me and we have a good relationship off the track, so I can lean on him Monday to Friday, get advice and tips. What he’s said about me, it goes the same way for me about him,” Wickens said of Hinchcliffe. Thompson concurred. The Toronto event — the only Canadian stop on the IndyCar schedule — is special because of the homegrown contingent: “I’m a four-hour flight away (he hails from Red Deer, Alta.), but I always feel the support from the fans when I race here.”