Firestone tweaks may cause subtle changes at Watkins Glen, says Power

The 3.377-mile track is the fastest road course in North America, with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon taking pole last year at an average speed of 147.008mph. However, the surfeit of grip offered by the resurfacing and the long-duration high-G corners left some teams puzzling over whether to run the more durable harder-compound black tires or the potentially more grippy red-sidewalled tires.

More testing has seen subtle changes to all tire compounds for this year’s race, which is again the penultimate round of the Verizon IndyCar Series championship.

Cara Adams, chief engineer at Bridgestone Americas Motorsports, said: “We conducted a tire test at Watkins Glen in June to help determine the specification for this year's race tires. Based on the learnings from the test and last year's event, both the primary and alternate rear tire construction were updated to feature a new, lighter tread gauge while the front tire construction remained the same as 2016.

“With respect to the compound, the primary tire is the same as last year, while the alternate front and rear tires have a new compound with increased durability.”

Team Penske-Chevrolet’s Will Power, who qualified a few hundredths slower than Dixon at WGI in 2016, added: “On the black tire the handling is pretty close to last year, but the red tire is better for hot conditions.

“I’d say there’s less chance of people using blacks in the Fast Six, but you’re still pretty close to where some teams’ setups might mean they’re weighing up used reds vs. new blacks.

“But that second practice [new for 2017], where we’re allowed to try out the reds, means that I think everyone’s tire tactics for qualifying will be pretty much sorted by the time we go out there. I don’t think you’re going to get teams suddenly switching things and deciding at the last minute to go for blacks.

“From last year to this year, I don’t think you’ll see a big handling balance difference. It will be more like other tracks where the blacks are a little better in the fast stuff, reds a little better in the slower corners.”

Power, who's scored six poles this season, said that he didn’t necessarily expect Scott Dixon’s record speed of 1min22.5259sec to be eclipsed this year.

“I think it may be a bit cooler this year, which would help lap speeds,” he said, “but the track surface was pretty new last year. Now you’ve had a year more racing on it there’s gonna be less grip because the racing line gets more polished and smooth.”

Having fallen 83 points behind leader and teammate Josef Newgarden, following a first-lap crash at Gateway Motorsports Park last Saturday, 2014 IndyCar champion Power said his mission over the closing two races of the 2017 title race had at least been clarified.

“Try and get both poles and win both races – that’s all that’s in our control,” he explained. “It is going to be tough to win the championship, honestly. If it was just one person who had a lead over us, I’d say we had a strong chance. But I kinda need four people to have bad weekends.

“But it’s not impossible, and the best way to maximize our chances is to just focus on our deal and try and win both races. I definitely think we’ve got a decent shot at doing that.”