Ilott, Carpenter irritated by lack of communication over track changes

In Saturday morning’s session, Ilott was launched off the Turn 5 curbing, getting all four wheels off the ground and spearing into the tire wall on the turn exit, bringing out a red flag. Barely three minutes after the session restarted, Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing suffered a similar incident that lifted the car’s front wheels way off the ground, so he had no steering, and also went into the wall.

It transpired that the curbs had changed since yesterday’s practice. IMSA cars had damaged the last slab of curb, and it had been replaced, while a previously missing slab – what should have been the penultimate one – had been reinstalled. This was what launched the unfortunate JHR and ECR drivers. IndyCar later admitted it had not informed participants.

“It’s quite annoying,” Carpenter told Motorsport.com before referring to the extension of the pit-exit blend line changing color. “They send out a big thing about orange paint…

“We got lucky compared with Callum, in that Rinus got back out there and finished the session. But these sorts of things shouldn’t be happening at this point and it kind of made me wonder if IndyCar even knew that there was something changed.

 

Photo by: Charles Bradley

Asked how much more to the left VeeKay needed to be to avoid the shunt at the right-hander, Carpenter said: “Just enough to keep the tub off it. That just takes the wheels off the ground. So however many inches to not have the centerline of the car on it.”

Carpenter said that he hadn’t worked out how much the incident cost financially, adding: “I get more frustrated about loss of track time. Like I say, we got lucky.”

He is optimistic about VeeKay’s chances in qualifying, despite the Dutch youngster and teammate Conor Daly finishing FP1 in 22^nd and 20^th in the 27-car field.

“Yesterday both guys were struggling with the same thing,” said Carpenter, “whereas today they’ve got different complaints. I believe Rinus is actually pretty close, where he can have a good session.

“We’ve just to go out and nail the lap. It’s so tight, it doesn’t take much to be in the top 10 or between 10^th and 20^th now. It’s about execution as much as anything.”

Ilott told Motorsport.com: “I did exactly that line yesterday. When we did the track walk [Thursday], it was like how it was yesterday, then we went and did the [FP1] session and that’s how it was. But supposedly when IMSA drove afterward they knocked another curb and the [track organizers] put two down – the replacement one, plus they filled the gap.

“At the end of the day, it was changed – I don’t care who did it. When you inspect the track, you’re meant to check for this stuff. Luckily I’ve not done what Jimmie [Johnson] did [last year], I’ve not broken my hands, because otherwise I’d be fuming.

“But from the team’s side it is super costly, money-wise and in terms of track time. For a simple communication thing, it’s a piss-take. I mean, it’s a lesson, but it’s a very harsh lesson. I don’t care however small something is; if they change something, they need to tell us.”

Ilott was especially annoyed because “we had a lot of things to test. Everything the Juncos Hollinger team did yesterday was positive but we had more to work on, so it’s a shame.

“Every bit of momentum we had has been put on hold and I didn’t get to experience the greens [Firestone’s alternate compound tires] so it just puts us on the back foot, even though I still feel confident going into qualifying.”