IndyCar tested out a new race format this past weekend, hosting an open test session and exhibition round at the Thermal Club with a cash-only prize.
Instead of a typical set of rules governing the action, the $1 Million Challenge had two heat races on Sunday morning that whittled the field down to 12, and then a 20-lap sprint was held to determine the winner.
There were no hot pit stops allowed, and drivers had to keep the same set of tires fitted for the entire 20 laps, which led to many driving slowly and conserving grip in their Firestone tires until the final laps.
Alex Palou, who all but dominated the weekend and took home a hefty sum of prize money, offered his opinion that future races on the club track should be a more traditional format and award points as well as cash.
“I think it depends on the timing,” explained Palou about a potential return next year. “In my opinion, if it’s post-season, it’s great to have an exhibition with no points. If it’s pre-season, it’s great to have an exhibition with no points.
“I don’t know why this is a non-points race, being the second race of the season. So I don’t see why we would do that more in the future and why we would keep this race as a non-points.
“If we come back here, we need to have it as a points race. If we do an exhibition, a proper exhibition, where it’s off the calendar, I think then it makes sense that we don’t put any points.”
There were multiple reasons that the initial event at the Thermal Club was not held as a typical points-paying race weekend, with the biggest being that the track is designed as a members-only facility with extravagant residences lining the track.
It does not currently have the ability to welcome tens of thousands of fans, midway trailers, and all the other entertainment pieces that typically accompany a full round of the championship.
The chosen format also produced some less-than-exciting moments on track, to which Palou offered some suggestions about different rules that could be tried for future exhibition events.
“I think it would be pretty cool if we do some, I don’t know how is it called, but in some dirt races they do every lap they eliminate one car, which is the last car. I think that would be pretty cool.
“Nobody could be managing tires or anything like that. Everybody should be pushing. I think that would be pretty interesting.
“Maybe adding the pit stop just so we have more action and you have a little bit more strategies going on, which I think that’s also the beauty of IndyCar.
“But it was cool to see this format, honestly. I was pleased. It looked a lot worse on paper than what it actually was while driving.”
The second round of the 2024 IndyCar championship takes place nearly a month from now in Long Beach, California on April 21.
