IndyCar’s VP of competition and engineering, Bill Pappas, believes IndyCar needs some tweaks to car spec for PIR to improve the racing and raise the talent demands on the drivers. IndyCar’s return to Phoenix International Raceway for the first time in 11 years was regarded as a reasonable commercial success but the drivers’ fears that it would be more difficult to pass there than on other ovals proved founded. Even the leaders struggled to lap cars, although this was also a corollary of how close in pace the frontrunners were to the backmarkers. The other pre-event worry – that the downforce/grip levels would be high enough that the drivers were flat-out all the way around – was...
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