Alex Palou makes his debut in a new discipline this weekend: the three-time IndyCar champion prepares for the start of the Indianapolis 8 Hours in a Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo sports car from the Lone Star Racing team.
On the one hand, he hasn’t driven a vehicle in this class for a long time – since 2019, when he competed in Japan’s Super GT series. On the other hand, he is very familiar with the road circuit, built on the territory of the famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway, having won IndyCar stages there twice. And now he will give his best in the GT World Challenge America series race.
“It’s very different from what I’m used to,” Sportscar365 quoted Palou. – For example, the hardest part was getting used to the visibility features. Moreover, the sensation in terms of speed and cornering is completely different than with an IndyCar car, so you cannot conquer some parts of the circle at full speed, while in IndyCar we go through it almost without delay.
But I agree, this is a good experience too. During training we completed a certain number of laps, although, as always during training, we had to solve some problems, but overall everything was great.
In an IndyCar you enter a corner while braking, but that is not possible here, because sports cars generate minimal downforce, and on top of that these cars have ABS systems, and on top of that they are heavy. Not only is there no downforce, but the level of mechanical grip is also much lower, so we can’t go around corners without slowing down…”
But in general, Palou is far from new to endurance sports, as he took part in the 24-hour marathons of Daytona and Le Mans, but behind the wheel of a Cadillac V-Series.R, that is, a car in the more powerful GTP/Hypercar category.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
