The NTT INDYCAR series returns to the stunning privately owned Thermal Club in Southern California this weekend for round 2 of the 2025 championship season.
After last year’s million-dollar challenge event, this year’s is a full-on championship points race, resulting in a main race rather than the knockout series of sprint events we witnessed in 2024. It is also the first of six natural road courses the series visits this season.
So what’s in store for the Kiwis?
Looking back at round 1, held at St Petersburg (March 3rd NZ time), Scott McLaughlin took a fine pole position and finished the race in fourth. Scott Dixon completed the race second to teammate Palou.
He looked strong for the win if he had not had the radio issues with the team for that all-important final fuel stop. Marcus Armstrong showed much promise with his new MSR team and their alliance with the Ganassi squad, so all signs say that they should expect even more from the trio this week.
Armstrong’s teammate in 2025, Felix Rosenqvist, finished the event last year in third for Meyer Shank Racing, so they can definitely hustle around this place.
To the layout at the Thermal Club.
It is a 3.067-mile (4.82-km) raceway with 17 turns. The track layout consists of sweepers, tight corners, long straightaways, and elevation changes, providing a proper driving and engineering challenge to teams and drivers. The track surface, recently referred to as a “cheese grater,” will provide much interest with an entire race rather than a series of sprints, so expect that to come into play.
The surface tends to be very abrasive due to the dust that accumulates in the desert region of Southern California. With a race distance of 65 laps, the fuel load figures should last longer than the tyres, especially with the expected warm temperatures over the weekend.
The tyre allocation for the weekend gives the drivers six sets of the primary and four sets of the alternate to be used during the event weekend.
The teams must use one set of primary and one set of new (sticker) alternate tyres for at least two laps in the race, so this may impact the race strategy along the lines of what we saw in St Petersburg, where the tyre will control the race and pit stops.
What can we take from last year’s event? Not a lot because of the knockout sprint format. What we do know is that McLaughlin finished second in the main event, Dixon was right in there as well, getting tangled up and making contact at turn 1, and Armstrong was in amongst it most of the weekend, so it bolds well.
The objective for all three New Zealand drivers, and anyone else, for that matter, is to add to the points tally and get into the championship. Very soon, this season really heats up, and the races come thick and fast. Points on the board on a regular basis win titles in INDYCAR.
Header Image: Joe Skibinski | IMS Photo
