KO qualifying for Road/Street courses.

[Placid]

From USA today. They have announced an F1 style qualifying format for road and street courses. There will be a 4 rounds of qualifying. Since there are 26 cars on the field, they will divide the grid in 2 groups.

Q1 will have Group 1 - 20 minutes
Q2 will have Group 2 - 20 minutes
The fastest 6 in each group will head to Q3 - 15 minutes
And the fastest 6 will head to Q4 for the Superpole - 10 minutes.
(Note:Any driver causes a red flag will lose 2 fastest laps.)

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/irl/2008-04-01-qualifying-format_N.htm

Get Road/street course standing starts and I will be impressed.

[ShiftingGears]

why?

[garyshell]

The whole Group 1 and Group 2 thing is STUPID at best. I agree with Starter, session one should be ALL cars. Session 2 the fastest 12 from session 1. Session 3 the fastest 6.

Gary

[electron]

two groups in Q1 = less bitching about blockers.
if the conditions differ it will not matter since the times are worth nothing, only the place in each group brings you to Q2.
fine with me since this format was the best invention in F1 I have seen in a long time.

[Lousada]

Whatever happened to one hour-12 laps :s

[Dr. Krogshöj]

Whatever happened to one hour-12 laps :s

Fortunately it was dumped because it was too dull.

I think this is a positive move. I think F1 qualifying sessions have been very interesting since 2006 when they adopted this format. I think the concept was originally developed by DTM.

[F1boat]

April the 1st...

[BobGarage]

story confirmed at indycar.com:-

http://www4.indycar.com/news/index.php?story_id=10848

[SarahFan]

I hate it!

the fast guys get more track time....that's bogus.....and the really fast guys get even more!

all it does is further seperate the haves from the haves not...


I happen to love single car qualifying......

my suggestion (and i have been been saying it for years)...

put all the cars in there pit stalls.....put the drivers in there cars.....then you have all there #'s drawn randomly....

Car # 6 pops out first....you start the car and send them out...an out lap...two hot laps and an in lap...

you draw the next #....and send that driver out...

equal for everybody....sure the last guy gets a bit more rubber....but he also had to sit in his car waiting and waiting to out.....and then weather is luck of the draw....sometimes its warmer sometimes it's colder sometimes it rains.....deal with it


plus I hate sitting in the stands during qualifying and not being able to hear whats happening becuase there are so many cars on track...

sure that last 2 minutes is exciteing.....but save it for the race....were talking qualifying....it's different


anyhow....just my 2 cents...and probably worth less

[garyshell]

two groups in Q1 = less bitching about blockers.
if the conditions differ it will not matter since the times are worth nothing, only the place in each group brings you to Q2.
fine with me since this format was the best invention in F1 I have seen in a long time.


But it is NOT how F1 does it. In F1 everyone goes on track in the first session.

Gary

[bblocker68]

I'm all for it, BUT, I wish it was televised. I really dont like the idea of plopping down more money for IndyCar's version of Race Director to be able to watch it.

[garyshell]

I'm all for it, BUT, I wish it was televised. I really dont like the idea of plopping down more money for IndyCar's version of Race Director to be able to watch it.


I don't think you have to. Last week there was a free live feed.

Gary

[bblocker68]

You're right! It was that whitebox link, right??

[nigelred5]

I hate it!

the fast guys get more track time....that's bogus.....and the really fast guys get even more!

all it does is further seperate the haves from the haves not...


I happen to love single car qualifying......


.....plus I hate sitting in the stands during qualifying and not being able to hear whats happening becuase there are so many cars on track...



Headphones + scanner+ race control frequency = no problems hearing "who's on first" :)

Single car quallys on road courses are generally boring as He!!, that's why F1, Champcar and now Indycar have gone to some form of a knockout system for the fans at the track and on TV when it's actually on. I agree though on ovals, single car qualifying is the only way to go.

The schedule is pretty tight with ALMS racing this weekend, but I'm not sure why time is so much of a problem otherwise.

[garyshell]

You're right! It was that whitebox link, right??


Yes. And it was available on the main page, by clicking on "multimedia" and the "watch live". That link now goes to a Race Director advert. But during qualifying and the race it went to a live feed with timing and scoring. It was a single camera so as to differentiate itself from the Race Director feed.

Gary

[bblocker68]

Sweet! Thanks Gary.

[pitwall3]

IMHO they should start looking at what the fans who paid good money to go to a 3 day race weekend to ensure that they get value for their dollars. They come to see their favorite driver on the track in both practice sessions and qualifying. That driver may not be in the top six. They sure as hell won't with this format.

[garyshell]

The folks at Jalopnik call "copycat" on this idea too.

http://jalopnik.com/375277/indycar-league-makes-play-for-relevance-with-f1+style-qualification

Gary

[!!WALDO!!]

IMHO they should start looking at what the fans who paid good money to go to a 3 day race weekend to ensure that they get value for their dollars. They come to see their favorite driver on the track in both practice sessions and qualifying. That driver may not be in the top six. They sure as hell won't with this format.

Yes, something new. Thinking of the majority rather than the minority. Think of economics of the ticket buyer, rather than think of themselves and not attending. pitwall3 is correct.

I do not like anything that limits the number of competitors or the number of competitors that will be on the track other than splitting the field based on just the numbers and not practice times.

Me, I would break the session into two 30 minute sessions and do that for 2 hours, take the fastest 3 of each session and give them 15 minutes to qualify. Fastest gets the pole.

Remember, this is not televised so the simplier the better. Of course it could be anywhere from 6 cars to 12 cars in that final session.

[call_me_andrew]

I would prefer a system closer to what NASCAR has been doing the Nationwide Series road course qualifying. Put all the cars into four groups of six cars arranged by practice speed. The slowest cars go out first, and the fastest cars go last. If it rains at the start of qualifying: no big deal. If it rains in the middle of qualifying: that makes things interesting.

[F1boat]

OMFG! It's true! Well, seems cool! :)