Charlotte Motor Speedway: The Road Course that thinks it's a Street Circuit.

With a ninth place finish in the IMSA Acura SportsCar Challenge at Mid Ohio Sports Car Course, Gradient Racing secured its fourth Top-10 of the season but, more significantly, showed an increased level of pace and competitiveness throughout the two hour forty minute race.

Photo courtesy of the Hi-Tech Hikers Channel on Youtube.

Photo courtesy of the Hi-Tech Hikers Channel on Youtube.

With extremely limited in-season testing, it has been a challenge to make significant gains at each track without historic setup information and data. Round Six of the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Series will, in some respects, eliminate that issue as the 2.28 mile infield road course at North Carolina’s Charlotte Motor Speedway will be a brand new test for all of the GTD competitors.

The IMSA teams were given the chance to test there last month in order to help the series’ tire supplier, Michelin, collect valuable mileage and load data from all of the GTD models on the seventeen turn ‘roval’ layout. 

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Both Gradient Racing drivers, Marc Miller and Till Bechtolsheimer, had time in the Unit Nutrition Acura NSX GT3 Evo at the test and were able to gather invaluable experience and data prior to Saturday’s one hour, forty race under the lights.  

Charlotte Motor Speedway’s ‘roval’ course is similar to Daytona International Speedway’s road course insofar as both layouts utilise significant sections of their high-speed banking but that is where the similarities end, as Marc Miller explains. 

“The roval is a relatively short lap with times under the 1:20 second mark.” The driver from Holland, Michigan, went on to describe the unique challenge of the track. “Unlike Daytona, where the infield is not really confined with walls, Charlotte has containment barriers in every corner with little to no room for run-off, making it more like a temporary street circuit than a typical road course.”

Miller believes that strategy and track position could be key as there could be numerous caution periods during the race. “Visibility is quite low there, so if something happens ahead of you you have little time to react. Watch for potential chain reactions during the race!”

Despite this being categorized as a ‘Sprint’ event, Miller believes it will present its own particular physical and mental challenges. “The lack of visibility or any real straights means that there will be little if any time to relax and the drivers concentration levels will be at the maximum throughout each stint.”

Team Manager, Andris Laivins, believes last month’s Michelin Tire test will be crucial for the GTD runners. “Before you visit Charlotte, the track doesn’t seem super complicated, but having now tested there, I’d say any team who is figuring it out this week is going to be at a big disadvantage.  There are a lot of pavement transitions, curbs, walls, and sight-lines that took our guys a while to figure out.” 

The weekend at Charlotte also includes NASCAR’s Sprint Cup and Xfinity Series categories creating additional challenges for Laivins and his Austin-based team. “Sharing the weekend with NASCAR means it’s a very compressed schedule, so you have to hit the ground running and I expect the track to change a lot once those guys put some rubber down, compared to our test.  All that said, I checked the weather this week and it looks like we may have rain Saturday, which will make this thing even more crazy.  Qualifying in the front half, and staying out of trouble with all the walls are going to be the two biggest factors, since passing will be tough and there will definitely be some contact.”

Round 6 of the IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Cup, the Motul 100% Synthetic Grand Prix, takes place at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, October 3rd at 8:10pm ET. Coverage of the event is available via NBC TV, IMSA.TV for International viewers without a TV broadcaster, IMSA Radio and via Satellite Radio on Sirius 216 and XM 210 in the USA. For full event coverage please follow Gradient Racing on Twitter at @GradientRacing, on Instagram at @gradientracing and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GradientRacing/.

Declan Brennan