Round 3: Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, Barber Motorsports Park, April 26-28.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 3: Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix, Barber Motorsports Park, April 26-28

This Sunday's race will be the 14th running of the Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park, with the shadow of the disqualifications from St.Petersburg, hanging over the race weekend.

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History
Barber Motorsports Park is owned by George Barber, a successful businessman and accomplished driver, who raced Porsches in the 1960s and early '70s. He amassed a collection of motorcycles and after establishing a non-profit foundation in 1994, opened a museum displaying 325 motorcycles, plus some vintage cars. In 1998, he sold the family business and donated $54 million to the foundation in order to build a
new museum and a road course on which to run the collection.

In 2002, a 740 acre site east of Birmingham was chosen and a new museum was built, housing an expanded collection of 1,200 motorcycles, with up to 600 on display at any one time. It's been certified by Guinness as the largest museum of its type.

In October 2007, Barber Motorsports Park hosted a testing session for IndyCar, the success of which led to a full-field three-day testing session in March 2009. An open date became available on the 2010 season race calendar, with Barber Motorsports Park making a successful bid to hold the race over Cleveland (Burke Lakefront Airport), Houston, Baltimore, Nashville, Charlotte and Portland.

The first IndyCar race was held on April 11, 2010 and was won by Hélio Castroneves driving for Team Penske, in a Dallara IR05-Honda. Since then remaining a perennial on the IndyCar calendar.

In 2021, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Barber served as the season opener, swapping places with St.Petersburg, which traditionally had been the season opener since 2005.

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Some trivia:
Driver with most wins: 3.
Josef Newgarden: 2015, 2017, 2018.

Team with most wins: 7.
Team Penske: 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2023.

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Track
The road course was designed by South African race track designer Alan Wilson, with three layouts. The main circuit, which is a 15-turn, 2.370-mile (3.70 km) road course, the short circuit and the club circuit. The venue, opened in 2003 and has hosted Grand-Am, Vintage Racing Series events and AMA Superbike. It serves as the home of the Porsche Sport Driving School and the Kevin Schwantz Suzuki School.

One feature that stands out are the series of metal sculptures around the track. The large spider alongside Turns 5-6 has lead to this section of track being nicknamed 'Charlotte's Web', named after the book of the same title by American author E. B. White.

Track layout:


Length: 2.3 Miles (3.7 Km)

Turns: 15

Lap record:
Pato O'Ward, April 17, 2021, 1:05.5019, 126.409 Mph (203.4355657 Km/h),
Arrow McLaren SP,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6
NTT IndyCar Series.

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Last year's race:
https://www.indycar.com/news/2023/04...rber-nics-race

Pole:
Romain Grosjean,
Andretti Autosport,
Dallara IR18-Honda HI23TT Indy V6

Winner:
Scott McLaughlin,
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.

Laps: 90
Distance: 214.2 Miles (344.721 Km)
Race Time: 1:47:58.9401
Average Speed: 115.019 Mph (185.105 km/h)

Caution periods: 1
Laps: 3

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Practice and Qualifications:

Practice 1
Friday, Apr 26, 3:40 PM - 4:55 PM ET

Practice 2
Saturday, Apr 27, 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1
Saturday, Apr 27, 3:30 PM - 3:40 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2
Saturday, Apr 27, 3:55 PM - 4:05 PM ET

Qualifications - Round 2
Saturday, Apr 27, 4:20 PM - 4:30 PM ET

Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6
Saturday, Apr 27, 4:45 PM - 5:00 PM ET

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Race Broadcast:
Sunday, April 28,
NBC, 1:00pm ET, 5:00pm UTC.
Sky Sports F1, 6:00pm BST