By Patrick Stephan
Good morning race fans, this is Patrick Stephan and I will be handling TSO’s coverage of both Indy Lights presented by Cooper Tires and the Verizon IndyCar Series this weekend.
Having just arrived at the track a little bit ago, I’ll go ahead and just start off our TSOLadder.com coverage with today’s schedule and the weather.
You know you are in Phoenix when… (Photo courtesy of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC Photography)
Heck, let’s go with the weather first. As of 9am local time, we are basking in beautiful sunshine and 60 degree temperatures on our way to a forecasted high of 80 degrees. Tomorrow is expected to be a bit warmer, with temperatures in the mid 80’s, but all in all pretty dang nice.
Note that the wind is currently blowing down from down the frontstetch and perhaps a bit toward one. That will pin the nose of the cars at the exit of Turn 2, and be a crosswind at the entry of Turn 1. Yep, that’ll make things a bit tricky on an already tricky 1-mile oval here in Arizona.
Ok, today’s Indy Lights schedule is pretty straightforward.
Practice starts at 9am Mountain Standard Time (NOTE – NOT Daylight Time – they didn’t change their clocks here – so Arizona is currently the same time as Pacific Daylight). Said another way, Phoenix and Los Angeles are in the same time zone now. Phoenix and Denver – are NOT! OR – Phoenix is 3 hours behind New York!
Practice #1 – 9:00am – 9:45am
Practice #2 – 1:00pm – 1:45pm
Autograph Session – 3:00pm – 3:30pm
Qualifying – 4:30pm – 5:15pm
