Changes to the Nashville IndyCar street circuit have been announced ahead of the second Music City Grand Prix, this August.
The most significant of them is said to be the movement of the restart zone, which was last year located at the finish line, in front of Nissan Stadium.
It will now be situated on the long, slightly curved run between the Korean Veterans Bridge (KVB) and the Turn 9 left-hander, where the start was held last year.
According to organisers, the change “should provide cleaner restarts and more immediate passing opportunities.”
Other modifications to the 2.17-mile (3.49km) circuit, per Music City Grand Prix’s announcement, are:
- Transition areas at both ends of the KVB being smoothed as much as possible to reduce the potential of the cars bottoming coming on and off the bridge.
- Resurfacing at the Turn 5 apex to “minimise” the bump
- Track width into Turn 9 being reduced to 50 feet (15.3m) to accommodate additional suites in a primary viewing area
- Turn 11 (final corner) apex being opened approximately six feet (1.8m) to increase the track width and provide better vision for drivers
IndyCar raced at Nashville Superspeedway from 2001 to 2008, before returning to the Tennessee city last year.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson won a chaotic, first street race in Music City from 18th on the grid, while pole-sitter Colton Herta crashed his Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian entry out of second position on Lap 75 of 80.
The 2022 Nashville event takes place on August 5-7 (local time), with that race and all others to be streamed live and ad-free on Stan Sport.
In the meantime, the IndyCar field will test at Indianapolis this week, and race at Barber Motorsports Park at the turn of the month.
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