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IndyCar will hold its pre-season Open Test at The Thermal Club, a country club-style circuit located in California.
The North American open-wheel category has announced that there will be three Open Tests in 2023, in pre-season on February 2-3, then for the Indianapolis 500 on April 20-21, and a one-day affair at Laguna Seca on September 7.
For the stop at The Thermal Club, the facility’s North Palm and South Palm circuits will be combined to create a 17-turn, 2.9mi (4.6km) layout.
“We liken this to a pre-season scrimmage,” said IndyCar President Jay Frye.
“The teams will be doing everything it takes to prepare for a run at the 2023 championship at a new and unique backdrop for the NTT IndyCar Series.
“The facility is spectacular, and I know everyone at The Thermal Club cannot wait to welcome our paddock.”
The Thermal Club includes luxury homes, a ‘motorsports village’, and gourmet restaurants, and was named in 2017 as the ‘Motorsport Facility of the Year’ at the Professional Motorsports World Expo, an honour which would go to The Bend in 2019.
The Californian venue’s owner, John Rogers, said, “For us, it means every IndyCar fan is going to get an inside look at the best cars in the world on what we think is the best track in the world.
“It’s a wonderful thing, and we’re very happy it’s worked out with IndyCar and Thermal.”
The Indy 500 Open Test takes place on the same dates as it did this year, while the Laguna Seca Open Test essentially turns the final event of the season into a four-day affair given race day is Sunday, September 10.
It too will be an important hit-out considering Laguna Seca will have been resurfaced by then, after torturing tyres this year.
IndyCar’s testing announcement follows the recent release of the 2023 racing calendar, with the season to open on the street of St Petersburg on the weekend of Sunday, March 5.
