THERMAL, Calif. (AP) — IndyCar’s exhibition Thermal $1 million Challenge got off to a rocky start Sunday when Romain Grosjean was crashed on the opening lap of the first heat race and fumed about the cost of the damage for his small team.
“I mean, who is going to pay for the damage? We come here with no points on the line and do nothing wrong and the car is completely smashed,” Grosjean said after walking from his crashed car along the private, members-only road course back to pit road.
“It’s not what I signed (up for) with IndyCar.”
The second heat race was uneventful.
IndyCar’s first non-points race since 2008 is filling a hole in IndyCar’s early-season schedule and actually only pays $500,000 because the Thermal Club members shied away from participating in the event with a matching buy-in. Club members instead were randomly paired with teams for an embedded weekend experience with an IndyCar organization.
The event is designed to be like an all-star race and has a unique format in which only 12 drivers participate in the main event. The dozen all-stars advanced into the “A Main” by finishing in the top six of one of two heat races. The heat races were 10 laps, or 20 minutes, whichever comes first.
It went awry moments after the first heat began on the 17-turn, 3.067-mile raceway when Scott Dixon ran into the back of Grosjean, causing Grosjean to spin into Rinus VeeKay, who clipped Christian Lundgaard. Dixon was given an avoidable contact penalty as Grosjean, who moved to IndyCar from Formula 1, seethed.
Grosjean is in his first season with Juncos Hollinger Racing — the third team in four years for Grosjean — and the tiny organization doesn’t have the same operating budget as the top IndyCar teams. JHR was boosted, though, when Agustín Canapino advanced into the race that pays through the first heat.
Felix Rosenqvist won the first heat from the pole in the eight laps he was able to complete in the allotted time. Also moving out of the first heat were Team Penske teammates Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, Lundgaard, Canapino and Colton Herta.
Nolan Siegel, a 19-year-old making his IndyCar debut, just missed the final transfer spot by finishing seventh in the heat. Because it is a non-points event, Siegel won’t be credited with starting an IndyCar race. Also eliminated in the first heat were Dixon and Will Power, who had to go wide off course to avoid the first-lap accident.
Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou won the second heat, which went the full 10 laps in just under 17 minutes, from the pole. His Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Marcus Armstrong and Linus Lundqvist both also advanced. Lundqvist is the only rookie in the main event as Ganassi and Rahal Letterman Lanigan were the only team to land three cars in the final.
Christian Fittipaldi and Alexander Rossi claimed the final two spots. Rossi had to hold off his Arrow McLaren Racing teammate Pato O’Ward for the last transfer spot. Also missing out was Callum Ilott, in his last scheduled start for McLaren, Ganassi rookie Kyffin Simpson, and Marcus Ericsson, who crashed in Saturday qualifying.
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