Drivers mostly pleased with tweak to St. Pete Turn 3

After a day of running on the reconfigured Turn 3 section at St. Petersburg, Verizon IndyCar Series drivers offered a modicum of praise for the slower passage. Blasting through the fast right-hand corner was never an issue for the high-downforce Indy cars, but with the smaller Mazda Road to Indy cars (pictured) and the Pirelli World Challenge cars being thrown around by the increasingly troublesome bumps in the turn, the race promoter stepped in to help.

"They have more racing series than us, so we have to be conscious of what they need, and that's why they did it," said Team Penske's Josef Newgarden. "Without using the original configuration, it's hard to come up with something better through there."

The new, narrow entry appears to have achieved its desired effect for the low-downforce cars, and despite having no need for the reconfigured corner, most Chevy- and Honda-powered IndyCar drivers have come to accept the need for the alteration.

"I hate disrupting a really good track but considering the short amount of time they had to work with they did a hell of a job," said Chip Ganassi Racing's Scott Dixon, who topped Friday's time charts. "And it adds a new dimension – you just want to make sure to get there first. The additions with the resealing they've done is really good. It definitely changed the track a lot; it's not ideal, but it's what we've got."

"The new pavement is fun," added Dixon's CGR teammate Charlie Kimball. Local resident Sebastien Bourdais said "It's the best we could come up with; it's hot and it's still pretty quick."

On the topic of whether the first lap of Sunday's Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg would see a bottleneck – and potential collisions – arise when 21 drivers arrive at Turn 3, opinions varied.

"It will be tough getting through there; the problem is the entry wall on the left next to the sidewalk leads you to the apex," Kimball said. And will the new Turn 3 force the field to go through single file?

"It's definitely not two-wide," Dixon declared. "It's really hard to pull out of a passing move there. It's going to catch someone out for sure."

"Maybe," said Newgarden. It's too early to judge, but it's not ideal; it's very tight."

Bourdais believes sane driving could be the answer to the single-file question.

"There's no room for error, but you can go two-wide, and the guy on the outside will be fine if both people act sensible."

The better question to ask is whether the Dale Coyne Racing driver would actually be willing to try a two-wide maneuver on Sunday...