IndyCar drivers give Belle Isle surface thumbs-up

Belle Isle's relatively smoother surface has received a provisional thumbs-up after the IndyCar field had its first taste of the re-ground track on Friday.

The Detroit circuit has long been notorious for its bumps and surface changes, and in recent years, for being temperamental – two years out of the past five have been marred by lengthy delays due to the surface breaking up

Since last year, some of the bumps on the back straight have been ironed out, and while Rahal Letterman Lanigan's Graham Rahal says that there are still plenty of bumps elsewhere, he believes that it's a definite improvement on the past.

"It's better," he said. "But it also makes me think that anywhere from Turn 11, the point of the island down [to] here is all concrete. That could have been ground, just like it is from the middle of Turn 13 to Turn 1.

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"They've done an amazing job. I can't even tell you how much better the back straight is. It's actually nice. It's nice to go back there, sort of get a breather, which wasn't the case last year.

"I know [promoter] Roger [Penske] spent a lot of his personal money and everything else. We can't ask too much of him. The guy has given so much to this sport for so many years. I don't think there's anybody else that would match his commitment. So we're not going to say much. It certainly isn't the smoothest place that we go to, for sure.

"[But] the braking into Turn 7 at the end of the very back straight over here is way better. I think that can help passing, too, because it is a lot smoother. You can certainly feel way more confident going in there."

Rahal's praise was echoed by Helio Castroneves, although the Brazilian claimed that there was nothing wrong with the track in the first place.

"They did a really good job of sanding out, not resurfacing, but sanding out the back straightaway," he said. "Completely different. [But] I liked the way it was. I don't know why they decided to change it. A lot of drivers complain. I told [Penske], "Don't listen to the drivers, they complain a lot.'"