Laguna's new surface wearing in and feeling like the old days again

IndyCar drivers were relatively pleased with the performance and durability of Firestone’s primary and alternate tire compounds on Friday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Colton Herta, a two-time winner of the event, said tire degradation was noticeable, but pointed to the 11-turn road course as the culprit. Having received a complete repave for the 2023 season, Herta and Arrow McLaren rival Christian Lundgaard believe the once-new surface is starting to degrade and behave like the former surface which was notorious for causing high wear as tires slid across the tarmac.

“It's looking a little bit more like older Laguna Seca, which I like,” the 2019 and 2021 winner said. “I think it opens up the passing a lot more, and the raceability of the racetrack is going to be a lot better. It seems like there's more deg than previous years by a good chunk, but it's nowhere near the extent of what a 2019 or 2022 race would have been like here. Blacks (primaries), Reds (alternates), it feels very normal to me, like the pickup on grip and how they are reacting, so there's nothing new to report on that.”

Lundgaard concurred.

“Yeah, I honestly think I agree,” he said. “My first race here was in 2022, and that was the last year with the old pavement, and I do feel like we're seeing more similarities to that. I do feel like the tires feel pretty normal. There's just more degradation.

“I feel like it's a lot lower grip this year than it was last year, and I think we saw a lot more mistakes from drivers due to that. A lot of us are going to make mistakes this weekend because we are trying to squeeze everything out of it, and it seems to be a little bit lower grip and just more penalizing this year.”