New 2008 IRL Qualification Rules

[DanicaRules]

Well, it appears that the IRL will have new qualification rules for this coming year on oval tracks. There are 11 oval races in the schedule this year.

They will go to a 4 lap qualification attempt and the average speed of those laps will determine the starting grid. This is the way the 500 is. They will get 1 attempt.

The previous qualification attemps on ovals(other than Indy500) were that there 1 lap speed determined their starting position. They were allowed a max of 2 laps, if 2 were used, the fastest lap becomes their starting position.

All road and street course qualifications will remain the same. 1 lap speed along with the Firestone Fast 6.

Going to be interesting. I think it may make the qualifications a little more exciting but it will remain to be seen.

[DanicaRules]

Well, it looks I will have to re-emerge this thread. The qualification rules will be changing for road and street courses, starting with St. Petersburg this weekend. The reason for the change is due to the increase of cars since the merger. The new format is as follows...

Qualifying will begin with a random division of the 26 drivers into groups of 13 for two 20-minute time trials. The top six from each session will advance to a combined grouping that lasts 15 minutes. The fastest six from that will battle in a final 10-minute session that will determine pole position and the first three starting rows. All 26 cars are guaranteed spots.

Under the old rules, they held single-car qualifying, then grouped the top six into a pole shootout(Firestone Fast 6).

[KillerNut]

Is it me or does it sound like they are going to more of an F1 style of qualification?

I am a fan of it, I wish I could watch it, and I can't say that about indy qualification often.

Is it Saturday? And do you think they will have it on the website?

[DanicaRules]

Is it me or does it sound like they are going to more of an F1 style of qualification?

I am a fan of it, I wish I could watch it, and I can't say that about indy qualification often.

Is it Saturday? And do you think they will have it on the website?
It is similiar to F1 qualifying but everyone on the track is running hot laps. (sorry, had to get that in there.);):D

The change is due to the number of cars now after the merger. It would take too long to do it the way they have been with 1 car at a time. This is only on road/street courses too, remember.

Yes, qualifications are Saturday the 5th at 10:55-12:25 eastern.

[DanicaRules]

Here is a more detailed breakdown of the new road/street course qualifications.

Segment 1: Begins Saturday afternoons with the same two groups competing for 20 minutes each. The fastest six cars from each group advance to another round of qualifying. The remaining cars will set positions 13 down on the starting grid based on fastest lap time.

Segment 2: The 12 advancing cars enter a 15-minute group qualifying session with all previous times voided. Following that session, the fastest six cars will advance to the Firestone Fast Six. The remaining six cars will fill positions 7-12 on the starting grid based on their fastest laps from that session.

Segment 3: Once again, all times will be erased and the six finalists will battle for 10 minutes with the PEAK Motor Oil Pole Award as the prize based on lap time. It also sets the remainder of the first three rows. There will be a 10-minute break between the final two segments, and each participant will receive an extra set of Firestone Firehawks.

[EIR Loe.307]

Ya, that sounds pretty much F1 style. It's a fairly good quali. style though.