IndyCar can cope with the problem of its pit lanes becoming increasingly tight when its grid grows again next year, says president Jay Frye.
However he said the series may have to set a cap on the amount of entrants if its full time grid continues to rise.
The introduction of Prema next year will boost the total number of regular entries from 27 to 29. While the Indianapolis Motor Speedway can accommodate the 33 cars which start the Indy 500, most sites IndyCar visits have far shorter pit lanes.
However Frye is convinced the series can manage with the logistical difficulties. “We’ve talked about it before,” he said. “There’s problems now with some of the places we go to, right?
“It’s something we’ve got to evaluate, look at going forward. Certainly a problem, but a really wonderful problem to have, and something we’ll sort out.”
The series’ most cramped pit lanes include those at the Mid-Ohio road course and its street circuits in Toronto and Detroit. The latter, which the series employed for the first time last year, boasts a revolutionary two-lane pit structure (shown).
The entrance of Prema is also likely to heighten competition for workers among IndyCar teams. “Like… the car count, it’s a problem, but it’s a great problem to have,” Frye conceded.
“We have tried to do things like last year we set up a job portal to help the teams do [recruitment]. There have been a lot of teams that have used that portal. “We are jointly, as a group, working with the paddock to recruit new and young talent coming into the sport. It’s a terrific chance for a lot of young people right now to come into the sport at a time when it’s expanding quickly.
“Again, it’s a problem, it’s a good problem, one we’re all addressing together. I think we’ll get through it.”
The advent of Prema, which has won many championships in series such as Formula 2 and Formula 3, illustrates the attractiveness of IndyCar to new challengers, added Frye.
“It’s amazing. You think about the rolling five-year strategy we launched in 2017. One of the goals was to recruit new and elite race teams and owners, that type of thing. Obviously [Prema have] 80 championships in 40 years, that’s quite remarkable.
“We’re certainly thrilled to have them. We’ve been chatting with them for the last six, eight months. We worked on the plan, let them see what it looks like going forward. We’re incredibly delighted to have them.”
