Romain Grosjean finished 16th in the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Presented by Gainbridge last Sunday at Nashville Superspeedway, the final race of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. But his racing season isn’t over.
Grosjean will drive the No. 63 Lamborghini SC63 prototype for Iron Lynx in this weekend’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.
“I’m excited,” Grosjean said. “I love Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I love (track president) Doug Boles. They’ve been looking after me so well.”
This is the second consecutive year the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has competed on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, with this year’s race expanding to a six-hour endurance event. All four classes will race, with Grosjean part of a three-driver effort for Iron Lynx in the GTP class – joining Italians Matteo Cairoli and Andrea Caldarelli. The six-hour race starts at 11:40 a.m. ET Sunday.
Sunday’s race is somewhat uncharted territory for Grosjean, who finished seventh during his only GTP start this season in the 12 Hours of Sebring in March. The team also finished 11th without Grosjean this summer at Watkins Glen, the only other GTP race for Iron Lynx in 2024.
The team, Grosjean included, also raced in the annual Rolex 24 At Daytona in January but raced in the GTD Pro class in a Lamborghini Huracan GT3.
Grosjean knows the team has limits and challenges facing its first season in GTP in IMSA competition, but the IMS track plays to the car’s strengths.
“Very good thing Indy doesn’t have many bumps because we’re not very good on the bumpy tracks,” Grosjean said. “That should play in our advantage.”
Grosjean, a veteran of three Indianapolis 500 starts with a best finish of 19th last May in his No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, has also competed seven times on the IMS road course. He finished runner-up in both races during his rookie NTT INDYCAR SERIES season in 2021.
Grosjean didn’t anticipate much of a driving style to translate from NTT INDYCAR SERIES machinery to a sports car, but the way the track reacts to temperature changes could spark another advantage.
This is true for any series racing on any configuration, oval or road course, at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A slight rise or drop in air temperature or even some cloud cover will drastically alter the way a race car handles around the track. Recognizing the weather aspect and being ahead of the what the conditions will do to a race car could help elevate the car’s performance.
“Indy is very specific with track temperatures, and there’s a point to where it starts going all too south,” he said. “I know that point, so that may help a little bit with the team.”
Being the only active NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver in the top class of IMSA this weekend at IMS could make Grosjean the “unofficial” ambassador this weekend, too. Residing in Florida, Grosjean considers any race at IMS as a “home game.”
When he moved from Europe to transition from Formula One to the NTT INDYCAR SERIES for the 2021 season, Grosjean lived at IMS.
“I was parking my bus here all the time,” he said. “I spent so much time here. I had the keys at one point. That was fantastic.”
Grosjean felt so much at home, he would work out in the gym in the Administration Building behind Turn 1 of the iconic oval. He recalled a funny moment when he tried to get into the building on a Sunday and set off the alarm.
“I know the security, most of the Yellow Shirts,” he said. “It’s a fantastic place. I’m glad I get to race here more than once in a year.”
Visit IMS.com for tickets and more information about the TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks.