Ready your engines folks, because the Grand Prix has begun and day one started off explosively.
The Grand Prix held two practice laps for the qualifiers but also held some practice rounds for the NTT Indycar Series, the Historic Indy Car Challenge, and the Stadium Super Trucks.
Guests were able to witness racers and the pit crews adjust the vehicles at lightning-like speeds while the pit crews and racers adjusted their cars to make sure they ran nice and smooth.
Felix Rosenqvist, new member to team Meyer Shank Racing and driver for number 60, was asked what he brought to the team during a press conference.
Rosenqvist stated “I think it goes both ways I think they’ve taught me a lot obviously, I’ve brought some stuff to them.. I’ve been with two big teams before there’s some good bits you can bring.”
During day one of the Grand Prix the focus was on 3 main events, the GT America qualifiers, the IMSA qualifiers, and the Formula Drift Super Drift Challenge competition.
The crowd favorite was the Super drift competition held at the end of the night, hosted by Formula Drift, where eight racers battled it out.
The super drift event was so popular that guests filled the stands at every turn on the track, even filling up walkways to where it was difficult to move just a couple feet.
The Super Drift event was won by Forrest Wang with the runner up being Rome Charpentier.
Prior to the Drift event the GT America qualifiers took place followed by the IMSA qualifying race.
The GT America qualifier is a 40-minute sprint race that features Audi, Aston Martin, Porsche, Ford, McLaren, and Toyota.
Johnny O’Connell claimed pole in GT America with a best lap of 1:19:670 where he outpaced James Sofronas by 0.269 seconds.
The IMSA qualifiers finished up with Pipo Derani qualifying with the fastest lap at 1:11:338 getting him his third consecutive pole.
Compared to last year’s Filipe Albuquerque’s pole time, Derani was nearly 1.5s off from last year’s time.
“We knew how important it was to be on pole here for this race… we can swap the nose but a race here is always important to start on pole so I’m happy with that,” Derani told NBC sports in reference to him running into the barriers.
The first day of the Grand Prix had more than just races. Multiple food stalls and shop stalls were available for guests to attend, guests also had the ability to visit the Super Drift Paddock or many of the other things happening at the Lifestyle Expo.
LBCC even had their own mini CTE expo, as well as the Culinary program running their own food truck, accessible to the public.
Activities such as aura reading, cornhole to win some tortilla chips, and buying some hot wheels or miniature car models were available at the Lifestyle expo.
The expo also featured a family fun zone where children could get on some rides and jump on a Cars themed jumper that was located next to the Super Drift Paddock.
Tickets for the Grand Prix are still available for Sunday so hurry and race to the track to watch some tires burn and eat some of the culinary programs’ food.
