Following on from its debut at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, PREMA Racing and its drivers, Robert Shwartzman and Callum Ilott, head to the Thermal Club for the inaugural championship race at the California venue.
The 4.82-kilometre road course features sequences of long corners with several decent-length straights. It is the first traditional road circuit on the calendar.
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES hosted a non-points event back in 2024 at Thermal, in which Ilott took part in, but otherwise the location is a relatively fresh challenge for the entire grid having been used for testing since 2022.
Last year’s event featured split grids over shorter race distances without pitstops. Therefore, there are many unknowns for this year’s running, including around how strategy will play a part in the outcome of the race and the influence of mid-race cautions around that.
PREMA Racing has some experience around Thermal, having tested there in early March with its two Chevrolet-powered Dallara cars as part of its preparation for its entry into the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.
Piers Phillips - CEO, PREMA Racing INDYCAR
“We look forward to our return to the Thermal Club following our first race of the season. We learned a lot in St. Petersburg, where we were able to put in a solid enough effort to finish on the lead lap with both cars, but we know that there will be many different challenges ahead. This venue is pretty new for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES paddock and that puts our inexperience at less of a disadvantage this weekend. However, our objective remains to continue to learn and to build up our knowledge as we become more comfortable with the series.”