A $5 million renovation of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course ahead of May's inaugural IndyCar Grand Prix of Indianapolis was completed on Tuesday, series officials announced.
The new layout for the 4km course, used for the track's former Formula One event and Moto GP races, features more hard-braking and high speed zones to create extra passing and competitive racing.
Sarah Fisher, an IndyCar team owner who made nine Indianapolis 500 starts on the facility's famed 4km oval, helped to finish the project on a two-seat paving machine on Tuesday.
"They are doing a really accurate job," Fisher said. "It's great to see that last little stretch of pavement going down on the new course."
She called it the slowest thing she has ridden at the speedway. Her Indy car could have done 336 laps of the new track before the paver had completed a single lap.
"It's operated by a joystick and no steering wheel, so I didn't know what to do," Fisher said. "You just don't push the stop button. You just have to keep going."
The new road course race will open the month of activities leading to next year's Indianapolis 500.
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