IndyCar’s announcement earlier this week of inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington set for 2026 has introduced a excessive stage of widespread anticipation, with the road circuit structure additionally getting everybody’s consideration.
A collaborative effort between Penske Leisure, the Dallas Cowboys, and REV Leisure, the official occasions companion of the Texas Rangers, the IndyCar Collection will return to the Lone Star State following a two-year absence in 2024-25. North America’s premier open-wheel championship beforehand ran at Texas Motor Speedway, primarily based close by in Fort Price, from 1997-2023.
Whereas the collective group of companions will play a major half in elevating the occasion to heights the game is striving for, the primary attraction nonetheless stays on monitor with the 14-turn, 2.73-mile avenue circuit. For reference, the longest avenue circuit the sequence raced on this previous season was the 1.968-mile structure in Lengthy Seashore.
The total unveiling of the monitor structure happened on Tuesday at Texas Dwell!, an leisure middle situated between AT&T Stadium, residence of the Cowboys, and Globe Life Subject, residence of the Rangers.
The circuit, which was designed by IndyCar’s longtime avenue monitor architect Tony Cotman, definitely raised loads of eyebrows with a contemporary circulate that rivals that of Method 1’s Miami Grand Prix, which wraps across the stadium of the Miami Dolphins.
Arlington Grand Prix monitor map
Photograph by: Penske Leisure
The Arlington avenue course incorporates a straightaway that extends .9-mile, which is prone to see drivers push over 180 mph earlier than being challenged with an attractive braking earlier than a hard-braking level of a right-hander in Flip 10. There are different apparent passing zones in Flip 1, Flip 12 and Flip 14, whereas additionally presenting a singular “horseshoe” carousel that makes up Flip 6. A double-sided pit lane, related to what’s at present used for the Detroit avenue race, may even be highlighted. Moreover, the monitor will go beneath hospitality and suites in two completely different areas.
Group Penske’s Josef Newgarden was amongst these in attendance on the unveiling in Arlington, together with Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou and AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci.
Arlington Grand Prix monitor map
Photograph by: Penske Leisure
Newgarden, the two-time defending winner of the Indianapolis 500 and a two-time IndyCar Collection champion, shared his ideas on the monitor and what sort of racing could possibly be anticipated.
“Yeah, it’s sort of received every little thing,” Newgarden advised Motorsport.com. “It’s received the everyday low-speed sections that you’d discover on a avenue course, however then it has some complicated double apex corners that sort of wrap across the stadium seating, in order that shall be actually distinctive for followers. It’s received one fairly high-speed nook that leads onto the longest straight. After which the straightaways are very lengthy, so I feel understanding effectivity with downforce goes to be a subject right here that’s not essentially a subject on different avenue circuits. So, that could possibly be an attention-grabbing factor.
“How are you going to remain out entrance should you’re main this factor? I feel you’re going to be uncovered round a monitor like this. So, it could possibly be very entertaining to observe. It could possibly be a draft fest on that lengthy straightaway. So yeah, that’s what you’re going to be coping with and we’ll determine it out as we do.”
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