$1 Million Challenge

$1 Million Challenge

Words and Images by Brandon J. O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

A lot has been written about the recent $1 Million Challenge held at The Thermal Club.  Much of it has had a negative slant regarding the format, the lack of points, etc.  I am not going to rehash any of this.

The Thermal Club is a private motorsports' enthusiast country club (read $$$$$) located about an hour east of Palm Springs.  The track is composed of three individual circuits that can be combined into one large course, three individual courses, or in-between. For the $1 Million Challenge, Indycar combined the "South Palm" (Red Curbing) and "North Palm" (Blue Curbing) courses. One course is considered "high speed" while the other is more "technical". The combined length was 3.067 miles and composed 17-turns.

Even though this is a dedicated racing circuit that has large run-off areas there is not a lot of room for passing. Also, being in the desert, sand can be and is an issue especially if the wind is blowing. There are two straights where the cars were able to get upwards of 160 mph before breaking for Turn-7s' double apex or Turn-15.

The trickiest part of the track appeared to be the transition between the Blue and Red track surfaces which had a marked bump that caused the cars to become unstable.

The four test sessions were treated as open test sessions so the teams could try anything they liked to set the car up for Thermal or any other situation they wanted to test for. Over 2,000+ laps were driven during the four test sessions. There were six rookie drivers and this track time was used by both these drivers and their teams to get used to the car and each other. The difference in lap times between the fastest and slowest cars varied by 2.3771 to 3.4679 seconds. Sting Ray Robb had the dubious honor of being slowest in all the test sessions. 

Stingray Robb in his #41 Pray.Com Dallara IR12 had the dubious honor of being slowest on all days.
Image Credit: 2024 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

Alex Palou, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong, and Alexander Rossi dominated the first two test sessions.  Callum Ilott, Alex Palou, and Christian Lundgaard had the best times for Session 3.  Christian Lundgaard, Will Power and Scott McLaughlin provided the quickest times in Session 4. This probably did not mean much since only the teams knew how they were setting the car up and testing for.

Two qualifying sessions were held.  Which session a driver was in was determined by a drawing.  Fourteen drivers qualified in the first session with the remaining thirteen drivers in the second session. The top six cars within each qualifying race proceeded to the $1 Million Challenge. 

Pace Lap for Heat 1 at The Thermal Club.
Image Credit: 2024 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

At the start of Heat Race 1 #9 Scott Dixon moved over into #77 Romain Grosjean punting him across the track where he collected #21 Rinus Veekay.  For the rest of the race the racing was clean with #60 Felix Rosenqvist leading from start to finish.

Felix Rosenqvist, Scott McLaughlin, Christian Lundgaard, Joseph Newgarden, Agustin Canapino, and Colton Herta qualified for the race from Group 1. 

Pace Lap for Heat 2 at The Thermal Club.
Image Credit: 2024 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

 

Heat Race 2 was led by #10 Alex Palou from start to finish.  With  Palou, Marcus Armstrong, Graham Rahal, Rookies Linus Lundqvist and Tom Blomqvist along with Pietro Fittipaldi made it into the Final.

The race was set up as a 20-lap main event with a 10-minute half-time break, no pit stops, and any laps under caution did not count. During the half-time break the teams were allowed to add fuel, change tire pressures, and make adjustments to the front and rear wings. Nothing else.

Alex Palou on his way to victory at the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club.
Image Credit: 2024 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

Alex Palou dominated the 20 laps from start to finish.  #15 Graham Rahal had throttle issues which forced him to retire.  Because tires were not allowed to be changed during the race #28 Colton Herta had a unique strategy where he was happy to cycle around the track in last place for the first half of the race about 8 seconds per lap slower than the leader.

#30 Pietro Fittipaldi was disqualified after the first half because the team failed to fully fuel his car at the start of the race.

Again, Palou dominated with the real racing going on between #3 Scott McLaughlin and #60 Felix Rosenqvist.  Graham Rahal, due to his tire strategy was able to move up into 4th place by the time 20-laps had been completed and the checkered flag was dropped.

#3 Scott McLaughlin was the 2nd place finisher at the $1 Million Challenge at The Thermal Club.
Image Credit: 2024 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

#60 Felix Rosenqvist placed 3nd at the $1 Million Challenge. 
Image Credit: 2024 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images 

Podium celebration at The Thermal Club.
Image Credit: 2024 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images

TAGS: Alex Palou, Brandon O'Brien, Chip Ganassi Racing, Motor Driven Images, The Thermal Club, Felix Rosenqvist, Scott McLaughlin, Stingray Robb, $1 Million Challenge