IndyCar has settled its starting format for this year's doubleheader rounds at Detroit, Toronto and Houston, but race director Beaux Barfield says he will consider possible radical adjustments for 2014, including a reversal of the grid order for the second race.
“For the sake of what we'll try to achieve with the doubleheaders, I want to do something to set the two races apart, to give them the potential to look different without being arbitrary in doing so,” Barfield told this week's AUTOSPORT magazine. “One item that I had in mind is a kind of inversion of the field on day two. This year we decided to be conservative and go with the open qualifying session."
Barfield indicated his preference would be for a full grid reversal based on championship points, to minimize the potential impact on the championship battle.
“Inverting the field based on points would leave you racing with the people you ‘should' be racing near, or at least that you are contending with in a championship scenario,” he said.
Barfield noted, however, that there will be no decisions made about a revision of the starting rules until later in the year, after this season's “conservative” approach is evaluated.