LEBANON, Tenn. — In his fourth oval race of his NTT IndyCar Series career, Mick Schumacher went fourth fastest in final practice ahead of Sunday’s (July 19) Music City Grand Prix at Nashville Superspeedway.
The Swiss-born German went around the 1.33-mile oval with a best lap of 24.2407 seconds, averaging 193.064 mph. That lap was .0878 seconds slower than the session-best lap of David Malukas’ at 24.1529 seconds and 193.766 mph.
“I think we were in a nice ballpark for us,” Schumacher said after practice. “Once we put on the new tire, I just felt a little bit better. I’ve got to see what we can do for tomorrow. You know, obviously it’s hard to overtake here, especially once the high line doesn’t work anymore. But nonetheless, it’s been fun today and hopefully will be very fun tomorrow.”
Schumacher qualified 16th out of 25 cars for the 300-lap race and has seemingly adapted well to competing on ovals. After racing on road courses and street circuits around the world in Formula 1 and in sports cars, the 2020 Formula 2 Champion has adapted well to turning left and is enjoying it, too.
“It’s one of those tracks actually that, for some reason, I mean not only here, but the short ovals and the ovals are something that I really enjoy,” Schumacher said. “You know, I thought it was going to take me a bit longer to get comfortable, but I feel pretty comfortable quickly, and I think that’s a positive.
“You know, [IndyCar]’s I think the only category in motorsport that you have so many different disciplines that you have to know how to race on. I mean, this is a really fast short oval and it’s very different to like what Phoenix, Gateway, all these other tracks are like, even Milwaukee. So it always takes adjusting, and you can see that the people who’ve got like over 20 years of experience to come out here, and they’re very quickly comfortable. And to be able to be up there with them even though it’s my first year, I think that it’s a big achievement.”
Schumacher qualified fourth for his first oval race at Phoenix in March and was the highest finishing rookie at this year’s Indianapolis 500, helping him garner Rookie of the Year honors.
Christopher DeHarde has covered IndyCar racing and the Road to Indy for various outlets since 2014. In addition to open wheel racing, DeHarde has also covered IMSA and various short track racing events around Indiana. Originally from New Orleans, DeHarde moved to the Indianapolis area in 2017 to further pursue a career as a motorsports writer.