The 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix weekend is just around the corner. Ahead of the much-anticipated event, IndyCar Insider, Marshall Pruett, has given his verdict on the limited spectators setup of the event.
In line with this, while doing his Marshall Pruett podcast, he came across the following question:
"Do you think having a race with limited spectators on a private race resort like Thermal is good for IndyCar? Even if it fills the calendar, goes onto say, my opinion, it's like the NBA took money from a billionaire to have a game in their backyard gym, makes IndyCar look smaller and less popular," Pruett said while reading the question. (18:58 - 19:16)
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As a response to the query, Pruett added:
"You're on to the exact thing that I've been saying for many many years about IndyCar, applies to IMSA, applies to any racing series that is trying to level up grow and become more than what it is," Pruett answered. (19:18 - 19:32).
IndyCar's 2024 Thermal Club event was run as an exclusive non-championship event and the feature race consisted of only 20 laps (won by Alex Palou). For 2025, it has been turned into a full-fledged points-giving race but still, it will be again an exclusive event, with limited spectators.
IndyCar's Thermal Club has gone through 'revisions' ahead of 2025 race
While Marshall Pruett has given his take on the limited spectator's setup of the 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix, the 3.067-mile track has gone through some revisions ahead of the upcoming race weekend.
In line with this, Thermal GM, Nicholas Rhoades revealed that the track layout went through some modifications over the winter and he even asserted that the changes have led to a massive improvement. He added:
"We’ve done a few revisions of that over the winter. After each test, we’ve made a change, so hopefully we’ll be good for the race. I think it’s a big improvement over what it was," Rhoades said via Racer.
IndyCar had a huge turnout at the first race of the 2025 season, the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The race weekend had a strong fan presence on all three days.
However, with the 2025 Thermal Club event being run in an exclusive fashion, the hype and energy around the event are not going to be the same. Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou (mentioned earlier) triumphed in last year's $1 Million challenge at the event and he was followed on to the podium places by Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) and Felix Rosenqvist (Meyer Shank Racing).
Palou's teammates, Marcus Armstrong, and Linus Lundqvist secured a fifth and sixth-place finish. The 2025 Thermal Club Grand Prix will take place on March 23 (Sunday).
