After contesting a successful exhibition race there in 2024, this year IndyCar returned to The Thermal Club on March 21-23 for the inaugural Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix — the points-paying round two of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. Despite no caution laps, it was exciting!
Nestled in California’s Coachella Valley within the Greater Palm Springs area, The Thermal Club has stunning views of the San Jacinto Mountains. It is an exclusive, luxurious private resort with custom homes, villas and spacious homesites — and much more. Amenities include full-service clubhouses, world-class dining, a fitness center & spa, and a dedicated karting facility, but what makes this 490-acre private community truly extraordinary is its world-class motorsports facility, complete with a challenging 17-turn, 3.067-mile race track. The club’s appreciate fast cars and have their very own racetrack upon which to drive them. A prominent design element of the villas is their garage.
High-end motorsports performance and experience centers are located there too, including the BMW Performance Center West — providing “a BMW driving experience like no other” (visit https://bmwperformancecenter.com/).
I spent much of Saturday exploring The Thermal Club and shooting qualifying. The facility offers a variety of track configurations, of which IndyCar utilized the Twin Palm circuit, with its component South Palm and North Palm circuits split by the pit lane, IndyCar garages, the Motorsports Village and more.
Considering that this is a private country club, I was amazed by how especially well prepared they were to host this IndyCar race weekend. The Thermal Club staff was very helpful and friendly. The racetrack was challenging and in good condition. There was on-site parking and a variety of food available. Musical entertainment included a Bruno Mars tribute concert.
The IndyCar Experience was there with a two-seater IndyCar, VIP racing fans enjoyed hot laps around the racetrack in supercars, and spectators could get driver autographs and watch the crews working on the IndyCars in the garages as they prepared them for qualifying and the race.
The demanding Twin Palms circuit is a true driver’s circuit, featuring high-speed straights, tight technical sections and elevation changes. The racing action can be observed from many vantage points, and includes grandstands. In particular, the General ission and VIP grandstands facing inwards towards the South Palm circuit provide a panoramic view of about two thirds of the racetrack. I returned on Sunday to watch the entire race from there.
My overall experience was excellent. The only difficulty that I had was on Saturday, and it was entirely my own fault. Even though free shuttles were available to get around The Thermal Club, I chose to walk instead. I was ill-prepared for the potentially serious effects of the very hot, dry weather, and carrying my two heavy cameras and gear around made the situation worse. At the end of the day, walking while searching for where I’d parked my RAV4, I felt like I was about to collapse, plus I had a headache. I must have looked as bad as I felt because three kind people, who were about to drive by, pulled over and stopped to ask me if I wanted a ride. The third person who stopped insisted, so I accepted.
Race day Sunday went much better. I was much better-prepared for the heat, making sure to carry and drink plenty of water all day, and taking shuttle rides rather than walking long distances in the sun, like I did on Saturday.
For a while mid-race, our nearby big screen’s video froze. Later I learned that the entire TV broadcast was interrupted, due to a power failure for about a dozen laps. Fortunately, it resumed in time to show Alex Palou pit to get a new set of sticky, red tires; engage in close wheel-to-wheel, back and forth es with second place Arrow McLaren driver Christian Lundgaard; and then rapidly catch up with and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who had led 53 of the race’s 65 laps, to take the lead and win. That’s two in a row!
You can see IndyCar’s “full race replay” on YouTube at https://youtu.be/GgoDs__TV-w?si=98pLUhuTxn4Q-rIg. For results, stories about the race and more from IndyCar visit https://www.indycar.com/.
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