Andretti's Kyle Kirkwood highlights "unnatural feel" of Barber circuit ahead of Alabama Indy GP

Kyle Kirkwood won the last IndyCar race held at Long Beach and is in close contention with Alex Palou in the championship standings ahead of the Alabama Grand Prix. While the Spaniard has looked comfortable at the 2.38-mile circuit owing to his victory in 2021, the Andretti driver has revealed the challenges that the Barber Motorsports Park puts forward for drivers.

The 26-year-old made his debut in 2022, but joined Andretti, one of the top outfits in IndyCar, the subsequent year. He bagged his maiden pole position and race victory at the Long Beach Grand Prix, a feat that he replicated this year.

The victory at Long Beach has helped catapult Kirkwood to second in the championship standings, behind reigning champion Alex Palou. Intending to make a dent in the Spaniard's lead in the standings to mount a bid for the title, he has arrived at the Alabama Grand Prix weekend with high hopes.

However, when asked about his perspective on the 17-turn road course, Kyle Kirkwood did not sound the most confident, as he deemed the undulation changes to be quite unnatural, and said (via Frontstretch Open Wheel):

"There's a lot of elevation changes right, and a lot of them happen at corner entry which kind of creates an unnatural feel. And a lot of instability due to that. You're always trying to set up the car to be very stable, but yet still turn, which is I know the name of the game of IndyCar but maybe even more so here because of that." (1:10 onwards)

"So it's a different track it's not easy to race on, it's not easy to drive, it's very confidence flowing, and a lot of reasons, but it's really enjoyable to drive in general."

Kirkwood has won three races in his IndyCar career, but the month of May holds some special events that the Andretti driver would like to take home the winning trophy for.

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Kyle Kirkwood shares insights on what could be coming ahead in May

Kyle Kirkwood at the INDYCAR Series The 107th Indianapolis 500 - Source: Getty

While the paddock is currently centered at the Alabama Grand Prix, IndyCar recently hosted the Indy 500 open test. Though Kirkwood did not set the timing charts alight, he finished both days of testing in the top-10.

Reflecting on how Andretti has geared up for the 109th running of the Indy 500, Kyle Kirkwood reckons that the team would be Indianapolis-based team will be one of the top-three outfits to look out for, as he said (via IndyCar):

"We were really racy with some cars there, too. If you're up front, I felt like we were one of the best that could be in that top-three range.”

Meanwhile, the Children's of Alabama Indy Grand Prix is scheduled to take place on May 4.