Detroit Grand Prix revs up preparations for upcoming races on city streets

Detroit — The Detroit Grand Prix is nearly three weeks away, which means this is when four-time IMSA champion driver Jordan Taylor arrives to check out the scene and promote the three-day event.

With the Chevrolet backdrop on the Renaissance Center cluster just beyond the start-finish line, Taylor, who has been in Detroit over the years to support the race, spoke on Wednesday about the importance of racing in Detroit because of the manufacturers.

Construction began in Detroit on Monday to build the grandstands around the 1.7-mile, nine-turn street circuit downtown. The Grand Prix has long been a fixture in Detroit. It moved to Belle Isle in 1992 but returned to the city streets in 2023.

Four-time IMSA champion Jordan Taylor, left, won five times at the Detroit Grand Prix when it was held on Belle Isle.

“I like coming to Detroit, obviously,” said Taylor, who won five times on Belle Isle. “Wherever you have success, you're gonna enjoy coming back to, and I don't think I do any other races where I come to do media days every year. It's always a big one for Cadillac and Chevrolet, so I enjoy coming back. It's a big one for the community. It's big one for the brands. The track is difficult, but it’s one that we always look forward to.”

Three series will be competing — IndyCar, which will be coming off the Indianapolis 500; the IMSA GTP and GTD Pro series; and the rising stars in the Indy NXT series — when racing kicks off on May 29.

Also on Wednesday, student-designed murals from Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Detroit that will be displayed on trackside barrier walls along the circuit were unveiled, as was the official Detroit Grand Prix commemorative poster designed by College for Creative Studies senior Reden Lee.

All of the artwork captures the spirit of racing in Detroit. There are plenty of challenges to the street circuit as Taylor, winless since the series moved away from Belle Isle, knows. His brother, Ricky Taylor, is a four-time winner in Detroit, including last season with Filipe Albuquerque.

“It's a much different challenge,” Taylor said of racing in the streets of Detroit versus Belle Isle. “The corners are very tight. Here, it is bumpy, but all the corners are very low speed. Belle Isle had a couple higher speed corners, which is kind of rare for a street course. This is more, I'd say, traditional for corner speeds, but there's so many different surfaces as well. You turn it into a corner, and it goes from one surface to another. So the balance of the car is always changing. It's a huge challenge for the drivers, but for the engineers too to set up a car that will do well here.”