BALTIMORE – With so many 'Hot Spots' on the impressive 2.04-mile, 13-turn street course that winds near the Inner Harbor, Oriole Park at Camden Yards and the home of the Baltimore Ravens, expect to see quite a bit of action in the Grand Prix of Baltimore.

Click it: Starting lineup and tire designation

Here's a look at a few:

PRATT STREET CHICANE

The two-curb chicane that was installed created quite a Hot Spot during qualifications as four cars bounced off the curbing and made contact with the concrete wall. IZOD IndyCar Series Race Director Beaux Barfield directed that a short stack of tires be placed at the apex of the first chicane and the left-hand concrete barrier moved to a less-harsh angle.

“I hit the first curb in the chicane and the car just launched then it launched me into the second curb and got me airborne, and when it landed it landed on the railroad tracks and that shot me to the left and that was it,” Graham Rahal said of the first-round incident. “I was hitting the curb a lot (in the morning practice) and didn’t have that issue. You can go fast through the chicane. It’s the top of third gear. Chicane or no chicane – the chicane is fast enough where you aren’t braking very much.”

Rubens Barrichello of KV Racing believes the curbs are low and that is why drivers tried to use it in qualifying by driving over it but won’t be doing that in the race.

“I don’t think that will be a big issues,” Barrichello said. “It won’t be the main issue.”

Another driver concurred.

“You will see guys settle down a little more in the race,” predicted Charlie Kimball, who qualified seventh. “You have 75 laps in the race and you will have to get through that area cleanly 75 times so you won’t see quite as much jumping. Everybody is figuring out how big of a bite they can take. It was a good solution to a challenging problem.”

BUMPY ROAD INTO TURN 1

After racing down Pratt Street it’s a hard right-hand turn near Harborplace but it is preceded by bumps in the street that make this quite a tricky corner.

“It’s really bumpy and will be tough to outbrake guys to the inside but it’s going to be fun,” said Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport. “We did it last year. I think we will have quite a bit of passing and it should be good.”

This was originally designed to be a heavy-braking corner but the bumps minimize the effect.

“Turn 1 braking is very challenging,” Kimball said.

This is where car setup becomes a key.

“Yes, it’s bumpy going into Turn 1 but you can say that about a lot of tracks,” Rubens Barrichello said. “You don’t set up for the braking; you set up for the bumps.”

TURN 3

As the field zips through a long straightaway past Harborplace, the Baltimore Visitor Center and the Harbor Walk, it’s a tight left-hand hairpin turn into Turn 3.

“Turn 3, the hairpin, you will see guys making moves up the inside but it’s too rough to settle the car down and you will see guys getting collected,” Kimball predicted. “Not the guy getting passed but the next guy in line.”

TURNS 5, 6, 7

Once the field goes through a 90-degree left-hand turn, it’s past the Sheraton and the Old Otterbein United Methodist Church before hitting three quick turns in succession – a slight left-hand kink of Turn 5 followed by a short straight, then a sweeping right-hander that is Turn 6 and a 90-degree left-hand Turn 7.

“This section of three turns in front of the pits are important because if you tag the wall at the apex of 5 it will send you over the curb and into a guy or the runoff area,” Kimball said. “This complex of turns is the most technical and challenging part of the track.”

For a driver skilled at road racing this can be a great area to excel.

“You can make up a lot of time in that area,” Barrichello said. “I was quite happy with my car in that situation. You don’t work for grip; you work for bumps because where they resurface on top of the rail it makes a big divot; a big bump.

“At the end of the race everyone will take a headache pill because of the bumps but it will be exciting.”