Simon Pagenaud delivered a playful warning.

The laps the Verizon IndyCar Series champion planned wouldn't last much more than two minutes each at the Raceway on Belle Isle on Tuesday.

But "it's going to feel like a whole hour," he joked.

Don't blame the Frenchman for playing to his audience ahead of Tuesday's hot laps, a first-look event that promoted next week’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix by allowing media members to ride shotgun with the driver in a civilian car.

Pagenaud, the season's points leader, delivered on his promise, pushing the limits of his 415-horsepower Chevrolet SS as he roared around the 2.3-mile street track.

He slammed the accelerator to 120 m.p.h., then clamped down the brakes on the four-door sports sedan, a top-of-the-line production model.

Tires squealed around every corner.

Head restraints were put to the test in every direction.

“Everybody, OK?” Pagenaud asked his white-knuckled audience after one turn.

Good enough.

Tuesday’s runs were all in jest, the beginning of a final push to boost ticket sales in front of a dozen or so cameras. An estimated 60% of tickets for the event will move between now and the Grand Prix on June 3-4, race chairman Bud Denker said during a news conference.

The rest is buildup.

Pagenaud, joined at Belle Isle on Tuesday by fellow IndyCar drivers Carlos Munoz and Spencer Pigot, will race in the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, when speeds greater than 220 m.p.h are expected on the iconic speedway.

He’ll then shift gears to Detroit the following week, when bumpy rides traditionally are the norm and brakes and right turns are required.

Pagenaud embraced that Tuesday, when he slammed the brakes on the front straightaway to let a squirrel cross the track during a separate run.

“I love squirrels,” Pagenaud said. “And so does my dog.

“We were doing 120 (m.p.h.). Luckily, we’ve got good brakes on these machines.”

Pagenaud will leave the Chevy SS behind when he next races to Detroit, swapping it for his twin-turbo 6-cylinder Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. His champion status makes him a focal point at most venues, but he has a grand appreciation for the physical grind that is Belle Isle.

His first IndyCar victory came here in 2013, and he won both poles last year, leading to a runner-up finish in the second dual. He’s expected to contend again this season on the revamped concrete surface, which is said to be smoother than past years.

Still, Pagenaud made sure the bumps were all in fun Tuesday, a relaxed setting before a rigorous three-races-in-eight-days stretch that will help determine if he repeats as series champion.

“Street courses and road course, that’s pure driving, braking, turning at the right points, shifting at the right points,” Pagenaud said. “… This track (Belle Isle) is about unleashing the beast, and wrestling the car around the corners.

“And that’s something that I’m not too bad at.”

That much was clear on Tuesday.

IndyCar driver Carlos Munoz has smooth ride in Detroit after tough practice session in Indy

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