The green flag is scheduled for 2:46 pm Eastern. All cars will start on rain tires. The tire strategy now is when to go to slicks. There is no red/black tire requirements.
At the moment there are a few sprinkles. There are dark clouds over the southwest end of the track. I see a small patch of blue behind the front stretch.
Only four starting on the Alternates. The teams might be expecting rain and want to have a long first stint.
Marcus Ericsson turned the quickest lap in the final warm-up session for the GMR Grand Prix. Ericsson edged Callum Ilott by 0.113 seconds. Pole sitter Will Power was ninth and Alex Palou, who starts second, was eighth.
Six Honda cars were in the top 10 in the thirty -minute practice, which ran green the entire way.
Reminder- the green flag time has been moved up to 3:07 pm Eastern to avoid as much of the thunderstorms as possible. The documentary The Club will still air at 2 pm on NBC.
The chance of rain may cause some teams to rethink their starting tire choices.
Some photos from the warmup.
Sato pit stop.
Will Power
Caesar’s Sportsbook has taken over the spot where the memorabilia show used to be. It is a betting parlor. I’m not sure if I like this idea.
The race will go on if there is only rain. Lightning will cause a red flag. I believe a halt for lightning will be at least thirty minutes. 44 laps will be an official race.
Results
Today’s Schedule
Public Parking: Parking for the GMR Grand Prix is available in a variety of locations around the track:
SATURDAY, May 14 (General Admission $40; Reserved Seats Start at $41)
7:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Public Gates Open
8:05-8:50 a.m. USF2000 Race 2
9:10-10 a.m. Indy Pro 2000 Race 2
10:30-11 a.m. NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warmup Peacock
11:15-11:55 a.m. USF2000 Race 3
12:10-1 p.m. Indy Pro 2000 Race 3
1:20-2:15 p.m. Indy Lights Race 2 (35 laps or 55 minutes) Peacock
2:40-3:05 p.m. Silver/Bronze Badge Grid Walk
3:30 p.m. Ninth GMR Grand Prix (85 laps) NBC, Peacock
5:45 p.m. GMR Grand Prix Post-Race Track Invasion
Weather is the word for the day. Thunderstorms are predicted for late morning and scattered storms may visit the track this afternoon.
The latest from @Indycar_Wxman:
It looks like rain may come after 4 pm which will add intrigue to the event. Will someone go to rain tires before the rain comes? Who dives into the pits first?
The grid has several drivers starting farther back than usual. It should be an interesting race watching them climb to the front. I an going to be watching Colton Herta, Scott Dixon, and Simon Pagenaud work their way forward.
Will Power and Alex Palou should battle for the win. Palou and Josef Nwgarden saved a set of reds by starting the Fast Six on blacks before switching to reds
Whichever way the weather turns out, it should be a fascinating race.
I’ll be back after the morning warm up.
If it’s early May in Indianapolis, you will find Will Power on the pole. Power won his fourth GMR Grand Prix pole and fifth on the IMS road course. Power snatched the pole from Alex Palou on the final timed lap of the Firestone Fast Six. His time of1:09.766 beat Palou by 0.043 seconds.
The pole was Power’s 64th of his career. He is just three behind Mario Andretti’s record of 67.
The entire qualifying ran without issues. Only one Honda, the car of Alex Palou, made it to the final round. The rest of the Fast Six, in order, are Josef Newgarden, Conor Daly, Pato O’Ward, and Felix Rosenqvist.
Some pole contenders struggled during qualifying. Colton Herta and Rinus VeeKay did not make it out of the first round. Herta will start tomorrow’s race in row 7 and VeeKay in row 8. Jack Harvey, who usually qualifies well at this track, will start 9th Saturday.
The 2021 polesitter, Romain Grosjean, starts 10th.
Simon Pagenaud starts 20th and Scott Dixon starts 21st. Pagenaud won the pole at the GMR Grand Prix in 2016 and has won the race three times. Dixon has won once and is usually a top finisher. Watch for this pair to move forward tomorrow.
The scoring pylon showed the time remaining in each round. This is something that wasn’t always done in the past. I’m glad they had it up there.
I found a lot of nice shirts while making a brief pass through of the merchandise shop behind the pits. If anyone has a dresser I can have, I will add to my T-shirt collection.
The speed difference for the starting grid from first to 27th is 1.68 seconds.
Palou had the fastest lap in qualifying, 1:09.411 in round 2.
Thanks for following along today. I will have some follow up on today tomorrow morning.
8
The kids took over in GMR Grand Prix practice in the second session. The top five drivers are all 25 years old or younger.
Pato O’Ward grabbed the fastest time late in the session from Alex Palou. The top four drivers recorded laps in the 1:09 bracket. The top 23 cars are within one second of O’Ward’s time. Practice had two red flag interruptions, both within the first seven minutes of the session.
Alex Palou was first in the morning practice and second in the afternoon.
Dalton Kellett spun off track into the sand trap and could move. David Malukas went off track to avoid Kellet’s car. Malukas was able to continue back to the pits.
Jimmie Johnson went off track min the same area a few minutes later. The rest of the practice was green.
As I expected, some drivers who were down nthe chart in the morning practice improved their times. Rinus VeeKay was fourth this afternoon after ending the morning session 21st. Veekay was the first driver to turn a lap under 1:10.
Callum Ilott dropped to 19th from second in the just completed round. Christian Lundgaard, fifth in the just completed practice, improved from14th this morning.
I noticed a few more new things around the speedway.
BMW has a new building in turn three. I am not sure what the building will be used for.
Recycling cans are prevalent throughout the grounds next to trash cans. It’s nice to see some tangible environmental commitment by IMS.
Results:
Indycar Photo by Chris Jones
Series points leader Alex Palou posted the fastest time of the first practice session as th NTT Indycar Series began preparing for tomorrow’s GMR Grand Prix. Palou’s lap of 1:10.4555 nipped rookie Callum Ilott by 0,0038 seconds.
The session was green for the first 43 and a half minutes. Helio Castroneves spun and stalled at pit in bringing out the red flag. There was enough time for one more flying lap, and Palou edged Ilott, who had led for the previous eight minutes.
At one point three former pole winners for this race were at the top of the pylon. Will Power led Felix Rosenqvist and Simon Pagenaud. While the top ten contains no real surprises, Rinus VeeKay, the 2021 winner in 21st is puzzling. Also Josef Newgarden in16th and Scott McLaughlin in 17th is a shock. I think these three will show better in session 2, which begins at 12:45 pm.
I spoke with Callum Ilott after practice.
He told the run was “really good. I just thought we had to improve a couple of things and then at the end we put it together and it was quite good’ We got the new tires I think a lot of other people used the new tires.”
Ilott described the track as “Really green because as the painted part for the oval transferring off of that onto the road course was a little bit different so we had to rubber it in.”
As far as changes for session two, Ilott thinks the team will make a few.
“I think so. I just haven’t told them everything I was feeling so I think they’re making the changes. “
Fans are slowly entering the track.
It has been nice seeing people I haven’t seen since 2019. I’m glad to see that they are healthy.
The Wifi in the stands seems to be improved.
I continue to be impressed by the cleanliness of IMS since Roger Penske bought the track.
Matthew brabham won the pole position for Indy Lights Race 1.
Back after Practice 2.
Results:
The Pit Window by Mike Silver 