Tag: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Nine Former Winners, Seven Series Champs Ready To Start ‘500’ Preparation  

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From IMS. I will have my preview up tomorrow morning.

Note: Bronze badges are good for pit access tomorrow, May 16, only. They are not valid for pit entry on May 22.

. INDIANAPOLIS (Monday, May 15, 2023) – The time has come for the stars of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES to embark on a legacy-defining month as preparations get underway for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on May 28. There are 34 entries set to contest the 33 starting spots for this year’s edition of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” including nine former winners. Marcus Ericsson delivered a composed performance last year by fending off a late charge by Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren to claim his maiden “500” win, which gave team owner Chip Ganassi his fifth victory in the race as a sole team owner. Other former winners aiming for a spot in the race this year include four-time winner Helio Castroneves (2001, 2002, 2009, 2021) and two-time winner Takuma Sato (2017, 2020), plus single winners Scott Dixon (2008), Tony Kanaan (2013), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2014), Alexander Rossi (2016), Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019). The record for winners in one field is 10, set in 1992.

Castroneves earned a spot with A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears in the most prestigious club in motorsports – four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500 – with his emotional victory May 30, 2021, in the No. 06 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda fielded by Meyer Shank Racing. A record-breaking fifth would put Castroneves alone at the top with most victories. Additionally, Castroneves and Kanaan are both 48 years old, and a victory by either would make them the oldest winner in “500” history, a record held by Al Unser, who won the 1987 edition just five days shy of his 48th birthday.

Ericsson has a chance to become the first back-to-back winner since Castroneves accomplished the feat in 2001 and 2002. If Ericsson secures a repeat win, he would earn a bonus of $420,000 courtesy of BorgWarner, the namesake of the Indy 500 trophy. That amount is more than the entire yearly purse up to and including the 50th anniversary of the “500” in 1961, which paid out $397,910. The field payout jumped to $425,652 in 1962.

The field includes seven past INDYCAR SERIES champions: Dixon, Hunter-Reay, Kanaan, Josef Newgarden, Pagenaud, Alex Palou and Power. Katherine Legge makes her long-awaited return to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this month, having last raced in the Indianapolis 500 in 2013. A two-time starter of the historic race, she will drive a one-off entry as the fourth car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Simona de Silvestro was the last female to drive in the race, in 2021.

There will be four drivers competing for top rookie honors, featuring multiple Argentina touring car champion Agustín Canapino, along with last year’s INDY NXT by Firestone race winners Benjamin Pedersen and Sting Ray Robb. RC Enerson, who narrowly missed making the field of 33 in 2021, is back for another run but this time with Abel Motorsports, an INDY NXT by Firestone team making its first attempt at the “500.”

Practice opens Tuesday, May 16 and runs through Friday, May 19. PPG Presents Armed Forces Qualifying is scheduled for Saturday, May 20 and Sunday, May 21, followed by a two-hour practice Monday, May 22. The traditional final practice, two hours again this year on Miller Lite Carb Day, will be held Friday, May 26.

Live Race Day coverage begins on NBC, Telemundo Deportes on Universo and the INDYCAR Radio Network at 11 a.m. (ET), with the green flag set for 12:45 p.m.

2023 ENTRY BREAKDOWN:
Winners (9): Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato

Rookies (4): Agustín Canapino, RC Enerson, Benjamin Pedersen, Sting Ray Robb U.S. drivers (13): Marco Andretti, Ed Carpenter, Conor Daly, RC Enerson, Santino Ferrucci, Colton Herta, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Sting Ray Robb, Alexander Rossi

International drivers (21, from 14 countries): Agustín Canapino, Helio Castroneves, Devlin DeFrancesco, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Romain Grosjean, Jack Harvey, Callum Ilott, Tony Kanaan, Katherine Legge, Christian Lundgaard, Scott McLaughlin, Pato O’Ward, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou, Benjamin Pedersen, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist, Takuma Sato, Rinus VeeKay, Stefan Wilson

Engines (34): Honda 17, Chevrolet 17 (all cars use Dallara chassis and Firestone tires)

Qualifying Week Schedule- 107th Indianapolis 500

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All Times Eastern All sessions on Peacock;. NBC 2-4 pm Sunday

Tuesday

9-11:15 am: Pracice for veterans and cars who have passed rookie/regresher tests

1-3 pm: Enerson Refresher

3-6 pm: All All cars

Wedneday -Friday

12-6 pm: Practice

Saturday

8:30-9:30 am: Practice (2 groups)

11-5:50 pm: Qualsifying (Positons 13-30 locked in)

Sunday

11:30-1:30 pm: Shootout Practice

2-3 pm: Fast 12 (Positons 7-12 locked in)

4-6 pm: Last Row/Fast 6 (Positons 31-33 and 1-6 determined)

Quick Thoughts- GMR Grand Prix

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Photo by Kyle McIness

Alex Palou set the tone early with a first lap pass on pole sitter Christian Lundgaard, then took the lead for good on lap 65. He cruised to victory by 16 seconds, a huge margin nby Indycar standards.

Pato O’Ward’s third runnerup finish of the year led a gret team finish for Arrow McLaren. Alexander Rossi finished third, and Felix Rosenqvist was fifth. All three drivers led laps.

It should have been a better day for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, but it was still their best result of the the season. Lundgaard ended fourth after going with scuffed reds. Graham Rahal was 10th. Jack Harvey spun early and endedthe day 20th.

Just when you think Harvey has put it together, something happens to thwaqrt him.

In many wqys it was atypical GMR Grand Prix- early chaos and few yellows. In other ways, I found it a more interesting race than usual. The varying tire startegies were fascinating to watch.

Five races into the season there have been five different wiunners from three different teams.

Will Power made a nice recovery to finbish 12th after being spun by Kyle Kirkwood early. Kirkwood got back to 14th.

Weird Fact- Today is the sixth time a driver whose last name begins with the letter P. Will Power has won the May race three times, and Simon Pagenaud has won twice.

The biggest surprises of the weekend were how uncompetitive Team Penske and Andretti autosport were. The two teams have dominated the earlier races with victories and mpoles. I hope we see stronger results beginning Tuesday from them.

I will have a wrap up tomorrow. Thanks for following along these two days. I cannot wait for Tuesday.

Ericsson Paces Warmup

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Points leader Marcus Ericsson had the fastest lap in the morning warmup session for this afternoon’s GMr Grand Prix. Hondas took the first six spots and eigh of the top 10. Only the Penske Chevrolets of Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden were in the top group.

Pole sitter Chriastian Lundgaard was 13th, and Felix Rosenqvist, who starts second, was 19th.

The session ran with out interruption.

Results:

Racing Toward Zero: Month of MayTakes Major Sustainability Strides 

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From Penske Entertainment:


 INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 13, 2023) – Penske Entertainment unveiled today a number of eco-friendly initiatives aiming to make this year’s Month of May – highlighted by the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge – the most sustainable on record.

In particular, the Racing Capital of the World will double down on its efforts surrounding waste reduction and reusability throughout the greatest month in racing. This includes:A new partnership with Keys2Work to sort and prepare recyclable materials throughout the venue. Keys2Work is an Indianapolis-based nonprofit that helps homeless and justice-involved citizens successfully transition into the workforce.The replacement of all plastic cups in suite and hospitality areas with infinitely recyclable aluminum cups, a partnership with Penske Logistics, Novelis and Ball.A continued and elevated partnership with Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana to reduce food waste and provide for those in need. Last year, during the Month of May, nearly 4,000 pounds of unused prepared food was stored, refrigerated and sent to food banks.An expanded commitment to composting of both food and operational materials. RE317, a local women-owned business will continue hauling food scraps from catering kitchens, suites and concessions to GreenCycle, an Indianapolis composting facility. Additionally, a newly launched program will allow the IMS groundskeeping team to collect and repurpose mixed yard waste from landscaping and mowing.Retail operations will also reinforce the IMS commitment to a comprehensive focus on sustainability initiatives. New plant-based alternative retail bags have been introduced in all merchandise locations throughout the facility. Utopia Plastix, a local minority and woman-owned business, has partnered with IMS on this effort. IMS also has an expanded line of sustainability-focused merchandise and a mobile, electric-powered retail store that will roam throughout the facility during the month.

“Our organization and our entire sport are extremely focused and exceedingly committed to implementing a thorough and impactful sustainability framework,” said Penske Entertainment Corp. President & CEO Mark Miles. “The Month of May provides a great opportunity to double down on existing efforts and implement new programs that make a meaningful difference in our footprint.”Both INDYCAR and IMS have taken major strides in powering a more eco-friendly future across the motorsports landscape. This year, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is using a 100% renewable race fuel, developed by Shell and composed of second-generation sugarcane waste. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the only form of competitive racing across North America using 100% renewable race fuel.The Firestone Firehawk race tires, whose sidewall is made of rubber from the guayule plant, will serve as the alternative race tire in all five-street course races this season. For the Month of May, Firestone and Shell have partnered to create a tire that uses a recycled-attributed butadiene, a monomer produced with recycled post-consumer plastic waste, to create synthetic rubber in the tire. This will be used in all race tires – practice, qualifying and race – during the Month of May.

All these strides and more are recapped in Penske Entertainment’s “Accelerating Change: Racing Toward A More Sustainable, Inclusive Motorsports Industry” report, which was released earlier this morning. It is available here. IMS and INDYCAR both launched sustainability hubs today under the banner of “Racing Toward Zero.” You can visit the IMS page here and the INDYCAR page here.

This year, IMS became the first sport facility to achieve organizational certification through the Council for Responsible Sport (Council). Organizational certification became available for the first time in August 2021. The new standard is based on the recognition of the following core principles: power of sport, resolution of climate change, enablement of social justice and business of sport. IMS was the first sports facility to commit to the new framework, implementing year-round tracking of environmental and social impacts for the more than 300 events hosted at IMS annually.

GMR Grand Prix Race Day

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Photo: Christian Lundgaard will lead the field to the green flag today

Tosay’s Schedule:

7:30 a.m.- 6 p.m.: Public Gates Open

8-11 a.m.: IMS Museum’s Cars & Coffee (Museum Parking Lot)

8-8:40 a.m.: USF2000 Race 2

8:55-9:45 a.m.: USF Pro 2000 Race 2

11:15-11:45 a.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warm-up Peacock, Indycar Radio

Noon-12:40 p.m.: USF2000 Race 3

1:05 p.m.: INDY NXT by Firestone “Drivers Start Your Engines”

1:10 p.m.: INDY NXT by Firestone Race (35 laps or 55 minutes) Peacock

2:55 p.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver introductions

3:39 p.m.: NTT INDYCAR SERIES “Drivers Start Your Engines”

3:45 p.m.: GMR Grand Prix Race (85 laps) Peacock, Indycar Radio

NBC and peacock coverage begins at 3:30 pm Eastern

The weather outlook calls for a slight chance od an isolated showwer between 3 and 4 pm.and a high around 82 degrees.

There is a good chance we see a second first time winner this season, and a winner from a team that has has not had much success of late.

I’llbe back after the morning warmup with rsults and starting tire selections.

Lundgaard Pole Leads Rahal Resurgence

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Photo by Kyle McIness

Christian Lundgaard’s first career pole capped a rebound day for Rahal Letterman Laniugan Racing. The team has floundered this season in qualifying, but today all three drivers were in the mix in every session. All three- Lundgaard,Jack Harvey, and Graham Rahal- advance the round of 12. Lundraagd and Harvey moved on to the Fast Six. Harvey will start fourth tomorrow and Rahal lines up eighth.

Lundgaard talks about his pole run

Felix Rosenqvist starts second on Saturday, missing the pole bu just0.0027 seconds. The difference between Lundgaard’s time and sixth place Kyle Kirkwood was 0.2971 seconds, one of the closest since the Fast 6 format began.

Unususal Fast 12

Round 2 feaqtured all of the drivers from three different teams. I don’t recall three entire teams making the round of 12 before. The complete squad from Ganassi-Scott Dixon, Alex palou, Marcus Ericsson, and Marcus Armstrong; all the Arrow McLaren drivers- Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, and Rosenqvist; and the Rahal crew.

Kyle Kirkwood from Andretti and Will Power from Penske filled out the 12 spots. Kirkwood advanced.

Where is Penske?

Five poles have been awarded this season, but none to a Penske driver. Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin each have a fourth place start, and McLaughlin also has a sixth place in qualifying. New garden has yet to make a Fast Six on a road or street course.

Andretti Woes

Today was the worst qualifying day of the ear for Andretti. Colton Herta’s oil line fire in the morning practice seemed to set the tone for the day. Kirkwood was the only driver to advance to the second round.. Romain Grosjean, who has twompoles this season, will satrt 18th.

Starting Lineup