Hey! We Have the 2025 IndyCar Schedule

Last week, IndyCar released its 2025 schedule along with the announcement of the new broadcast partnership with Fox. The next media rights deal we expected. The schedule we didn’t. That was something we likely thought we had a few months until we would see it. 

Instead, we got it as a surprise, preventing three months of speculating of what was to come in following year. Like a plane dumping an ungodly amount of water on a forest fire, any hope of returning oval races, filling gaps in the schedule and trips to new places were doused before the blaze could rage. That doesn’t mean people didn’t get upset. All they know is hope must turn to 2026. That isn’t helping.

However, the 2025 schedule is here, mostly looking the same as 2024. There is nothing new, per se. All the tracks are the same. A few have new dates. One weekend will have one fewer race. One weekend will now count toward the championship. 

There is much to breakdown about the calendar, though we still aren’t halfway through 2024. With the news still fresh, and some time to digest, let’s go over what we already know about 2025, where and when races take place, and what some of these decisions mean.

March 2 - St. Petersburg

The traditional season opener remains the season opener, though St. Petersburg will be a week earlier than previously announced. Not that anyone complain about the season starting a week earlier than intended. The offseason will still be 167 days long from Nashville 2024 to St. Petersburg 2025. 

March 23 - Thermal Club

No longer a non-championship race, the Thermal Club will be the second round of the championship, three weeks after St. Petersburg on the same weekend Thermal was in 2024. 

The answer to all of your questions is money. Thermal Club was willing to pay for a non-championship race. It is willing to pay for a championship race. There has been plenty of pushback on Thermal’s presence since it was first announced. It isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. 

There were plenty of questions about Thermal going into this year’s event. Live pit stops were not possible due to pit lane constraints. Some of the runoff area was question. There is really one, maybe two passing zones. Work will be done but skepticism remains. 

What we do know about Thermal is it was a high tire-wear circuit. With a full race and a full field, it could be a fascinating race to watch. There are reasons for optimism even if Thermal disgusts some viewers. 

April 13 - Long Beach

Long Beach remains in the middle of April. It will be the only race in April, three weeks after Thermal. Nothing much to say about this one. 

May 4 - Barber Motorsports Park

Barber moves into May, but this was likely out of necessity. Easter is April 20, and you can likely pencil in Talladega for April 27. Barber will kick off what will be five consecutive weeks of action as immediately after this will be the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, Indianapolis 500 qualifying, the Indianapolis 500 and then Detroit.

Normally, the week prior to the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is a week off. Likely, the Indianapolis 500 open test will be in late April. Something will be going on, but it keeps a busy period busy. It only has an extra race in May. 

May 10 - Grand Prix of Indianapolis

This is still the Saturday 15 days prior to the Indianapolis 500. It is a tighter turnaround with Barber the week before. With how much time IndyCar spends on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, I almost expect this to be a condensed weekend. Practice mid-Friday afternoon, qualifying almost Friday evening with a warm-up Saturday morning ahead of the race that afternoon. 

May 25 - Indianapolis 500

Memorial Day weekend. Where else would IndyCar be?

June 1 - Detroit

Week after Indianapolis with Roger Penske running the series. Where else would IndyCar be?

June 15 - Gateway

The first truly significant change is Gateway moving up two months to the middle of June from the middle of August. It does spread out the oval races as six of the final eight races are on ovals. 

This was a bit shocking because IndyCar loves to shout date equity and Gateway had a consistent date. Moving Gateway to June allows some other scheduling decisions to take place. The NASCAR race from Gateway has been the first weekend in June the last three years. With NASCAR also having new television partners in 2025, some of those races could be moving around. IndyCar’s move could signal the NASCAR weekend at Gateway is moving as well, whether that is forward into spring or deeper into summer remains to be seen. 

There were plenty upset as Gateway will run on Le Mans weekend, but this is what IndyCar must do to fit in its schedule on Fox. As much as we love seeing IndyCar drivers attempt other disciplines, IndyCar is their first responsibility. We also don’t see many IndyCar drivers run Le Mans to begin with. The five drivers entered for Laguna Seca a week after Le Mans is the most since seven in 1988. It isn’t the case of a dozen drivers or 15 drivers going to Le Mans. It isn’t the 24 Hours of Daytona. We will live. 

June 22 - Road America

Summer starts at Road America, a back-to-back with Gateway. No concerns here. 

July 6 - Mid-Ohio

Mid-Ohio remains around Independence Day weekend. It has been working. Why change it?

July 12 & 13 - Iowa

Iowa retains its mid-July doubleheader. That’s fine. 

July 20 - Toronto

A third consecutive weekend will take IndyCar across the border to Toronto, which will be the final street course race of the season. 

July 27 - Laguna Seca

This is where the next significant change occurred. Laguna Seca moves back a month to July. Every weekend in July has a race weekend and there will be five races during the month as it will rush IndyCar into the final quarter of the season. 

Again, nothing says date equity like taking a struggling event and giving it a third different date in as many years in three different months. I guess Laguna Seca must go somewhere if it isn’t going to be the season finale, but it will be a cross-continental trip from Toronto. 

I think there should be great concern about Laguna Seca’s long-term health. It is the weakest race on the schedule. It practically had the season finale for four seasons and it never felt like an event. Moving it to the start of summer might not help in 2024. It is hard to see it drawing more people in this June/July timeframe. I am hopeful, but I am not expecting a significant change. 

We will know how 2024 looks in late-June in a few days. It should give us an idea of what is realistic for 2025. 

August 10 - Portland

It isn’t quite a western swing because there is a week off between Laguna Seca and Portland, but it is two consecutive western races. I am not sure how much it helps the teams, but it looks sensical on paper. 

August 24 - Milwaukee

Milwaukee will be back for a second consecutive season, but it will be a week earlier and it will only be a single race instead of a doubleheader. This allows the championship to remain at 17 races with the inclusion of Thermal as a championship round. It will make Milwaukee an easier weekend for the teams as there will only be one race instead of two with a potential tight turnaround from Saturday evening to Sunday afternoon. 

I wonder how much losing a doubleheader hurts an event. When you can get two races for a respectable price it is a great deal for a spectator and makes a race weekend more enticing than others. It isn’t the worst change in the world but it something to keep an eye on.  

August 31 - Nashville Superspeedway

The season finale remains at the 1.333-mile oval in Lebanon, Tennessee but it moves up two weeks and will take place on Labor Day weekend. This allows the IndyCar season to end before the NFL season begins, something that takes up a great deal of real estate on Fox’s broadcast schedule on Sundays from September through January. 

I have said for some time if IndyCar was going to end the season on week two of the NFL season, it should work to squeeze all those races in and end on Labor Day weekend. This is about ratings, and taking one race, even if it is the season finale, out of NFL season where it is completely forgotten and in almost no way has a chance of garnering attention, it is the best decision. 

It must be kept in mind Labor Day weekend will likely be the hard end date for IndyCar as long as it is on Fox and commitment to putting every race on network television. With the amount of football Fox has, Sunday afternoon will be off the table come September. The same goes with college football on Saturdays. If IndyCar is flexible, the season could go into September if the finale and any additional races are on FS1, but it would be sacrificing viewership numbers in that case. This move to Fox signals IndyCar wants to maximize viewership as much as possible to increase exposure and value of the series.

If IndyCar is going to race into football season, it needs to be more than one race. If there were four or five races spread over September and October, IndyCar would still take a dip in viewership but it would have some substance to stick around and keep an audience. One race during football season, especially the IndyCar season finale, is an unnecessary ratings hit. Avoiding it is the smartest play. 

Final Takeaways

There are plenty of IndyCar schedule discussions we still must have but we will take those on at a later date. For 2025, IndyCar got a television partner that is giving it the world and it kept all the pieces in place. Race retention is a positive thing. No track is losing a date. No current local fan base is losing a race weekend and are left wondering if they can afford to take a trip to see IndyCar. Stasis is good. 

This schedule is no different than where IndyCar has been for the last decade. The season has basically been completed in six or six-and-a-half months since 2012. Even before then some of those later IRL seasons prior to reunification were completed early September. We have been here for a long time. I don’t think it is changing any time soon. It likely will never change. 

It is the same old tune. One schedule comes out and everyone believes the year after that will be the year of great change. IndyCar is always 18 months away from that big shakeup. It hasn’t ever really come. With a new television partner and more money pouring into IndyCar coffer’s on an annual basis, maybe 2026 will finally be the year. Don’t count on it. 

Musings From the Weekend: You Got the Money, Now It is Time For Results

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

Ferrari successfully defended its Le Mans success with a second consecutive victory, this time with the #50 Ferrari of Antonio Fuoco, Miguel Molina and Niklas Nielsen. United Autosport came out on top in LMP2 with Oliver Jarvis, Nolan Siegel and Bijoy Garg. Manthey EMA Racing won in LMGT3 with Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin. NASCAR held its first Cup race in Iowa. There was World Superbike action. Some Australians returned to their day jobs. IndyCar announced its new television partner and then some, and that news captured much of my attention.

You Got the Money, Now It is Time For Results

I have a rule that I will not talk about the next year's calendar until we get to July. We must get through half of a year before we can start looking to next year. It is healthier. However, IndyCar announced its 2025 calendar on Thursday morning along with the news IndyCar would have Fox as its broadcast partner for the 2025 season. IndyCar and NBC had an exclusive partnership dating back to 2018, and IndyCar had a relationship with Comcast dating back to 2009 when the series moved to Versus for a majority of its races.

This is a significant change for IndyCar. Fox has made the commitment to show every race on network television in 2025 as well as showing both Indianapolis 500 qualifying days in network windows. Practice and qualifying sessions will be broadcasted on Fox Sports 1 or Fox Sports 2, and Indy Lights will have majority of its races shown on Fox Sports 1.  

IndyCar was a big winner from this television bidding war. At the start of 2024, it was difficult to imagine IndyCar would have two major networks offering practically every race being broadcasted over network television. It would have been realistic to expect some sort of cable or streaming aspect of the broadcast package. That is how it has been for IndyCar's modern existence. 

Instead, every race will be on Fox, and the series will make $40 million per year in this broadcast partnership. 

It looks great on paper, and the series should be pleased, but now that it has its money, it is time to get results. 

Money is part of the problem. The other part is viewership. One can increase the other. We aren't sure if the reciprocate is true. 

For all the network television windows IndyCar will have and for all the extra money the series will make on this new contract, we need to see more. It is great that 17 races will be on Fox, but if the viewership remains stagnant, it will be difficult to call this a success. It will be even tougher to get an increase in rights fees next time around. 

IndyCar has one big race and the rest get around one million viewers when on network television. That has been the case for the better part of 20 years. Whether it was on ABC/ESPN or NBC, a million viewers was the benchmark. It never rose higher than that. IndyCar didn’t get a greater pay day because of growth, it got a greater pay day because a million viewers became more valuable in this media landscape. It is dangerous to gamble that will remain the case going forward. 

At some point, it is not the broadcast partner that is the problem. The series should already recognize the broadcaster can only take you so far. 

It is one thing to make the races available. In terms of exposure and general awareness of the series, that is more than just showing races in 2024. We just spoke last week about the importance of a docuseries that takes viewers behind the scenes, but which more importantly exposes new viewers to the series. Formula One exploded because of something other than the races. It will be great that every race will be on the same network in 2025, but history tells us it will take more than that to significantly increase viewership.

This is the same playbook IndyCar has been using for the last few years. It is just doing it with a brand new broadcast partner. Every race on network is fantastic, but two seasons ago 14 of 17 races were on NBC. Two races were on USA and Toronto was a Peacock exclusive race. Last year, 13 races were on NBC with an extra on USA. Average viewership was up 2% in 2023 compared to 2022 despite one fewer network race. 

Three or four non-network races aren't torpedoing IndyCar’s average viewership. Having the races on network would definitely help the average, but those races weren't what was holding IndyCar back. It needs greater cultural relevance and cachet with the average adult. If you want that, it requires much attention beyond the races themselves.

We have this new contract. We have every race on network television. What does success look like for this next contract? We all think it will be better now with every race on Fox, but what is the number we can say where it is clearly better? 

The Indianapolis 500 inflates the numbers. While the average IndyCar race had about 1.32 million viewers in 2023, remove the Indianapolis 500 from that total and the average drops to 1.094 million. That is where IndyCar beyond the month of May has been living for two decades or so. At some point that average must improve. What is success over the next three years? 

We can celebrate all the network races we want, but if the viewership remains flat, has IndyCar really won? 

Is it realistic to shoot for an average of 1.5 million viewers outside of the Indianapolis 500? It might sound like a lot but it is distance from where IndyCar is at in this moment. Increasing to 1.25 million in three years is something, but it is only an increase of use north of 150,000 viewers. That isn't a spectacular gain. 

That is what is important for this next contract. It must be more than what is gained on paper. There must be some kind of results from this deal that are notable. If in three years the average viewership outside the Indianapolis 500 is around 1.15 million viewers, there should be hesitation to celebrate. That is inches gained when IndyCar needs yards. 

IndyCar hates being compared to Formula One, but Formula One is now practically level on average viewership despite Formula One's average being around 671,000 viewers in 2019. IndyCar's average in 2019 was 1.108 million viewers, and that is including the Indianapolis 500 that year. 

In five years, Formula One has caught up. It didn't catch up because all the races were on network television. It didn't catch up because the championship went undecided into the finale every year. It didn't catch up because there are on average nine different drivers winning a race each season and hundreds of passes in each race. It didn't catch up because there is an American driver that is competitive and winning races. It caught up because it connected with people and give people a reason to care about those competing. It did that through an avenue that wasn't the race broadcasts.

IndyCar will have the races in a good spot. There should be no complaints about difficulty finding where the races are being broadcasted, but IndyCar needs substantial results over this contract. That will require more than just 17 race broadcasts in an accessible location.

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Le Mans, but did you know...

Ryan Blaney won the NASCAR Cup race from Iowa, his first victory of the season. Sam Meyer won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. 

Toprak Razgatlioglu swept the World Superbike races from Misano. Adrián Huertas swept the World Supersport races.

Broc Feeney swept the Supercars races from Darwin.

Coming Up This Weekend

IndyCar will be at Laguna Seca.

Formula One returns to Barcelona. 

NASCAR moves to Loudon.

One week after Le Mans, IMSA has a six-hour race at Watkins Glen. 

Super Formula will have an all-domestic affair at Sportsland SUGO.

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans LMGT3 Preview

For the first time, GT3 regulations are being used at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the inaugural year of the LMGT3 class sees 23 entries representing nine manufacturers. Eighteen of the cars are full-time FIA World Endurance Championship entries. Three European Le Mans Series teams, one IMSA entrant and an additional Le Mans-only participant round out the class.

Twenty-five of the 49 Le Mans debutants are in LMGT3. Fifteen of the 23 cars in LMGT3 have at least one driver making a Le Mans debut. Of the 69 drivers in this class, 52 drivers have made fewer than five Le Mans appearances.

#27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo

Drivers: Ian James (4th), Daniel Mancinelli (2nd), Alex Riberas (2nd)

Test Day: 2nd

About This Team: Heart of Racing is back for a second consecutive year with this lineup. This trio was sixth in GTE-Am last year. After opening the WEC season with a second in Qatar, Heart of Racing is tied for second in the LMGT3 championship on 37 points, but loses the tiebreaker to the #31 Team WRT BMW.

#31 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3

Drivers: Augusto Farfus (6th), Sean Gelael (4th), Daniel Leung (1st)

Test Day: 3rd

About This Team: The #31 BMW won at Imola in April. Farfus has never finished in the top five of his class in his first five Le Mans appearances. Gelael makes his first Le Mans appearance outside of LMP2 this year. He was runner-up in the LMP2 class in 2021 with Jota. 

#44 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3

Drivers: John Hartshorne (3rd), Christopher Mies (1st), Ben Tuck (1st)

Test Day: 13th

About This Team: This is the only one-off Le Mans entry in LMGT3. Mies makes his Le Mans debut at 35 years old. The German has won the 24 Hours Nürburgring twice and the Bathurst 12 Hour twice. Hartshorne and Tuck are co-drivers in the European Le Mans Series for JMW Motorsports. This is Hartshorne's first Le Mans appearance since 2011 when he drove a Lotus Evora GTE for Jetalliance Racing.

#46 Team WRT BMW M4 GT3

Drivers: Ahmad Al Harthy (2nd), Maxime Martin (9th), Valentino Rossi (1st)

Test Day: 9th

About This Team: The #46 BMW opened the season with finishes of fourth and second before being taken out at Spa-Francorchamps. Rossi has spent the last three years competing int GT World Challenge Europe. He and Martin won a Sprint Cup race at Misano last year on their way to fifth in the championship. Martin and Rossi also won another Sprint Cup race at Misano this year. Martin won the GTE Pro class in 2020 with Aston Martin. Al Harthy made his Le Mans debut last year in an Aston Martin and finished second in GTE Am.

#54 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3

Drivers: Francesco Castellacci (9th), Thomas Flohr (8th), Davide Rigon (10th)

Test Day: 15th

About This Team: Castellacci, Flohr and Rigon were third in the GTE Am championship last year and won at Fuji. It was Castellacci and Flohr's first WEC victory since Fuji 2017. They were fifth in GTE Am at Le Mans last year.Through three races, the #54 Ferrari has 23 points with its best finish being fifth at Qatar.

#55 Vista AF Corse Ferrari 296 GT3

Drivers: François Heriau (1st), Simon Mann (3rd), Alessio Rovera (4th)

Test Day: 14th

About This Team: Rovera won at Le Mans in GTE Am in 2021. Mann has had two different co-drivers in each of his three Le Mans appearances. Heriau was supposed to make his Le Mans debut in 2021 in the SRT41 Garage 56 entry but an injury kept him from participating. Mann and Heriau were co-drivers in the Asian Le Mans this past winter and were eighth in that championship with Rigon as their third driver. 

#59 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo

Drivers: Nicolas Costa (1st), James Cottingham (1st), Grégoire Saucy (1st)

Test Day: 5th

About This Team: The #59 McLaren enters Le Mans coming off a fourth-place finish at Spa-Francorchamps. Costa won the Porsche Carrera Cup Brasil championship last year. Cottingham was runner-up in the British GT Championship GT3 class last year. Saucy is a part of the ELMS LMP2 Pro/Am championship leading team.

#60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2

Drivers: Matteo Cressoni (7th), Franck Perera (1st), Claudio Schiavoni (6th)

Test Day: 5th

About This Team: After driving a Ferrari and a Porsche the previous two years at Le Mans, Cressoni is now in a Lamborghini. Perera won the GTD class at the 24 Hours of Daytona in 2018. Cressoni and Schiavoni were third in the ELMS GT championship last year. The #60 Lamborghini was third at Spa-Francorchamps.

#66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 296 GT3

Drivers: Giacomo Petrobelli (2nd), Larry ten Voorde (2nd), Salih Yoluç (6th)

Test Day: 18th

About This Team: Ten Voorde has opened the 2024 Porsche Supercup season with two victories. This is the Dutchman's first Le Mans appearance since 2020 when he was fourth in GTE Am. Yoluç won the GTE Am class that year, and the Turkish driver is focused on the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup this season while Petrobelli is running in British GT. Petrobelli and JMW retired after 89 laps last year due to an accident. 

#70 Inception Racing McLaren 720S GT3 Evo

Drivers: Brendan Iribe (3rd), Ollie Millroy (3rd), Frederik Schandorff (1st)

Test Day: 12th

About This Team: Iribe and Millroy did not run Le Mans last year, but they ran the two years prior to that. Schandorff and Iribe are full-time in IMSA and they were sixth in the GTD championship last year.

#77 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3

Drivers: Ben Barker (9th), Ryan Hardwick (2nd), Zacharie Robichon (3rd)

Test Day: 21st

About This Team: The #77 Ford has been ninth in the last two WEC races. Barker scored his first class podium at Le Mans last year when he was third in GTE Am. This is the first time Barker is not driving a Gulf/GR Racing Porsche. Hardwick and Robichon fell out after 28 laps in last year's race. Hardwick and Robichon did win the ELMS GT championship last year.

#78 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3

Drivers: Timur Boguslavskiy (1st), Arnold Robin (3rd), Kelvin van der Linde (1st)

Test Day: 4th

About This Team: In its first season in WEC, Lexus has only one point between its two entries. Boguslavskiy is a two-time GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup champion while Robin won the Michelin Le Mans Cup GT3 championship last year. Van der Linde is a two-time 24 Hours Nürburgring winner. 

#81 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

Drivers: Rui Andrade (4th), Charlie Eastwood (5th), Tom van Rompuy (2nd)

Test Day: 10th

About This Team: The #81 Corvette won pole position at the Qatar season opener but failed to score points in two fo the first three rounds of the WEC season. Andrade won the WEC LMP2 title last year while Eastwood was second in the GTE Am class at Le Mans. Eastwood won in GTE Am at Le Mans in 2020. Van Rompuy made his debut in LMP2 last year and finished 32nd overall, 31 lap down and 17 laps off the LMP2 class winner.

#82 TF Sport Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R

Drivers: Sébastien Baud (1st), Daniel Juncadella (1st), Hiroshi Koizumi (1st)

Test Day: 1st

About This Team: The #82 Corvette has yet to finish better than eighth this season, but it was on top o the test with a lap at 3:59.883. Juncadella was second in the IMSA GTD Pro championship last year. Baud drove in GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup's bronze class last year and Koizumi was in Michelin Le Mans Cup in 2023.

#85 Iron Dames Lamborghini Huracán GT3 Evo 2

Drivers: Sarah Bovy (4th), Rahel Frey (7th), Michelle Gatting (6th)

Test Day: 8th

About This Team: Frey remains in the Iron Dames entry as Doraine Pin misses the race due to a ribs injury suffered in Formula Regional European competition. This trio was fourth in GTE Am last year and they ended up second in the championship. Iron Dames was on pole position at Spa-Francorchamps before finishing fifth.

#86 GR Racing Ferrari 296 GT3

Drivers: Riccardo Pera (4th), Daniel Serra (8th), Michael Wainwright (9th)

Test Day: 11th

About This Team: GR Racing moved to ELMS competition this year and Pera and Wainwright are third in the championship after finishing second and fifth in the first two races. They were third at Le Mans last year. With Rigon driving for AF Corse, Serra moves over from Kessel Racing in ELMS. Serra has been first or second in class in four Le Mans appearances. 

#87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus RC F GT3

Drivers: Takeshi Kimura (6th), Jack Hawksworth (1st), Esteban Masson (1st)

Test Day: 16th

About This Team: Hawksworth found a seat in the #87 Lexus lineup after José María López moved to the #7 Toyota in Hypercar after Mike Conway's injury. Hawksworth won the IMSA GTD Pro championship last year, and he won the GTD Pro class in the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year. The #87 Lexus has finished 16th, 15th and 14th in the first three WEC races.

#88 Proton Competition Ford Mustang GT3

Drivers: Dennis Olsen (3rd), Mikkel O. Pedersen (3rd), Giorgio Roda (3rd)

Test Day: 19th

About This Team: Olsen returns to Le Mans for the first time in three years. Pedersen's entry has not finished in his first two Le Mans appearances. Roda last appeared at Le Mans in 2019 and, like Pedersen, neither of Roda's first two entries have finished the race.

#91 Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

Drivers: Richard Lietz (18th), Morris Schuring (1st), Yasser Shahin (1st)

Test Day: 22nd

About This Team: The most recent winners at Spa-Francorchamp, Lietz is looking for his fifth Le Mans class victory. Shahin is a two-time GT World Challenge Australia champion and he won the Pro-Am class in the Bathurst 12 Hour earlier this year. Schuring was fourth in Porsche Supercup last year.

#92 Manthey Pure Rxing Porsche 911 GT3 R (992)

Drivers: Klaus Bachler (4th), Alex Malykhin (1st), Joel Sturm (1st)

Test Day: 23rd

About This Team: After finishes of first, third and second, the #92 Porsche leads the LMGT3 championship on 72 points, 35 points ahead of the competition. The Pure Rxing group won the Asian Le Mans GT championship this past winter.

#95 United Autosports McLaren 720S GT3 Evo

Drivers: Hiroshi Hamaguchi (1st), Nico Pino (2nd), Marino Sato (1st)

Test Day: 7th

About This Team: Hamaguchi joins this team for Le Mans replacing Josh Caygill, who runs the remainder of the WEC season. Pino was third in LMP2 last year at Le Mans while Sato was second in the ELMS LMP2 championship in 2023 with United Autosports. 

#155 Spirit of Race Ferrari 296 GT3

Drivers: Conrad Laursen (1st), Johnny Laursen (2nd), Jordan Taylor (9th)

Test Day: 20th

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About This Team: Taylor makes his first Le Mans appearance in something other than a Corvette. He won the 12 Hours of Sebring earlier this year driving a Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura. The Laursens won the ELMS season opener in the GT3 class at Barcelona. Johnny Laursen's first Le Mans appearance was in 2016. 

#777 D'station Racing Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 Evo

Drivers: Erwan Bastard (1st), Satoshi Hoshino (5th), Marco Sørensen (10th)

Test Day: 17th

About This Team: Bastard spent last season in the GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup - Silver Cup class. D'station has failed to finish in the previous two years at Le Mans. Sørensen won in the GTE Am class at Le Mans two years ago.

Wednesday Recap

BMW was the surprise fastest in the Hypercar qualifying session as the #15 BMW had the fastest lap at 3:24.465. The #3 Cadillac was second only 0.177 seconds off the leading BMW. The #50 Ferrari was third while the #35 Alpine was in fourth. 

The #2 Cadillac rounded out the top five, only 0.056 seconds ahead of the #51 Ferrari. The #6 Porsche was another 0.002 seconds behind the Ferrari in seventh. The #7 Toyota brought out a red flag and had all of its lap times deleted, meaning the Japanese manufacturer will not have a representative in Hyperpole session. With the #7 Toyota knocked out of the top eight, the #12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche took the final Hyperpole spot. However, the #12 Porsche suffered an accident in Wednesday night practice and the team will be changing over to a spare chassis ahead of Thursday’s sessions.

The #36 Alpine will be starting ninth ahead of the #5 Porsche and #8 Toyota. The #83 Ferrari will start 12th while the best Lamborghini will be the #63 entry in 13th. Proton Competition's #99 Porsche takes 14th on the grid ahead of the #93 Peugeot, #20 BMW and #38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche.

Whelen Cadillac Racing has the #311 Cadillac starting 18th, just ahead of the #4 Porsche. The #94 Peugeot rounds out the top twenty ahead of the #19 Lamborghini and the #11 Isotta Fraschini. With the lap times deleted, the #7 Toyota will start 23rd on race day.

Cool Racing led the LMP2 qualifying session with the #37 Oreca running a lap at 3:32.827, over three tenths faster than the #14 AO by TF Oreca. United Autosport put the #23 Oreca third in the session with the #65 Panis Racing exactly one second off the top time.

The #28 IDEC Sport Race rounded out the top five ahead of the #10 Vector Sport Oreca. DKR Engineering was a surprise in seventh while the #22 United Autosport Oreca took the final spot in the LMP2 Hyperpole session.

Seven different manufacturers took the eight Hyperpole spots in LMGT3, starting with the #77 Proton Competition Ford, which ran a lap at 3:55.263. Inception Racing had the #70 McLaren in second, 0.143 seconds off the top with the #82 TF Sport Corvette in third, 0.842 seconds from the #77 Ford. The #60 Iron Lynx Lamborghini was in fourth.

Manthey Pure Rxing had the #92 Porsche in fifth ahead of the #27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin by 0.054 seconds. JMW Motorsport had the #66 Ferrari in seventh while D'Station Racing took the final spot with the #777 Aston Martin 0.030 seconds ahead of the #85 Iron Dames Lamborghini and 0.061 seconds clear of the #87 Akkodis ASP Team Lexus.

Thursday begins with a three-hour practice at 9:00 a.m. ET. Hyperpole qualifying will take place at 2:00 p.m. ET before a one-hour night practice at 4:00 p.m. ET. 

There will be a 15-minute warm-up at 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 10 with the 91st 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET.

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans LMP2 Preview

Though absent from the FIA World Endurance Championship, the LMP2 class will remain present at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Sixteen entries fill the secondary prototype class meant for gentlemen drivers. Fourteen of the 16 entries come from the European Le Mans Series while the other two cars come from IMSA. All of the entries are Oreca 07 chassis. 

 

#9 Proton Competition Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Macéo Capietto (1st), Jonas Ried (2nd), Bent Viscaal (3rd)

Test Day: 15th

About This Team: While running full-time in ELMS, Viscaal has also sampled IMSA's GTP class this season. At 19 years old, Ried is in his second year of LMP2 competition. Capietto's first two sports car races were earlier this year in ELMS with Ried as his co-driver. 

#10 Vector Sport Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Ryan Cullen (6th), Patrick Pilet (16th), Stéphane Richelmi (4th)

Test Day: 8th

About This Team: This is the fifth consecutive year Pilet is competing in LMP2 at Le Mans. Richelmi returns for the first time since 2019. He won in LMP2 in 2016 and he was second in 2019. Cullen's best class finish at Le Mans was seventh last year. 

#14 AO by TF Sport Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Louis Delétraz (6th), P.J. Hyett (2nd), Alex Quinn (1st) 

Test Day: 3rd

About This Team: Delétraz was one of the best-kept secrets in sports car racing until Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti signed him for a full IMSA season. Deletraz has been second in LMP2 the last two years at Le Mans. Hyett is leaping up from GTE Am competition. He ran a full Asian Le Mans Series season and the first two IMSA races in LMP2. Quinn spent most of 2022 on the sidelines but won all three U.S. F2000 races he started. Last year, he was an IMSA Endurance Cup driver for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports. 

#22 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Bijoy Garg (1st), Oliver Jarvis (12th), Nolan Siegel (1st)

Test Day: 2nd

About This Team: Jarvis ended up second in the ELMS championship last year with three victories. His lone class victory at Le Mans was seven years ago in LMP2 when it also netted an overall runner-up finish. Garg is a rookie in ELMS after winning the IMSA VP Racing SportsCar Challenge championship last year. Siegel has been splitting his time between Indy Lights and IndyCar in 2024, but he won two races in IMSA's LMP2 class last year as an Endurance Cup driver for CrowdStrike Racing by APR. Siegel was not at the test day due to his IndyCar start with Juncos Hollinger Racing, but the #22 Oreca was second fastest on the test day. 

#23 United Autosports Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Filipe Albuquerque (11th), Ben Hanley (8th), Ben Keating (10th)

Test Day: 6th

About This Team: Albuquerque enters Le Mans as the most recent winner in IMSA at Detroit. Hanley is currently second in the ELMS championship while also running in IMSA while Keating. Keating has won at Le Mans the last two years in GTE Am. This is his first appearance in an LMP2 car since 2017, but he won the IMSA LMP2 championship last year.

#24 Nielsen Racing Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: David Heinemeier Hansson (11th), Fabio Scherer (5th), Kyffin Simpson (1st)

Test Day: 14th

About This Team: Scherer was a part of the Le Mans-winning Inter Europol Competition entry last year. Simpson won the ELMS championship last year and has been having a respectable IndyCar rookie season. Heinemeier Hansson is ten years removed from his Le Mans class win in GTE Am. In LMP2 competition, he has never finished better than tenth in class. 

#25 Algarve Pro Racing Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Olli Caldwell (2nd), Romain De Angelis (1st), Matthias Kaiser (2nd)

Test Day: 9th

About This Team: Caldwell and Kaiser were second in the ELMS round from Barcelona. De Angelis comes over in place of Alex Lynn, who is driving for Cadillac in Hypercar. The Canadian has finished third, first and second in IMSA's GTD championship the previous three years. This is De Angelis' first LMP2 start.

#28 IDEC Sport Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Reshad de Gerus (3rd), Paul Lafargue (8th), Job van Uitert (6th)

Test Day: 1st

About This Team: The #28 IDEC Oreca led the test day at 3:37.044. IDEC has finished fourth in each of the first two ELMS races this year, and it started on pole position for the second race at Circuit Paul Ricard. Lafargue has finished fifth, sixth, sixth, eighth and sixth in his last five Le Mans starts. Van Uitert's best class finish at Le Mans was sixth in LMP2 as a rookie in 2019.

#30 Duqueine Team Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: James Allen (7th), John Falb (3rd), Jean-Baptiste Simmenauer (1st)

Test Day: 12th

About This Team: Simmenauer is making the step into LMP2 racing after spending the last few years in GT competition. He and Allen are co-drivers in ELMS. Allen is coming off the ELMS championship in 2023, and he has been in the top LMP2 Pro-Am entry the last two years at Le Mans. Falb last ran at Le Mans in 2020. Both of his previous two starts have been in LMP2.

#33 DKR Engineering Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: René Binder (8th), Laurents Hörr (3rd), Alexander Mattschull (1st)

Test Day: 16th

About This Team: Binder was third in LMP2 last year at Le Mans while Hörr is in his second season of ELMS LMP2 competition. Mattschull has run regularly in the 24H Series lately. This was the slowest car on the test day, 6.768 seconds off the #28 IDEC Sport Oreca.

#34 Inter Europol Competition Oreca-Gibson    

Drivers: Vladislav Lomko (2nd), Clémenet Novalak (1st), Jakub Śmiechowski (6th)

Test Day: 4th

About This Team: Lomko is leading the ELMS championship through two races and won at Circuit Paul Ricard last month. Novalak is in his first season of sports car racing. Šmiechowski won at Le Mans last year in LMP2, his first victory in five seasons of LMP2 competition across ELMS and WEC.

#37 Cool Racing Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Lorenzo Fluxá (1st), Malthe Jakobsen (2nd), Ritomo Miyata (1st)

Test Day: 7th

About This Team: This trio won the ELMS season opener at Barcelona. Miyata has had a trying season in Formula Two with only three points finishes in the first ten races. Jakobsen did win the Asian Le Mans Series LMP2 championship over the winter. Fluxá only started racing sports cars this year.

#45 CrowdStrike Racing by APR Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Colin Braun (3rd), Nicky Catsburg (6th) George Kurtz (2nd)

Test Day: 10th

About This Team: Braun is coming off an exceptional IMSA season in 2023 where he won the 24 Hours of Daytona and Petit Le Mans. He and Kurtz have been paired in GT World Challenge America competition and regularly are competing at the front. They were tenth in LMP2 last year at Le Mans, but were the top Pro-Am entry. Catsburg won last year in GTE Am, but he will be making his LMP2 debut this year.

#47 Cool Racing Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Matt Bell (2nd), Naveen Rao (1st), Frederik Vesti (1st)

Test Day: 13th

About This Team: Vesti was second in the Formula Two championship last year, and along with ELMS competition, he has been keeping busy as a Mercedes-AMG Formula One reserve driver. Bell's only Le Mans start was two years ago. Rao has competed in only five races over the last three years, one GT World Challenge Europe Endurance Cup race, two Porsche Carrera Cup North America races and two Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America races.

#65 Panis Racing Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Mathias Beche (10th), Scott Huffaker (2nd), Rodrigo Sales (2nd)

Test Day: 5th

About This Team: Beche and Sales are together again and running last year at Le Mans. Unfortunately, they only completed 18 laps in last year's race. They are currently leading the ELMS LMP2 Pro-Am championship standings. Huffaker was a regular winner in IMSA's LMP2 class. He spent last year in GTE competition driving for Kessel Racing. 

#183 AF Corse Oreca-Gibson

Drivers: Ben Barnicoat (4th), François Perrodo (12th), Nicolás Varrone (3rd)

Test Day: 11th

About This Team: Barnicoat and Perrodo remain together for another year at Le Mans. This year, Varrone joins the Anglo-Franco duo a year after the Argentine won in GTE Am. Barnicoat has been one of the best drivers in IMSA's GTD Pro category for the last three years. Perrodo won at Le Mans in GTE Am three years ago, but he was third in LMP2 in 2019. 

Practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin today at 8:00 a.m. ET and last for three hours. Qualifying practice will be for one-hour at 1:00 p.m. ET with night practice lasting two hours and beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET. 

Thursday begins with a three-hour practice at 9:00 a.m. ET. Hyperpole qualifying will take place at 2:00 p.m. ET before a one-hour night practice at 4:00 p.m. ET. 

There will be a 15-minute warm-up at 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 15 with the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET. 

2024 24 Hours of Le Mans Hypercar Preview

For the 92nd time, the town of Le Mans will host a 24-hour race through its streets to determine who has built the best machine for endurance. This year's race will have 62 entries, but we are seeing another year of regulation changes, as this will be the first year with GT3 regulations and this is the first time since 2010 the LMP2 class is competing in a non-championship form. 

Hypercar is back with 23 entries, matched for the most with LMGT3. In Hypercar, nine manufacturers are represented with four cars making their Le Mans debut this year. Out of the 69 drivers in the top class, 13 of them are past Le Mans overall winners while ten drivers entered in Hypercar this year will be making their Le Mans debut. 

Ferrari enters as the defending race winners and it will have three entries looking for the Italian manufacturers' 11th Le Mans triumph. Porsche has a half-dozen cars as it shoots for it 20th Le Mans victory. Toyota is looking to get back on top after its five-year winning streak ended last year. Peugeot is going for its fourth Le Mans victory while BMW is looking to add its second Le Mans victory, its first since 1999. 

Cadillac has three cars entered in hopes of being the first American manufacturer to win the race since 1969. Along with Cadillac, Alpine, Lamborghini and Isotta Fraschini are all competing for their first Le Mans victory.

This year's race marks the fourth of eight rounds in the 2024 FIA World Endurance Championship.

#2 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R

Drivers: Earl Bamber (8th), Alex Lynn (8th), Álex Palou (1st)

Test Day: 16th

About This Team: The #2 Cadillac will have a five-spot grid penalty after Bamber caused an accident at Spa-Francorchamps. Bamber and Lynn were on the podium last year and Cadillac showed good reliability but didn't have the pace to compete with Ferrari and Toyota. Bamber has been on the overall podium in all three years he has competed in the top class. This will be Palou's second race in the Cadillac, but he is an otherworldly talent. 

#3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac V-Series.R

Drivers: Sébastien Bourdais (17th), Scott Dixon (6th), Renger van der Zande (7th)

Test Day: 19th

About This Team: Bourdais is the most experienced driver in the Hypercar class and an overall victory would give him the record for most starts before a first overall Le Mans victory. This lineup was fourth last year and it was second at the 12 Hours of Sebring in March. Cadillac will be carrying more weight at Le Mans after a six-kilogram increase in the Balance of Performance ahead of the test day. 

#4 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963

Drivers: Mathieu Jaminet (3rd), Felipe Nasr (5th), Nick Tandy (12th)

Test Day: 2nd

About This Team: Porsche looks to be the manufacturer to beat entering Le Mans. It has won two of three WEC and it has won two of five IMSA races, including the 24 Hours of Daytona. Nasr was a member of the Daytona winning team. Jaminet and Tandy won at Laguna Seca. This lineup only completed 84 laps last year at Le Mans due to a fuel pressure issue. This car was 0.235 seconds off the best time on the test day, which was set by one of its sister cars, the #6 Porsche.

#5 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963

Drivers: Matt Campbell (6th), Michael Christensen (10th), Frédéric Makowiecki (14th)

Test Day: 4th

About This Team: Campbell had a stellar race at Daytona in January as the endurance driver. The #5 Porsche has started on pole position in two of the first three WEC races with a pair of third-place finishes. Last year, Christensen and Makowiecki did not get on the podium once. All three factory Porsches were within a second of one another on the test day.

#6 Porsche Penske Motorsport Porsche 963

Drivers: Kévin Estre (10th), André Lotterer (13th), Laurens Vanthoor (9th)

Test Day: 1st

About This Team: The #6 Porsche leads the World Endurance Drivers' Championship through three races with 74 points, and it was fastest on the test day with its best lap at 3:26.907. This team has finished first, second and second in the first three races. Lotterer has three overall Le Mans victory, but the most recent was a decade ago. Estre and Vanthoor were co-drivers in the 2018 Le Mans GTE Pro winning entry with Christensen.

#7 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid

Drivers: Kamui Kobayashi (10th), José María López (8th), Nyck de Vries (5th)

Test Day: 9th

About This Team: Mike Conway suffered an injury in a cycling accident and has been removed. López has been drafted in from the Lexus LMGT3 program to fill this vacancy. The #7 Toyota won at Imola and is currently third in the championship. Prior to last year's retirement, the #7 Toyota had been on the overall podium in five consecutive years and in six of the previous seven. This is de Vries first year at Le Mans in the premier class.

#8 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota GR010 Hybrid

Drivers: Sébastien Buemi (13th), Brendon Hartley (11th), Ryō Hirakawa (5th)

Test Day: 3rd

About This Team: The #8 Toyota has not finished better than fifth this year in WEC. This is the longest podium drought for this entry since a 14-race stretch that started in May 2015 and went through October 2016. This car has been first or second in six consecutive years at Le Mans. The #8 Toyota was within 0.708 seconds of the top time on the test day. Buemi could become the sixth driver with at least five Le Mans victories. Hartley could become the tenth driver with at least four Le Mans victories.

#11 Isotta Fraschini Isotta Fraschini Tipo 6-C

Drivers: Carl Bennett (1st), Antonio Serravalle (1st), Jean-Karl Vernay (2nd)

Test Day: 23rd

About This Team: Isotta Fraschini was 2.583 seconds off the next slowest car on the test day. It is three seconds away from being three seconds away. Its best finish in class through three races is 15th. Vernay's only other Le Mans appearance was in 2013, where he won in the GTE Am class.

#12 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963

Drivers: Callum Ilott (2nd), Norman Nato (7th), Will Stevens (9th)

Test Day: 10th

About This Team: Hertz Team Jota ride a high into Le Mans after its victory in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps last month. Combined with a finish of second in Qatar, Ilott and Stevens are second in the championship, 22 points off the #6 Porsche. Jota has three class victories at Le Mans, all in LMP2, including two years ago with Stevens as one of its drivers.

#15 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8

Drivers: Raffaele Marciello (1st), Dries Vanthoor (5th), Marco Wittmann (1st)

Test Day: 15th

About This Team: The #15 BMW has failed to score a point through three races. Marciello and Wittmann are still brand new to prototype racing let alone Le Mans debutants. Vanthoor won on his Le Mans debut in the GTE Am class seven years ago. He competed the previous two years in the LMP2 class.

#19 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63

Drivers: Matteo Cairoli (8th), Andrea Caldarelli (1st), Romain Grosjean (2nd)

Test Day: 18th

About This Team: This is the IMSA Endurance Cup team, which has only competed at the 12 Hours of Sebring, where they finished seventh and on the lead lap, but was not much of a contender. Grosjean make this first Le Mans appearance since 2010 when he drove a Ford GT1 for Match Competition. Caldarelli dabbled in some LMP2 action last year ahead of this move into a prototype. Cairoli has only ever competed in the GTE Am class at Le Mans prior to this year.

#20 BMW M Team WRT BMW M Hybrid V8

Drivers: Robin Frijns (4th), René Rast (6th), Sheldon van der Linde (1st)

Test Day: 6th

About This Team: Sixth on the test day and only 1.165 seconds from the top time was a little bit of a surprise for the #20 BMW. The Art Car does have a past Le Mans class winner in Frijns at the wheel, as well as a driver who has five starts, all in prototype classes including a run in an Audi R18 e-tron quattro, in this race in Rast. This could be the sleeper for the 2024 race.

#35 Alpine Endurance Team Alpine A424

Drivers: Paul-Loup Chatin (10th), Ferdinand Habsburg (5th), Charles Milesi (5th)

Test Day: 20th

About This Team: Alpine has not shown the pace to be a race contender. The team has scored 11 points through the first three races. Habsburg is back after missing the last two races due to injuries suffered in a test at Aragón. Habsburg and Milesi won the LMP2 class at Le Mans three years ago. Chatin's first nine Le Mans appearances came in the LMP2 class. 

#36 Alpine Endurance Team  Alpine A424

Drivers: Nicolas Lapierre (16th), Mick Schumacher (1st), Matthieu Vaxivière (8th)

Test Day: 17th

About This Team: The #36 Alpine has not scored a point this season. Lapierre has four class victories at Le Mans. He and Vaxivière were third overall in a grandfathered LMP1 car. Schumacher makes his Le Mans debut 33 years after his father Michael's only Le Mans start. Michael Schumacher ran the fastest lap in the 1991 race as he was fifth overall in a Team Sauber Mercedes.

#38 Hertz Team Jota Porsche 963

Drivers: Jenson Button (3rd), Phil Hanson (8th), Oliver Rasmussen (3rd)

Test Day: 11th

About This Team: The second Hertz Team Jota entry has not had the same pace as the #12 Porsche through the first three races, but the #38 Porsche was right in line with its teammate on the test day. Though this is an experienced lineup, it is quite green in comparison to the other Hypercar lineups. Hanson did win in the LMP2 class in 2020, but he finished tenth or worse the last three years in LMP2 at Le Mans.

#50 Ferrari - AF Corse Ferrari 499P

Drivers: Antonio Fuoco (4th), Miguel Molina (8th), Nicklas Nielsen (5th)

Test Day: 5th

About This Team: Though this was not the winning team at Le Mans last year, the #50 Ferrari was the more celebrated entry for the entire 2023 season. It is currently the best Ferrari in the championship, tied for fourth on 40 points, and it was third at Spa-Francorchamps. This group is still looking for its first WEC victory. It was on pole position last year at Le Mans. It will be a factor in this race.

#51 Ferrari - AF Corse Ferrari 499P

Drivers: James Calado (10th), Antonio Giovinazzi (3rd), Alessandro Pier Guidi (9th)

Test Day: 12th

About This Team: Since winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans last year, the #51 Ferrari has not finished on the podium in its last six starts. It was fourth at Spa-Francorchamps last month. This was the slowest of the three Ferraris on the test day. 

#63 Lamborghini Iron Lynx Lamborghini SC63

Drivers: Mirko Bortolotti (3rd), Daniil Kyvat (2nd), Edoardo Mortara (1st)

Test Day: 7th

About This Team: The full-time WEC Lamborghini has not scored a point this season. Bortolotti and Kyvat were co-drivers last year in LMP2, but retired after completing 113 laps. Bortolotti is a two-time class winner in the 24 Hours of Daytona, both in the GTD class. Mortara has spent the last seven seasons competing in Formula E.

#83 AF Corse Ferrari 499P

Drivers: Robert Kubica (4th), Robert Shwartzman (1st), Ye Yifei (4th)

Test Day: 8th

About This Team: The privateer Ferrari is ahead of the #51 Ferrari in the championship, but the #83 Ferrari has finished eighth in the last two races. Kubica won the LMP2 championship last year in WEC and he was runner-up in LMP2 the last two years at Le Mans. Shwartzman was the 2019 Formula Three championship and runner-up in the 2021 Formula Two championship to Oscar Piastri. Ye and Kubica were leading the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the LMP2 class three years ago before the car broke down on the final lap and the car was not classified. Ye made his Hypercar class debut last year driving for Hertz Team Jota.

#93 Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8 2024

Drivers: Nico Müller (3rd), Mikkel Jensen (5th), Jean-Éric Vergne (6th)

Test Day: 21st

About This Team: Peugeot is bringing an updated 9X8 with a rear spoiler. Results have not been much better with the new car. The #93 Peugeot has finished ninth and tenth in the last two races. None of these three drivers have ever finished better than fifth in class at Le Mans.

#94 Peugeot TotalEnergies Peugeot 9X8 2024

Drivers: Loïc Duval (12th), Paul di Resta (6th), Stoffel Vandoorne (3rd)

Test Day: 13th

About This Team: The #94 Peugeot has yet to finish better than 14th this season in WEC competition. Duval won overall 11 years ago with Audi. Di Resta won in the LMP2 class four years ago. This is Vandoorne's first Le Mans appearance since 2021. He was third overall in 2019 and second in LMP2 in 2021.

#99 Proton Competition Porsche 963

Drivers: Julian Andlauer (7th), Neel Jani (14th), Harry Tincknell (11th)

Test Day: 22nd

About This Team: Andlauer and Jani were fifth in the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps as Tincknell was unable to compete due to IMSA commitments. All three drivers have won at Le Mans before. Jani won overall in 2016 with Porsche. Tincknell has two class victories, on debut in 2014 with Jota in LMP2 and in 2020 with Aston Martin in GTE Pro. Andlauer won on debut in 2018 in GTE Am.

#311 Action Express Racing Cadillac V-Series.R

Drivers: Jack Aitken (3rd), Pipo Derani (9th), Felipe Drugovich (1st)

Test Day: 14th

About This Team: Action Express was runner-up in the 24 Hours of Daytona in January from pole position, and a promising Sebring was ended after an untimely accident. Aitken has settled in as a full-time driver of the Cadillac in IMSA. Derani is a great leader, but Drugovich has two sports car races to his name. 

Practice for the 24 Hours of Le Mans will begin at 8:00 a.m. ET on Wednesday June 12 and last for three hours. Qualifying practice will be for one-hour at 1:00 p.m. ET with night practice lasting two hours and beginning at 4:00 p.m. ET. 

Thursday begins with a three-hour practice at 9:00 a.m. ET. Hyperpole qualifying will take place at 2:00 p.m. ET before a one-hour night practice at 4:00 p.m. ET. 

There will be a 15-minute warm-up at 6:00 a.m. ET on Saturday June 15 with the 92nd 24 Hours of Le Mans beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET. 

Musings From the Weekend: The 100 Days After...

Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...

NASCAR made the right decision, though it took significantly longer than it should have. The Le Mans test day took place. Jacques Villeneuve was in the news, and he had a point. There was some history at Road America that made everyone happy. Will Power won for the first time in over two years and wasn't the only drought that ended this weekend. IndyCar's off-track circus became rather unavoidable, and it isn't over yet, and that leads to what should be discussed this week.

The 100 Days After...

Friday saw the conclusion of the second season of "100 Days to Indy," IndyCar's docuseries that airs on The CW, which has also found a streaming home on Netflix for the first season with the second season likely to be released on the streaming giant in quick succession. 

Season two followed the IndyCar Series through one of its most controversial periods, and that is saying something because IndyCar has had a few notable controversies over its existence. 

It captured IndyCar's biggest cheating scandal in real-time, a tough thing to do as the news of Team Penske's data manipulation of the push-to-pass system came out days before the season two premiere. With an episode already in the can, there was no time for adjustments on the first episode. It would be shown as the St. Petersburg event happened, believing Josef Newgarden had opened the 2024 season with a dominant performance to kick off the run to his Indianapolis 500 defense.  

It might have been the best way to handle the opening of the 2024 season, showing the news as it happened instead of jumping around. It was not an envious position for the producers who likely had the first two episodes, if not the first three, finished when the news broke, but it did tackle the penalty and the scenes at Barber Motorsports Park days after the announcement in full. 

Episode four from Barber was all about the penalty. The puff was gone. We started right at the track as all the drivers arrived and gave quotes about the incident. We got right to Newgarden's emotional press conference. It was the best way to tackle it. Wedding planning and clothes shopping and any life away from the track ended up on the cutting room floor.

"100 Days to Indy" is a tight turnaround show. The final few episodes are turned around only two weeks after a race occurred. Time is non-existent for creative editing or storytelling. The production crew is handcuffed, but in each of its two seasons it has done a fine job of presenting IndyCar and the weeks leading up and through the Indianapolis 500.

But what about the 100 days after? 

To be accurate, 113 days follow the Indianapolis 500 through the 2024 IndyCar season finale from Nashville Superspeedway. The stories do not stop because the Indianapolis 500 is over. This was the biggest complaint when the "100 Day to Indy" series was first announced ahead of the 2023 season. It was not been corrected for 2024. A lot is missed and this is short-changing IndyCar from growing as a series. 

The Indianapolis 500 is great, the most important race on the IndyCar schedule, arguably the biggest race in the world, but all is being sold is the Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar needs to sell all of it. It must sell every event from March through September. It needs more viewers for Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio, Iowa and Toronto. This series is great through May, but then the series vanishes and any potential audience is only getting a fraction of what actually happens. 

In the days following this year's "500," there was a great collective vocalization from drivers, team owners and others in IndyCar wondering how to get the nearly six million viewers for the Indianapolis 500 to tune in for all the other races. I don't think I have heard more drivers expressing exasperation over the steep falloff in viewership they were about to experience not only from Indianapolis to Detroit but from Indianapolis to the rest of the season. 

Every other race will get a smaller rating compared to Indianapolis, but everyone within IndyCar wishes the drop off wasn't so steep. It is almost a 90º drop straight down. Something gradual would at least be understandable. 

If IndyCar had an average viewership of two million people, I think everyone would feel considerably better. How can IndyCar raise the average to that level? Around five million people have been watching the Indianapolis 500 for the last decade or so, and every year the races that are not the Indianapolis 500 are hovering around a million viewers. The Indianapolis 500 hasn't done enough to entice more people to stick around. We must realize it will take more than the Indianapolis 500 to grow IndyCar. 

This is where "100 Days to Indy" comes in or whatever the hell you would call a docuseries that would follow the entire IndyCar season. 

The Monaco Grand Prix didn't make Formula One bigger in the United States, nor did the Italian Grand Prix or the British Grand Prix or even the United States Grand Prix from Austin. We all know "Drive to Survive," a docuseries on Netflix, is the reason Formula One has not only grown in the United States but around the globe. 

It wasn't the racing that people were attracted to. It was the stories. "Drive to Survive" made the drivers relatable to the audience. They gave people who never cared about racing a reason to care. It gave them lovable underdogs as well as the best in the world and made them more than just a driver. It is a glamorous  job taking people around the world, but it showed the drivers as mortals, expressing the same anxieties and frustrations as the common man working 9 to 5.

The background was brought to the foreground, and people was intrigued with what happened beyond the 300-kilometer grand prix on Sunday. There is plenty of exciting things that happen beyond the racetrack. Driver news is exciting. Intra-team conflicts are intoxicating. All sports have it. There is an audience love every aspect of a sport. Football fans love "Hard Knocks" just as much as they love spending an afternoon watching the games on the couch. Think about the obsession that is fantasy football. Football is more than four quarters and 60 minutes on Sunday.

IndyCar needs IndyCar to be bigger. Hoping for the 108th consecutive year that the Indianapolis 500 will be the springboard is insanity at this point. Maybe a few hundred people or a thousand people see the Indianapolis 500 and stick around. We have enough evidence to know it is not millions and it will never be millions. 

This has been written many times before and it will continue to be written until someone within IndyCar recognizes the same thing. The racing doesn't matter. Nobody cares if there were 25,000 passes in a race and 100 lead changes and the lead changed hands six times on the final lap before being decided by 0.000001 seconds in a three-wide photo finish. You must make the people competing matter. Give an audience someone to care about, and acknowledge it must be done over the entire season. 

IndyCar's biggest story the last two seasons has been Álex Palou. First, in 2022 when Palou publicly refuted Chip Ganassi Racing announcing it was exercising its option to retain him for the 2023 while Palou was saying he was going to Arrow McLaren. Second, in 2023 when Palou signed an extension to remain with Chip Ganassi Racing despite having already agreed to terms with McLaren for 2024 as Palou went on to win his second championship.

IndyCar's greatest drama has not been on display for a greater audience. A docuseries that would be around and catch some of that background would go a long way. 

There is much more to IndyCar beyond the month of May, and that is what IndyCar must show! Giving a docuseries enough time to tell the stories and not in a slapdash manner is important . 

We could have seen Conor Daly losing his ride in real time last June rather than squeezing it into the start of episode five as a hurried catchup over everything that has happened in the year since the previous Indianapolis 500. 

Marcus Ericsson left Ganassi after winning the Indianapolis 500 and finishing second in the Indianapolis 500. 

Simon Pagenaud walked away from one of the most gnarly accidents we have seen in decades but it has put his career on hold. Pagenaud's exit opened the door for Linus Lundqvist. 

Christian Lundgaard won his first career race, and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had high moments, including Graham Rahal coming close to victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Some would call that redemption.

Scott Dixon went on a tear and showed he still has it.

Romain Grosjean burned out of Andretti Autosport. 

Juncos Hollinger Racing had not one, but two incidents where one of its drivers received online abuse from fans of the other Juncos Hollinger Racing driver.

And that is just from last year! Imagine if we had the show following the past two race weekends to cover Agustín Canapino, Théo Pourchaire, Arrow McLaren and JHR!

A lot happens in IndyCar. A lot of it is missed when the docuseries cuts you off at Memorial Day. 

Not everything will be captured, but most of it could. Most of this grid could become personable to an audience. That is what "Drive to Survive" has done for Formula One. It isn't only Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton. It is everyone. Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos Sainz, Jr., Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Yuki Tsunoda, Lando Norris, hell it has even made team personnel such as Zak Brown, Toto Wolff, Christian Horner, Otmar Szafnauer and, of course, Guenther Steiner household names.

There is great potential in a docuseries introducing IndyCar, all levels of it, to an audience, but IndyCar must want IndyCar to be on display. That means all of it, from St. Petersburg in March through Nashville in September. You must show it is more than the 100 days through the Indianapolis 500. IndyCar exists beyond that 100-day period. If you cut the audience off, then no one knows it exists nor what they are missing and they will not continue onward.

But if you keep the cameras on for the next 113 days, capturing everything that happens and show what the IndyCar Series is from start to finish, that is 113 more days for people to remain invested. 

Winners From the Weekend

You know about Will Power, but did you know...

Max Verstappen won the Canadian Grand Prix, his sixth victory of the season. 

Kyle Larson won the NASCAR Cup race from Sonoma, his third victory of the season. Shane van Gisbergen won the Grand National Series race, his second consecutive victory.

Jamie Chadwick won the Indy Lights race from Road America. Lochie Hughes swept the three USF Pro 2000 races. Sam Corry and Max Taylor split the U.S. F2000 races.

Jack Aitken and Marco Wittmann split the Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters races from Zandvoort.

Coming Up This Weekend

The 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The NASCAR Cup Series finally races at Iowa Speedway, albeit a butchered Iowa Speedway because somehow professional motorsports organizers have no clue how to take care of a racetrack.

Supercars will be at Darwin.

World Superbike is back in action at Misano.

First Impressions: Road America 2024

1. A messy start opened the door for Team Penske to take control of this race from Road America, but the winner was not the driver who led the most. It wasn't even the driver who spent the most time in second. Will Power was third for a good portion of this race, behind Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden, but on the penultimate stint, Power went the longest, require a shorter final pit stop, and Power pulled out in the lead and held the gap to the finish. 

It was a strange thing because up to that point we had seen the driver stopping earlier coming out and maintaining positions. McLaughlin had held off Newgarden on a few occasions despite Newgarden going a lap longer. On the final pit cycle, running long was the answer. When Newgarden emerged ahead of McLaughlin after going a lap longer, though Newgarden was already in the lead after McLaughlin lost time on the alternate tire, it felt like it was race over. I don't think anyone expected Power to go from third to first in the final pit cycle. 

Power wasn't far off but he didn't appear to be that close to leapfrog to the lead. Was one fewer lap of fuel that much of an advantage? It played a part. 

For Power, this ends a two-year slump. He had not won since the final Belle Isle race in 2022. Last year, Power's attention was split between racing and his family as his wife Liz battled illness. With the family in good shape, the job can take more focus and we are seeing it. Through seven races, Power has now finished first or second in four of them. He has two other finishes of sixth and his only bad day was 24th in the Indianapolis 500. 

This is the form we saw from Power in 2022 that won him a championship. Through seven races in 2024, Power is back on top of the championship. 

2. If this was the backup car, how good was the primary car for Josef Newgarden? After a massive hit in qualifying, Newgarden looked competitive today, and this felt like it was going to be his race. The cautions at the start minimized the burden of the alternate tire in the opening stint. When McLaughlin put on the alternate tire for the penultimate stint, it looked favorable for Newgarden. Those tires did not have the pace to hold onto the lead, and Newgarden was in touching distance. When Newgarden got ahead, it must have felt like his race to lose. 

It is hard to say Newgarden lost this race. He came in a lap after McLaughlin's final stop and Newgarden had the back-marker of Nolan Siegel directly ahead of him. Newgarden did the right thing. If he had gone another lap and lost the lead to McLaughlin, everyone would have been saying the team made a mistake. I don't think anyone expected Power to leap ahead from how far back he was. 

Going an extra lap might have kept Newgarden ahead of Power, but it doesn't mean he would have remained ahead of McLaughlin. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, but Newgarden needed a good result. Four of the first six races were results outside the top fifteen. An Indianapolis 500 victory can only cover over so much, especially since it is no longer double points. Newgarden needed a second-place finish, even if he had first in his grasp. 

3. The chaos at the start allowed Scott McLaughlin to vault from eighth to first. In the opening stint, it looked like McLaughlin was going to get lucky and stomp the field. McLaughlin left everyone in his dust for the most part, but only Newgarden could close in and keep it close. Then Power clawed his way into the battle. Again, if Newgarden had his primary car, and if this race didn't start with three of the top four starters spinning, I don't think McLaughlin is close to leading as many laps as he did. I am not sure McLaughlin finishes on the podium. He took advantage of the opportunity and this ended up being Team Penske's tenth 1-2-3 finish in IndyCar competition, and its first since the 2017 season finale at Sonoma. 

4. It was Team Penske and then everyone else today. It is only fitting Álex Palou led everyone else. Palou didn't do anything special. He definitely benefitted from the accident at the start. That was three fewer cars to pass, and Palou ended up finishing three spots better than he started. He isn't going to have many more bad days this season. Penske won today, but Palou leaves only five points behind Power in the championship. Palou will be back on top soon enough, and the championship will likely go through him.

5. This feels like another missed opportunity for Kyle Kirkwood and Andretti Global. It wasn't as bad as Detroit last week, but when three of the top four starters are spinning after the opening corner of the race and you are the one top four starter remaining straight, you should be thrilled. What Kirkwood did not see coming was McLaughlin flying from eighth to second and then taking the top spot on the first restart. Once McLaughlin was clear, Kirkwood could not keep up with McLaughlin or any of the Penske cars. Kirkwood still finished fifth, which is a great day for him, but this race was on a platter and he didn't take advantage of it. 

6. Colton Herta was spun at the start. Josef Newgarden got into the back of Herta as Herta eased up to avoid the spinning Linus Lundqvist and Marcus Armstrong. I was surprised a penalty was not called on Newgarden. I understand the reasoning. It was a chain reaction and Newgarden had nowhere to go, but it feels like IndyCar has called that type of contact as a penalty before. It was unfair for Herta, but it would have been unfair to Newgarden as well.

Herta has all right to be upset because an all-out strategy that ended up being a five-stop race meant the best he could do was finish sixth, 28.8662 seconds back. Herta thinks he could have won the last three races. I am not sure about Indianapolis, but Detroit and Road America I will give him. 

I don't know if there is a better way to redress positions when there is an incident like that. 

IndyCar didn't throw the caution immediately for that spin at the start. They let almost a half a lap go before it called a caution for Armstrong's stricken car. But why couldn't IndyCar give Herta all those spots back? It wouldn't have been something that happened eight laps prior or 24 laps prior. The caution was out before a lap was completed. There could be a provision on opening lap incidents or possibly even restart incidents where if one car is significantly disadvantaged after taking evasive action to avoid an accident, he can be put back to where he was at the time of the incident. 

It would be different and not how we have done it, but it is flexible to these circumstances where neither driver should be penalized, but one has been negatively affected. It requires some more thought. What if a driver has a tire puncture? Should he get to change tires and immediately be re-positioned to second or third? What if it is a restart with two laps to go? Maybe it should just be an opening lap thing, but I think there is a better way than to have one driver's chance of victory completely erased through one corner while an offending party gets no reprimand and has an improved chance of victory. 

7. We have seen enough speed to know Romain Grosjean was bound to have one good day. It happened at Road America. Grosjean didn't get into any incidents. The team called a good race. It got him seventh. It hasn't been a case where Grosjean has been regularly close to the top ten with Juncos Hollinger Racing, but he likely should have one or two more than he does at the moment. 

8. Patricio O'Ward was eighth. If you start 11th, you are not likely going to win. Eighth is as good as it might be. None of the Arrow McLaren cars looked great today. O'Ward wasn't a factor in this one.

9. Marcus Ericsson made it three Andretti Global cars in the top ten. Ericsson started 15th and he avoided the incidents. You are going to finish ninth if you avoid the trouble. Nothing spectacular but a good result for Ericsson after a tough end of May. 

10. It is hard to celebrate a tenth-place finish, but Graham Rahal should allow him to feel good about this race. Rahal was pushed off on the opening lap, in an entirely separate accident from the Lundqvist/Armstrong/Herta mess at the front. It was bad enough Rahal was starting 24th. A trip through the gravel was not what he needed, but he had to run an aggressive strategy, like Herta, and it got Rahal tenth from 24th. 

It is hard to celebrate making up 14 positions when it only gets you tenth. This has been the story of Rahal's career. Every year he has at least one if not two races where he makes up over a dozen positions and finishes in the top ten, and we all wonder if he only started a dozen spots better, he would have been competing for a victory. 

11. If there is a slight consolation for Rahal, it is he was the best Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver, as Christian Lundgaard was 11th. If Rahal had been tenth but Lundgaard was sixth, it is hollow. Lundgaard did ok today, but it is tough to make up many positions at Road America if you are on a normal three-stop strategy. With Pietro Fittipaldi in 16th, it isn't a bad day for RLLR, but it isn't a great day either. 

12. It is unclear how Linus Lundqvist recovered to finish 12th because after the opening lap spin, Lundqvist wasn't mentioned again. All I can say is, more pit stops, greater aggression and he can go from 25th to 12th over the final 50 laps. It is good recovery, but this was still a missed chance. This wasn't Lundqvist's fault. He didn't have the greatest start, but Marcus Armstrong was right under him through turn one. 

Armstrong was much too aggressive there. Everyone wants to win a race on lap one. In someways, it is the best time to make a move in an IndyCar race, but Armstrong needed more patience. At least get through turn three. To add insult to injury, Armstrong had mechanical issue hamper his day and end his race after 35 laps. 

13. I am going to jump up and finish Chip Ganassi Racing here because Ganassi had all five cars start in the top 12. It had three cars finish outside the top twenty. Besides the Lundqvist/Armstrong incident, Kyffin Simpson was spun off in the final corner on lap six when Christian Rasmussen made a boneheaded move. Simpson deserved better. 

Scott Dixon had the worst blisters imaginable on his alternate tires and it forced him off-strategy on the second stint of the race. Road America does not allow for much strategy variation. It is either you pit on lap 13 of a stint, lap 14 of a stint or lap 15 of a stint. That isn't a big window. When you must pit less than ten laps into a stint because your tires are blistering, your race is over. Dixon was screwed and he ended up 21st. 

Not a great day for Ganassi. 

14. Théo Pourchaire was 13th. That's fine. This was a race where nobody in the middle of the field really did anything remarkable. I don't know why Pourchaire finished 13th, but it is better than 14th. I have no clue what happened to Alexander Rossi that saw him drop to 18th. It felt like McLaren made a turn over the last two weeks. Here we are wondering what the hell happened as none of its cars were a factor.

15. Felix Rosenqvist actually had a good day. Moving up eight spots from 22nd to 14th isn't brilliant. It is good. Rosenqvist was a little off-strategy and running longer than most on the opening stint. It didn't quite result in a top ten day. He felt more active than others. He did finish five spots ahead of Hélio Castroneves. This has been a better year for Meyer Shank Racing. I am excited David Malukas will be in the #66 Honda for the remainder of the season. Malukas has been out of a car for most of the year, but I want to see what MSR does with a driver who should be more competitive with Rosenqvist. 

16. Santino Ferrucci was 15th and Sting Ray Robb was 17th. If you avoid doing stupid stuff, you avoid finishing last most of the time. If you were told at the start of the day A.J. Foyt Racing would finish 15th and 17th, you would say, "Yeah, that sounds about right."

17. Christian Rasmussen does get his nose dirty quite often. Rasmussen has to dial it back about 15% but Ed Carpenter Racing doesn't have a great record at developing drivers. I don't think we are going to see it get Rasmussen in line. I am not sure the team could if it tried. Rinus VeeKay had something happen and finished three laps down in 24th, four spots behind Rasmussen. It was just another day of letting down potential for ECR.

18. Luca Ghiotto ran a 55-lap test session for Dale Coyne Racing and was 22nd. Jack Harvey was four laps down in 25th. This is what Dale Coyne Racing is in 2024. It wasn't long ago it was competing for victories. It is a damn shame. 

19. Nolan Siegel's unexpected second career start sees him finish 23rd, albeit a lap down. It was a difficult situation to be in for Siegel, as he found out during Indy Lights practice on Friday he would take over for Agustín Canapino. We will have a Canapino discussion at a later time, but was the 19-year-old kid with one IndyCar start to his name really the best option as a last minute substitute for Canapino? 

What happened to the vast number of veterans that used to hang around IndyCar? Ten years ago, this is Oriol Servià's ride or maybe Alex Tagliani. Siegel has a future in IndyCar, but his present should be in Indy Lights. He is not getting much out of a last-minute ride with Juncos Hollinger Racing. Conor Daly would have done it. Charlie Kimball was there calling the Indy Lights race. Spencer Pigot coaches Jacob Abel, but has a history with JHR. I think there are some names being overlooked to do a one-off such as this one. 

20. This is a race where I wish everyone was mandated to use each tire compound twice. This race is always a three-stopper, but if everyone had to use the alternate compound twice, it changes the complexion of the race. 

Does a driver run two stints on alternates to begin the race and get them out of the way? 

Does the wear of the alternate tires make this a four-stop race because everyone will need to stop for tires before fuel and they will all need a splash of gas late in the race? 

Road America is fun, but I think we can open this race up a bit because we aren't going to see two-stoppers vs. three-stoppers. The pit windows are narrow. It doesn't allow for some drivers running long versus drivers taking tires late and hoping to go on a charge. Mandating using each compound twice mixes it up more. 

This is where IndyCar should be more open to different strategy regulations. All Firestone must do is bring an extra set of alternate tires for 27 teams or just swap out a primary set for the extra alternate set. That doesn't seem to be much of a hurdle. For all the little things IndyCar tries, this is worth exploring at a few races. Road America is going to be a three-stop race no matter what. Why not experiment with it?

21. Everyone gets a week off. It is going to be nice to have a break. It is nice to have a race the week after the Indianapolis 500. There is such a buzz that I want to keep going. Two consecutive weeks racing after the "500" is a little bit much. Not the worst way to spend your time, but it is nice to get a breather. Yes, there is Le Mans, but most will watch that from their couch. It is two weeks until Laguna Seca.