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| We are back for another Grand Prix of Indianapolis |
Coverage
Time: Coverage begins at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday May 11th with green flag scheduled for 3:50 p.m. ET.
Channel: NBC
Announcers: Leigh Diffey, Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy will be in the booth. Kevin Lee, Kelli Stavast, Marty Snider and Robin Miller will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 9:10 a.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Second Practice: 12:30 p.m. ET (45 minutes)*
Qualifying: 4:30 p.m. ET (Live coverage on NBCSN)
Saturday:
Warm-Up: 11:15 a.m. ET (30 minutes)*
Race: 3:50 p.m. ET (85 laps)
* - All practice and qualifying sessions are available live with the NBC Sports Gold IndyCar pass.
Penske Looking For Five
Team Penske has taken no time at all dominating the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. While not taking the first edition of the race on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the team has won the race the last four years and has cemented itself as the most successful team in this event just as it has with 17 Indianapolis 500 victories.
Will Power leads all drivers with three victories in this event, all three coming from pole position. Power has led 182 of 416 laps and in each of his three victories he has led over 50 laps. Of drivers with at least three starts, Power has the best average starting position at 3.6 and the second best finishing position at 6.0. If Power were to win this year's Grand Prix of Indianapolis it would be the second track he has won three consecutive races at. The other track is São Paulo, where he won in 2010, 2011 and 2012. Power would become the sixth different driver to win three consecutive races at multiple racetrack joining Ralph DePalma, A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Jr. and Scott Dixon. A victory this weekend would be the 36th in Power's IndyCar career and break a tie with Bobby Unser for seventh all-time. Unser's 36th victory came in the 248th of his career in the 1981 Indianapolis 500. This will be Power's 209th start.
Simon Pagenaud is the only other driver to have won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Pagenaud won the inaugural race in 2014 with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports but he won the 2016 race with Team Penske. He has four top ten finishes in his five starts and he has never started worse than seventh. His average starting position of 5.8 is second to only Power in this event.
Returning to the fold is Hélio Castroneves, the only driver to have finished in the top ten of every Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Castroneves has the best average finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis amongst driver with at least three starts at 4.4. He has never finished outside the top six in this race with his best finish being second to Pagenaud in 2016.
Josef Newgarden enters the Grand Prix of Indianapolis as the championship leader but this event has not been kind to the Tennessean. Newgarden has never finished in the top ten in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he has finished 11th the last two years. Last year, he led one lap during a pit cycle, his first lap led on the IMS road course. He has made it to the final round of qualifying the last three years at this event but in 2016 he was penalized after failing post-qualifying inspection and was relegated to 25th on the grid.
Of the 16 tracks on the 2019 IndyCar schedule the only track where Team Penske has won at fewer than four times is Iowa and the IMS road course is level with Toronto and Gateway on four victories.
Honda Push Back
Entering off the back of three consecutive victories, Honda looks to end Team Penske's and Chevrolet's streak of four consecutive victories on the IMS road course.
Honda has been able to get a car on the podium every year in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the last two years it has put two cars on the podium with the Japanese manufacture taking four of the top five and seven of the top ten in last year's race.
Scott Dixon has finished runner-up the last two races on the IMS road course and last year's result came from 18th starting position but Dixon has only led one lap in his career in this event. He is one of five drivers to have completed every lap in the history of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Alexander Rossi has improved every year in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in both his starting position and his finishing position. After starting 12th and finishing tenth in 2016, Rossi started ninth and finished eighth in 2017 and last year he earned his first top five finish on the IMS road course after starting eighth. He also led two laps during pit cycle in last year's race. Rossi's teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay has two podium finishes in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and he led 18 laps in the inaugural race from third on the grid.
Graham Rahal has never started inside the top ten in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis but Rahal has four consecutive top ten results in this race and he has led laps in three of those four races. His finishing position has progressively gotten worse since he finished second in 2015 with finishes of fourth, sixth and ninth in the following years. Takuma Sato has three top ten finishes in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis but he has never finished better than ninth.
Schmidt Peterson Motorsports is the only other team to win the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and since that inaugural victory, the team has had mixed results. Robert Wickens led 20 laps last year before he finished third. James Hinchcliffe finished seventh last year and he finished third in this race in 2016 but Hinchcliffe's results and Wickens' finish last year are SPM's only top ten finishes in this race in the last four races. The average finish for an SPM entry in the last four races is 14.5.
Sébastien Bourdais's fourth place finish in last year's race was his third time finishing fourth in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Bourdais has never started worse than eighth in this race. The Frenchman has not won on a natural-terrain road course since his final victory in Champ Car at Mexico City in the 2007 season finale. He has not won at an American natural-terrain road course since Road America earlier in that 2007 season.
Honda had a test at the IMS road course last week in preparation for the race and Colton Herta was the reported fastest car at that test. The Harding Steinbrenner Racing driver's best lap was reported to be at 69.5283 seconds with Dixon 0.137 seconds back and Felix Rosenqvist in third at 0.1881 seconds. Jack Harvey was fourth, 0.0332 seconds behind Rosenqvist with Hunter-Reay rounding out the top five at 69.8900 seconds, the final of the driver to run a sub-70 second lap.
Marcus Ericsson was sixth at 70.0148 seconds with less than a tenth of a second covering Ericsson, Rossi, Santino Ferrucci and Hinchcliffe. Marco Andretti was tenth at 70.1193 seconds with less than a tenth covering him, Bourdais, Sato and Rahal. Zach Veach was the slowest car at the test at 70.4295 seconds.
Bourdais ran the most laps at the test, having run 97 laps. All Honda entries ran at least 60 laps with Herta, Hinchcliffe, Sato and Rahal all running exactly 60 laps.
The Race Before the "500"
Last year, Will Power won the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and went on to win the Indianapolis 500 two weeks later. Power became the ninth driver to win the race before the Indianapolis 500 and then go on to win the Indianapolis 500 since 1946.
Power was the first to accomplish it since Dan Wheldon in 2005. Wheldon won the two races prior to Indianapolis at St. Petersburg and Motegi and then won his first Indianapolis 500. Before that, Al Unser, Jr. in 1994 was the most recent driver to have accomplished it, winning at Long Beach for the fifth time before he won Indianapolis for the second time. Unser, Jr. even went on to win the race after the Indianapolis 500 the following week at Milwaukee.
Johnny Rutherford is the only driver to accomplish the feat twice. Rutherford first did it in 1976 with a victory at Trenton before winning the shortest Indianapolis 500 after rain ended the race with only 102 laps completed. He followed it up in 1980 with a victory at Ontario before winning his third Indianapolis 500 in the Chaparral 2K.
It happened in consecutive seasons 50 years ago. Bobby Unser did it in 1968 where he won at Stardust International Raceway in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Trenton before he won his first Indianapolis 500. In 1969, Mario Andretti won at Hanford Motor Speedway in California and before his one and only Indianapolis 500 triumph.
A.J. Foyt did it in 1964 when he won the first seven races of the season, Phoenix, Trenton, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Langhorne, Trenton again and Springfield.
The first two drivers to do it were Bill Cummings in 1934 and Kelly Petillo in 1935. On both occasions, the Indianapolis 500 was the first race of the season and they each won the season finale the year before. Cummings won at Syracuse in 1933 and Petillo won at Mines Field in 1934.
Of the 12 years in-between Wheldon and Power winning the race before the Indianapolis 500 and the Indianapolis 500, the winner of the race prior to Indianapolis went on to finish in the top ten in the Indianapolis 500 only three times. Scott Dixon did it in 2009 and 2010 with finishes of sixth and fifth and Power did it in 2015 with a second place finish to Juan Pablo Montoya.
On six of those 12 occasions the winner of the race prior to the Indianapolis 500 finished outside the top fifteen in the Indianapolis 500.
Road to Indy
The month of May brings back the three Road to Indy series, all of which have been dormant since March, two of which have not been on track since the season opening weekend at St. Petersburg.
Oliver Askew took the Indy Lights championship lead last time out in Austin. Askew swept the races from Circuit of the Americas and in dominating form, leading 35 of 40 laps, winning each pole position and setting fastest lap in the first race. Askew has 98 points from the first four races and he has a six-point lead over Rinus VeeKay, who had a runner-up finish and a fourth place finish in Austin. Askew swept the U.S. F2000 races on the IMS road course in 2017 and last year, he finished second and fourth in the two Pro Mazda races. VeeKay was sixth and second in those 2017 U.S. F2000 races and last year he was third and 14th in Pro Mazda.
Zachary Claman was leading the championship after St. Petersburg but after finishing seventh and being the only retirement in race two from Austin, Claman has dropped to third in the championship, 16 points behind Askew. Last year, Claman ran in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and picked up his best result of the season with a 12th place finish. He had a runner-up finish in Indy Lights on the IMS road course in 2017 to Nico Jamin.
Toby Sowery is fourth in the championship on 77 points after a second and a third in St. Petersburg and a pair of sixth place finishes in Austin. Three points behind Sowery is Robert Megennis, who has similar results with finishes of sixth, ninth, third and second from the four races. David Malukas picked up his first career podium finish in Austin with a third in race two and he sits on 71 points.
Julien Falchero has three consecutive top five finishes and he has 66 points in the championship. Ryan Norman has one top five finish from the first four races and he sits on 59 points. Lucas Kohl and Dalton Kellett round out the championship on 53 points and 49 points respectively.
Indy Lights will race at 1:30 p.m. ET on Friday May 10th and at 1:15 p.m. ET on Saturday May 11th.
Parker Thompson swept the Indy Pro 2000 races at St. Petersburg and he holds the championship lead with 64 points. Thompson has a 19-point cushion over Rasmus Lindh. Daniel Frost sits on 41 points with Sting Robb Ray in 39 points. Kyle Kirkwood is fighting from fifth in the championship on 33 points after a retirement in race one at St. Petersburg but he battled back to a second place result in race two.
Nikita Lastochkin is two points outside the top five with Moisés de la Vara a point behind him. Phillippe Denes is on 26 points after a pair of eighth place finishes at St. Petersburg. Antonio Serravalle, Jacob Abel and Damiano Fioravanti are all tied on 22 points. Fioravanti is not entered this weekend.
Last year, Kirkwood finished second and won the second U.S. F2000 race on the IMS road course while Lindh finished 14th and third. Thompson won the second Pro Mazda race last year and he won at the track in U.S. F2000 in 2016. Ray was the third place finisher in the second Pro Mazda race. Lastochkin has made eight starts on the IMS road course between U.S. F2000 and Indy Pro 2000 but he has only one top five finish, a fifth in the second Pro Mazda race in 2017.
The first Indy Pro 2000 race will be at 3:40 p.m. ET on Friday May 10th with the second race at 10:10 a.m. ET on Saturday May 11th.
Braden Eves swept the St. Petersburg weekend for Cape Motorsports and the Ohioan holds the championship lead with 62 points. Eves is 15 points ahead of Road to Indy scholarship winner, Australian Hunter McElrea, who finished third and second at St. Petersburg. Manuel Sulaimán sits on 40 points in third after a second place finish and sixth place finish. Zach Holden was the surprise of the St. Petersburg round with finishes of fourth and third, good enough to give him fourth in the championship on 39 points. Bruna Tomaselli sits on 29 points in fifth.
Darren Keane drove from 19th to seventh in the first race at St. Petersburg, picking up fastest lap in the process and started on pole position in race two only for last lap contact with Christian Rasmussen to take promising finishes away from the both of them. Rasmussen is sixth in the championship on 26 points, two ahead of Keane and Keane's teammate Reece Gold.
Cape Motorsports has won seven of ten U.S. F2000 races on the IMS road course. Alexandre Baron won last year's first race for Swan-RJB Motorsports, ending a six-race winning streak for the team. Baron is back this year with Legacy Autosport. He retired from race one, accredited with a 21st place finish but bounced back with a fourth place finish in race two.
Race one for U.S. F2000 will take place at 2:45 p.m. ET on Friday May 10th and race two is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. ET on Saturday May 11th.
Fast Facts
This will be the fourth IndyCar race to take place on May 11th and first since Sébastien Bourdais won at Lausitz in 2003.
This is the first IndyCar race to occur on May 11th in the United States since 1925. Earl Cooper won a race that day at the 1.25-mile Charlotte Speedway board track.
The other race to take place on May 11th was in Rio de Janeiro in 1997 and Paul Tracy won that race.
Last year, Will Power became the first driver to win on the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500. Last year, Colton Herta swept the Indy Lights races and won the Freedom 100. Power and Herta became the fourth and fifth drivers to win on the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway joining Alex Lloyd, Jack Harvey and Dean Stoneman.
Hélio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Tony Kanaan, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Alexander Rossi, Takuma Sato, Ed Jones and Matheus Leist could all become the sixth driver to win on both the oval and road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Marco Andretti, Newgarden, Herta, Jones, Harvey and Leist could become the first driver to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indy Lights and IndyCar.
This will be Max Chilton's 55th career start and he has yet to finish on the podium in his IndyCar career. The only driver to pick up his first career podium finish in his 55th career start was Mike Groff at Phoenix in 1996 when he finished third. It is the 13th most starts before a first career podium finish.
The only driver to pick of his first career victory in his 55th career start was Josef Newgarden at Barber in 2015. It is the 23rd most starts before a first career victory.
The average starting position for a Grand Prix of Indianapolis winner is 1.6 with a median of one.
The last four Grand Prix of Indianapolis were won from pole position. Simon Pagenaud won the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis from fourth position.
The average number of lead changes in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is 8.6 with a median of nine.
The fewest lead changes in a Grand Prix of Indianapolis was four in 2017.
The average number of leaders in a Grand Prix of Indianapolis is 5.4 with a median of six. The 2014 race and last year's race had seven different leaders, the most in the event's history.
American drivers have led a combined 54 of 416 laps in the history of the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
The most laps led by an American driver in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is 18 by Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2014. The only other American driver to lead double-figure number of laps in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis was Conor Daly, who led 14 laps in the 2016 race.
An American driver has not won the race before the Indianapolis 500 since Scott Sharp at Motegi in 2003.
The average number of cautions in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis is 1.8 with a median of two. The average number of caution laps is 7.8 with a median of eight.
Four of the previous five Grand Prix of Indianapolis have had a caution on the first lap; all four of those have occurred between the starting line and turn two.
Possible Milestones:
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead 45 laps to reach the 1,500 laps led milestone.
Simon Pagenaud needs to lead 64 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 20 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Predictions
Scott Dixon gets an elusive first victory in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis with Will Power in second and another Honda in third. Josef Newgarden remains the championship leader, scores a career best finish in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis but loses ground in the championship. A non-Penske Chevrolet starts and finishes in the top ten. There will not be an engine failure that will make everyone suspicious entering Indianapolis 500 practice. Sleeper: Marcus Ericsson.
