GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis Preview op >> OpenWheelWorld.Net

In 2019, Simon Pagenaud won for the third time on the Indianapolis field after the Frenchman passed Dixon on a wet track with less than two laps to go for the lead, after which the Team Penske rider won. his first victory in over a year. managed to pack. However, Scott Dixon managed to sweep away the disappointment of a year earlier in 2020 with great conviction by securing his first victory on the inside court of the Speedway with an almost twenty second lead over Graham Rahal. The New Zealander is also currently the leader of the standings with a 22-point lead over Patricio O’Ward and is also the only driver to finish in the top five of all races in 2021.

When the NTT IndyCar Series races on the grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Team Penske should always be considered in addition to the leader of the standings. After Scott McLaughlin, all the drivers of Roger Penske’s team have managed to win at least once on the Speedway. In terms of number of victories, Will Power and Simon Pagenaud are the biggest stars of the permanent circuit to date, Power has already won four times here, Pagenaud was able to triumph three times on the circuit of almost four kilometers.

In addition to the established order, drivers such as Patricio O’Ward and Lex Palou should certainly not be overlooked this weekend, as O’Ward and Palou are the new winners of the NTT IndyCar Series paddock and currently occupy the second and third in the standings behind Scott Dixon, so they can certainly expect fireworks again this weekend. In addition to the Mexican and the Spaniard, we will certainly have to turn our eyes to Rinus VeeKay again this weekend, the Dutchman made a particularly strong impression last year finishing fifth in the GMR Grand Prix and later in the season during the INDYCAR Harvest GP weekend on the same circuit to even clinch his first pole position and his first place on the podium.

The indoor circuit of Indianapolis Motor Speedway was originally built for the Formula 1 Grand Prix of the United States, to be used for MotoGP a few years later. After some adjustments to promote track racing, the infield of the world-famous racing circuit was only used by the largest open-wheel class in the United States from 2014 to 2019. In 2020, in addition to the ‘IndyCar, the NASCAR Xfinity Series was also a guest on the indoor court of the Speedway this year, in addition to the NTT IndyCar Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series, the NASCAR Cup Series will also race on the indoor court at Indianapolis.

The history of the games on the Indianapolis field
First IndyCar race: 2014
Number of races completed: 9
Number of different winners: 4
Previous race winner on this track: Will Power (INDYCAR Harvest GP – Race 2, October 3, 2020)
Lap record: Will Power in 2017, 1: 07.7044
Most successful driver: Will Power (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2020) has four field wins at Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Purebred in 2021
Race length: 85 laps / 333.64 km.
Push-to-Pass: can be used in total for 200 seconds in up to 20 seconds at a time
Tires: 6 sets of standard Firestone tires and 4 alternative sets per car (beginners receive 1 set of standard tires in addition)
Green flag: Saturday, May 15, 8:45 p.m. (European time)
Expected race time: +/- 1 hour and 50 minutes
Number of participants: 26

List of participants in the GMR Grand Prix
The field of participants for the coming weekend will consist of 26 cars, two more than in the previous three races that have taken place this season so far. Juan Pablo Montoya will drive his first NTT IndyCar Series race in four years on behalf of Arrow McLaren SP and join Sam Schmidt and Ric Peterson’s team in a third car dedicated to him. In addition to Montoya, Charlie Kimball will also be driving his first IndyCar race of the season, the American has only been able to set up a part-time program for this year, which so far consists of participating in this race and the 105th Indianapolis 500 Much like last year’s full season, Kimball will play for the AJ Foyt Racing team for the remainder of May.

In addition to the addition of two drivers there will be four driver changes this weekend from the previous race weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Conor Daly will be on the 1.5 mile oval ago. two weeks for Carlin Racing. Ed Carpenter Racing’s # 20 car takes over from Ed Carpenter himself. This year Carpenter only competes on ovals, the same goes for Tony Kanaan and Pietro Fittipaldi.

As a result, Jimmie Johnson will crawl in Chip Ganassi Racing car # 48 again this weekend to take Kanaan’s place and Romain Grosjean will return in Dale Coyne Racing car # 51 with Rick Ware Racing with which the Frenchman in turn takes over the seat of Fittipaldi. Max Chilton will also return to Trevor Carlin’s No.59 car next weekend after two weeks back at Texas Motor Speedway the aforementioned Conor Daly had competed for the England team in that car.

More information on the upcoming race weekend, including all the winners of previous races on the grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, can be found here.

The race on TV
The GMR Grand Prix in the Netherlands can of course also be followed live on television, the fourth race of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season will be broadcast directly on Ziggo Sport Racing this Saturday from 8:30 p.m. The free workouts and warm-up can unfortunately only be followed directly via the live timing image this weekend, you can find that image here. Unlike free practice and warm-up, qualifying for this race will be broadcast live on Dutch TV, the broadcast will start next Friday at 10:30 p.m. and will again be broadcast live on Racing Ziggo (both times shown in time European).

IndyCar has yet to announce how Dutch fans of the NTT IndyCar series can follow free practice and warm-up sessions live with footage this year, as soon as something is announced about it we will do just fine for you. sure know.

Posted 13-05-2021, 16:02

Amended 13-05-2021, 20:11

Photo IndyCar / Getty Images