Round 5: IndyCar Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 11th-13th May.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 5: IndyCar Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 11th-13th May.

This year will be the fourth runing of the event, though the start of each race so far, hasn't been without incident. The innaugural race in 2014 featured a standing start but pole sitter Sebastián Saavedra stalled as the lights went out and his car was hit by Carlos Munoz and Mikhail Aleshin, showering the track with carbon-fibre and forcing a restart. It was eventually won by Simon Pagenaud, driving for Sam Schmidt Motorsports. It was therefore decided that for 2015, the race would have a conventional rolling start. However, several cars came together at Turn 1, though this didn't lead restart.

Last year, after the start and as the field moved into the Turn 1, Tony Kanaan collected Sébastien Bourdais on the outside of the corner, bringing out the first caution of the race. The race restarted after four laps under the yellow. Apart from a second caution period on lap 37, when Bourdais came to a halt on the track, the rest of the race was incident free and was won by Simon Pagenaud, for Team Penske, who had led from the start.

The track is a modified layout of the circuit that was previously used for the F1 United States Grand Prix, held from 2000 - 2007 and which is currently used by the MotoGP, Red Bull Indianapolis Grand Prix. The race is run clockwise, the opposite direction to the Indianapolis 500.

Layout:
Motorcycle Course




IndyCar Road Course


Length:
2.439 Miles (3.925 Km)

Turns: 14
Lap record:
Simon Pagenaud, May 13, 2016. 1:08.68, 127.832 Mph (205.725 Km/h). Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6. Verizon IndyCar Series.

Last year's race:
Pole: Simon Pagenaud. 1:08.68, 127.832 mph (205.725 km/h)
Winner: Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 82
Distance: 199.998 Miles (321.85 Km)
Race Time: 1:50:18.58
Average Speed: 108.784 Mph (175.07 Km/h)
Caution periods: 2
Caution laps: 10

Race broadcast:
ABC. 13th May, 3:30pm ET.

[NaBUru38]

Go Montoya!

[Formulahistory]

Yes, a win from Montoya would be awesome...

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying:

Not only did Will Power break the track record but he claimed his 47th career pole and the 250th pole for Team Penske.


1 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:07.7044

2 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:08.1169

3 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:08.1622

4 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.2454

5 Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:08.2478

6 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.3973

7 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:08.4461

8 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.5735

9 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.5824

10 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.8668

11 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.9151

12 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.9853

13 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 01:09.0025

14 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 01:08.6675

15 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:09.0557

16 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:08.9484

17 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 01:09.1777

18 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:08.9937

19 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 01:09.1796

20 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Dallara/Honda. 01:09.0985

21 JR Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 01:09.6123

22 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 01:09.3134

[bjohnsonsmith]

A little bit of scrappy start but they made it cleanly through Turn 1. It looks like TK's got a puncture.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Bourdais out with an engine problem and Marco Andretti get's a drive thru for driving into the back of TK.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The race sort of came alive, with that battle with Castroneves and Dixon.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Will Power on a very commanding drive but it wasn't the most scintillating race. Maybe they shouldn't have imposed that freeze on aero-kits because overtaking was at a premium? Congrats to RH-R on getting a podium.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result:

This was Will Power's 30th career win.

1 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1h42m57.6108s
2 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 5.2830s
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 12.0296s
4 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 17.0668s
5 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 20.6072s
6 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 25.1039s
7 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 25.7054s
8 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 29.3214s
9 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 36.5878s
10 Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 41.8238s
11 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 48.3846s
12 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 56.2212s
13 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m02.6805s
14 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
15 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
16 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
17 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
18 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
19 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
20 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 2 Laps
21 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. Spun off
22 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. Engine

[D.R.T.]

It wasnt wheel to wheel at the front but the mid pack had plenty going on and heaps of passing. RHR, Rahal and Rossi cut through the field and provided more than enough entertainment.

Great result for Power - has had a remarkable start to the season despite what the championship table shows. Has led 4 of the 5 races I believe they said during the lacklustre ABC broadcast yesterday.

Really bummed for Bourdais who after qualifying in P6 could have featured in or around the podium.

[fieldodreams79]

I'm going to be Debbie Downer, but this race is blasphemous. I've yet to watch one and don't see myself ever watching one.

Congrats to Mr. Power.

Now, get off my lawn.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

I've yet to watch one and don't see myself ever watching one.

Nothing like an informed opinion.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Nothing like an informed opinion.

Opinion of what? Uninformed how?

[RWill2073]

Once again abc produces a terrible broadcast. Not everything has to circle back to the 500. The strained references to link every conversation to the 500 is awkward. The lack of attention to the series as a whole is glaringly obvious by the fact that after the race, the only mention of the points standings was when interviewing pagenaud they said he maintained first in the standings. No graphic showing the points after the race, even. The commentators are lifeless, don't seem to really care to get into what is going is going on. Just constant mentions of the 500.

Please just put all other races on nbcsn other than the 500 itself. The race felt pretty boring, but I'm sure the broadcast helped with that. Plus, the sound is muffled or something for all the broadcasts on abc. Just truly utterly awful.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by fieldodreams79

Opinion of what? Uninformed how?

I felt your opening of "I have never watched one" didn't really lend itself to a constructive or information post about the event.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

I felt your opening of "I have never watched one" didn't really lend itself to a constructive or information post about the event.

I don't see how your doubling down on "non-constructive" comments helps anything.

But, my apologies. I'll let the in depth discussion of this very popular event continue without my critique of it.

[Nikki Katz]

Originally Posted by RWill2073

Once again abc produces a terrible broadcast. Not everything has to circle back to the 500. The strained references to link every conversation to the 500 is awkward. The lack of attention to the series as a whole is glaringly obvious by the fact that after the race, the only mention of the points standings was when interviewing pagenaud they said he maintained first in the standings. No graphic showing the points after the race, even. The commentators are lifeless, don't seem to really care to get into what is going is going on. Just constant mentions of the 500.

Please just put all other races on nbcsn other than the 500 itself. The race felt pretty boring, but I'm sure the broadcast helped with that. Plus, the sound is muffled or something for all the broadcasts on abc. Just truly utterly awful.

Yeah, the cameras basically just followed whoever was in the lead around, and they were generally on their own. There was plenty going on behind that got missed. What happened to castroveves? Did they even notice he'd lost 3 places instead of challenging for a win?

[RWill2073]

Originally Posted by Nikki Katz

Yeah, the cameras basically just followed whoever was in the lead around, and they were generally on their own. There was plenty going on behind that got missed. What happened to castroveves? Did they even notice he'd lost 3 places instead of challenging for a win?

He was on the harder compound tires at he end, which were 2 seconds or so slower.