This weekend sees the next round of the NTT IndyCar Series take place at the World Wide Technology Raceway, a 1.25-mile oval in Madison, Illinois.
“Last year’s race was a special one,” commented Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato who also won last year’s race (see main photo). “St. Louis is a great track.
“It’s quite challenging. Turn 1 and 2 and Turns 3 and 4 have quite different characteristics, and that makes for great fun for all of us. Last year it was such a special moment. So many fans came up to me and cheered us on. What an amazing race result with the win.
“I was very proud of that moment. It is good to return to defend our win after having just won the Indy 500 for a second time.”
Here are the Fast Facts heading into the weekend:
The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta & Valvoline doubleheader will be the 11th and 12th Indy car race at World Wide Technology Raceway. Takuma Sato won the race in 2019. Paul Tracy won the first Indy car race at Gateway in 1997. Sato, Will Power (2018) and Josef Newgarden (2017) are the only former winners entered in this year’s race.
The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta & Valvoline will be the first doubleheader event at World Wide Technology Raceway and the 12th INDYCAR oval doubleheader held since 1967. The last doubleheader was in July at Iowa Speedway.
The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta & Valvoline will be the fifth and sixth oval races of the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES schedule. The previous oval races were won by Scott Dixon (Texas Motor Speedway), Simon Pagenaud (Iowa Speedway-1), Josef Newgarden (Iowa Speedway-2) and Takuma Sato (Indianapolis Motor Speedway).
Three drivers have won at World Wide Technology Raceway from the pole – Juan Pablo Montoya (2000), Gil de Ferran (2002) and Helio Castroneves (2003).
Team Penske has won five times at World Wide Technology Raceway. Penske’s winning drivers are Paul Tracy (1997), Gil de Ferran (2002), Helio Castroneves (2003), Josef Newgarden (2017) and Will Power (2018). Chip Ganassi Racing has two wins at Gateway, with Alex Zanardi (1998) and Juan Pablo Montoya (2000).
Eighteen drivers entered in the event have competed in past Indy car races at World Wide Technology Park. Tony Kanaan has seven starts, most among the entered drivers. Fourteen entered drivers have led laps at the track (Scott Dixon 223, Josef Newgarden 220, Will Power 99, Santino Ferrucci 97, Takuma Sato 65, Kanaan 21, Simon Pagenaud 13, Colton Herta 10, Marco Andretti 4, Alexander Rossi 4, Marcus Ericsson 2, Zach Veach 2, Conor Daly 1 and Felix Rosenqvist 1).
Three rookies – Oliver Askew, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay – are expected to compete. All three rookies, plus Pato O’Ward and Jack Harvey, also will make their first NTT INDYCAR SERIES start at World Wide Technology Raceway.
Racing gets underway at 3:45pm on Sunday local time – 8:45am Monday morning NZ time.
NTT IndyCar Series point standings:
Dixon 335, Newgarden 251, O’Ward 218, Rahal 214, Pagenaud 212, Sato 207, Herta 189, Ferrucci 181, Power 175, Rosenqvist 157.
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