Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 293rd consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history, when he lines up for the GMR Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Saturday 14 May 2022.
At the last round at the Barber Motorsport Park, Alabama, Pato O’Ward broke Team Penske’s three-race win streak by winning the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on May 1.
Alex Palou’s third podium finish of 2022 gave him the series points lead for the first time this season.
Palou, the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion, leads Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin by three points and the top four drivers in the standings are separated by just 10 points heading into the critical Month of May, which has more than 250 points to offer with races on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course, PPG Armed Forces Qualifying for the Indianapolis 500 and the double points-paying Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge in the next three weekends.
The GMR Grand Prix will be the 12th INDYCAR SERIES event conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Active race winners who are expected to compete are: Rinus VeeKay, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power.
The 85-lap race is timed to go at 3:45pm local time (7:45am Sunday NZ time).
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 144, McLaughlin 141, Newgarden 135, Power 134, O’Ward 114, Dixon 113, VeeKay 106, Grosjean 101, Ericsson 84, Rahal 84, Herta 79, Pagenaud 69, Rossi 62, Sato 61, Lundgaard 57, Rosenqvist 56, Castroneves 55, Johnson 51, Daly 50, Kirkwood 46, Harvey 44, Malukas 44, Ilott 37, DeFrancesco 33, Kellett 30, Calderon 25, Ferrucci 22, Carpenter 18, Hildebrand 17
Here’s the Fast Facts
Eight drivers have competed in every INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato. All but Hinchcliffe and Hunter-Reay are entered this year.
Scott Dixon has finished first or second in four of the last five GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis. Dixon won his first race on the IMS road course in July 2020.
Josef Newgarden can clinch the PeopleReady Force For Good Challenge’s $1 million prize by winning at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – where he won in 2020 in the Harvest Grand Prix.
Newgarden has won on an oval (Texas Motor Speedway) and street circuit (Streets of Long Beach). A win on a road course would earn him a $500,000 bonus and a matching $500,000 donation for his charities, Wags and Walk Nashville and SeriousFun Children’s Network.
Team Penske has eight wins on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020-Race 2, 2020-Race 3, 2021-Race 2). Ed Carpenter Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing and Arrow McLaren SP are the only other teams to win at the track. Ed Carpenter Racing won in 2021-Race 1 with Rinus VeeKay. Chip Ganassi Racing won with Scott Dixon in 2020-Race 1, and Arrow McLaren SP won the inaugural race in 2014 with Simon Pagenaud when it was known as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
Six NTT INDYCAR SERIES Rookie of the Year contenders – Tatiana Calderon, Devlin DeFrancesco, Callum Ilott, Kyle Kirkwood, Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas – are entered. All but Lundgaard will race an NTT INDYCAR SERIES car at IMS for the first time. Lundgaard made his series debut at the track last summer in the Gallagher Grand Prix.
Twenty-two of the drivers entered in the event have competed in INDYCAR SERIES races on the IMS road course. Twelve entered drivers have led laps in the GMR Grand Prix: Will Power 210, Scott Dixon 69, Simon Pagenaud 68, Romain Grosjean 44, Graham Rahal 36, Rinus VeeKay 33, Josef Newgarden 25, Felix Rosenqvist 15, Alexander Rossi 2, Marcus Ericsson 1, Jack Harvey 1 and Alex Palou 1.
Milestones: Felix Rosenqvist will attempt to make his 50th NTT INDYCAR SERIES start … Scott Dixon will attempt to make his 293rd consecutive start, the second-longest streak in INDYCAR SERIES history.
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