The NTT IndyCar Series resumes this weekend with the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 14-turn road course. It’s the second race of the 2020 Covid-19 hit series which will see drivers competing over 80 laps of the 2.439 mile circuit.
Qualifying gets underway on Friday 3 July at 4:30pm local time with the race due to start at 12:08pm on Saturday (4:08am NZ time Sunday 5 July).
Scott Dixon currently leads the series after winning the opening race at Texas Motor Speedway in June.
“I’m looking forward to the Indy GP,” commented Dixon. “I think we’ll definitely keep pushing and keep snatching these wins if we can. I just feel very lucky and very privileged to say we are going racing this weekend in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.”
Here are the weekend’s Fast Facts from IndyCar.com
1/ The GMR Grand Prix will be the seventh NTT INDYCAR SERIES event conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are the only drivers to win on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Pagenaud won the inaugural race in 2014, 2016 and 2019, Power won the race in 2015, 2017 and 2018.
2/ Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Felix Rosenqvist and Sebastian Saavedra are the only drivers to have won the pole position on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Saavedra claimed the pole in 2014, Power in 2015, 2017 and 2018, Pagenaud in 2016 and Rosenqvist in 2019.
3/ Four NTT P1 Award winners have won the race from the pole: Will Power in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and Simon Pagenaud in 2016.
4/ Scott Dixon won the Genesys 300 on June 6 on the Texas Motor Speedway oval and is third on the all-time Indy car victory list with 47 wins. But Dixon has not won a race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He has finished second in the GMR Grand Prix in the last three seasons.
5/ Twelve drivers have competed in every NTT INDYCAR SERIES race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – Marco Andretti, Sebastien Bourdais, Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power, Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato. All but Bourdais, Castroneves and Kanaan are entered this year.
6/ Tony Kanaan’s record streak of 318 consecutive race starts will end this weekend. The streak began in June 2001 at Portland. Scott Dixon has made 259 consecutive starts heading into the weekend, which is the second-longest streak and becomes tops among active streaks. Andretti Autosport’s Marco Andretti has made 235 consecutive starts, which is the third-longest streak all time and moves to second among active streaks.
7/ Rookies Oliver Askew, Dalton Kellett, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay, along with veteran Sage Karam, will race NTT INDYCAR SERIES cars on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course for the first time this weekend. Askew has two wins (in USF2000) and five total podiums in six races, including podiums in both races last year on his way to the Indy Lights title. VeeKay has four podiums in six races, including a victory last year in Indy Lights.
8/ Twenty-one of the drivers entered in the event have competed in INDYCAR races on the IMS road course. Ten entered drivers have led laps: Will Power 182, Simon Pagenaud 68, Scott Dixon 40, Josef Newgarden 21, Ryan Hunter-Reay 18, Graham Rahal 18, Felix Rosenqvist 15, James Hinchcliffe 4 and Alexander Rossi
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