IndyCar: GMR Grand Prix Preview

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES stages its first practice on the road course for the GMR Grand Prix at 9:30 a.m. (ET) Friday, with a second session at 12:45 p.m. NTT P1 Award qualifying will be held at 4 p.m.

Saturday, a final practice will be held at 10:30 a.m. with NBC’s coverage of the 85-lap GMR Grand Prix beginning at 3 p.m. All series action can be viewed on Peacock Premium, the direct-to-consumer live streaming service of NBC Sports.

The INDYCAR SERIES has raced on the IMS road course 11 times, with Team Penske drivers winning on eight occasions. Most recent was Will Power’s victory in the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix last August.

Race weekend: Friday, May 13 – Saturday, May 14

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course (clockwise)

Race distance: NTT INDYCAR SERIES 85 laps / 207.3 miles | Indy Lights: 35 laps/55 minutes

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time, with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

Firestone tire allotment: Six sets primary, four sets alternate (Note: A seventh set of primary tires is available to any car fielding a rookie driver.)

Entry List

Twitter: @IMS @INDYCAR, #ThisIsMay, #IndyCar

Event website: www.ims.com

NTT INDYCAR SERIES website: www.indycar.com | Indy Lights website:www.indylights.com

2021 race winners: NTT INDYCAR SERIES: Rinus VeeKay (No. 21 SONAX Chevrolet) Indy Lights: Linus Lundqvist and David Malukas

2021 NTT P1 Award winner: Romain Grosjean (No. 51 Nurtec ODT Honda), 1:09.4396, 126.447 mph.

Qualifying lap record: Will Power, 1:07.7044, 129.687 mph, May 12, 2017 (Set in Round 3 of knockout qualifying)

NBC Sports race telecast: 3 p.m. (ET) Saturday, May 14, NBC (live). Leigh Diffey is the play-by-play announcer for NBC’s coverage of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and James Hinchcliffe.

Peacock Premium Live Streaming: All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and qualifying will stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product, and NBC’s GMR Grand Prix race telecast will be simulcast on the streaming service, while Peacock Premium’s exclusive post-race show – featuring driver interviews, podium ceremonies and post-race analysis – will be streamed following the race. The Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis doubleheader will be streamed on Peacock Premium with practice and qualifying being shown on INDYCAR Live!

INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Jake Query, Nick Yeoman and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Ryan Myrehn and Rob Blackman are the pit reporters. The GMR Grand Prix race (3 p.m. ET), Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis doubleheader (5:25 p.m. ET Friday and 1:10 p.m. ET Saturday) and all NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires practices and qualifying sessions air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 160, racecontrol.indycar.com and the INDYCAR App powered by NTT DATA.

At-track schedule (all times local):

FRIDAY, MAY 13 (All times are local)

9:30-10:30 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice (45 minutes), Peacock Premium

10:45-11:30 a.m. – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires practice, INDYCAR LIVE!

12:45-1:45 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, (45 minutes) Peacock Premium

2-2:30 p.m. – Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires qualifying (Sets lineup for Race 1 and Race 2), INDYCAR LIVE!

4 p.m. – Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (three rounds of NTT INDYCAR SERIES knockout qualifications), Peacock Premium

(Live)

5:30 p.m. – Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race 1 “Drivers, start your engines”

5:35 p.m. – Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race 1 (35 laps/55 minutes), Peacock Premium

SATURDAY, MAY 14

10:30-11 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES warmup, Peacock Premium

1:15 p.m. – Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race 2 “Drivers, start your engines”

1:20 p.m. – Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis Race 2 (35 laps/55 minutes), Peacock Premium

3 p.m. – NBC on air

3:39 p.m. – “Drivers, start your engines”

3:45 p.m. – GMR Grand Prix (85 laps/207.3 miles), NBC (Live)

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Notes:

• 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.

• Four NTT P1 Award winners have won the GMR Grand Prix from the pole: Will Power in 2015, 2017 and 2018 and Simon Pagenaud in 2016. Power also won the second Harvest GP race from pole in 2020.

• 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.

Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Notes:

• Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires will conduct the first of three doubleheader weekends with a pair of 35 lap races on Friday and Saturday. Linus Lundqvist, who won one of the two races at Indianapolis in 2021, took the series points lead with his win at Barber Motorsports Park on May 1. The field for the weekend’s doubleheader races will be set by a single qualifying session on Friday.

The two drivers who have won Indy Lights races this season – Matthew Brabham of Andretti Autosport and Linus Lundqvist of HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing – are also the only entered drivers to have won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Brabham won Race 1 of a doubleheader at IMS in May 2014 while Lundqvist won Race 1 of last season’s doubleheader.