Viso, Saavedra look to make most of new opportunities - MotorSportsTalk

E.J. Viso (right) is heading for his biggest chance to date in the IZOD IndyCar Series – even if that means being a bit overshadowed to start.

Viso, entering his sixth year in IndyCar, will be running this season with Andretti Autosport, which boasts a driving stable that features the reigning series champion (Ryan Hunter-Reay), the series’ most popular driver (James Hinchcliffe), and a third generation of racing royalty (Marco Andretti).

But the Venezuelan is confident that, along with earning better results on the track, he can be a valuable teammate. The foursome tested last week at Sebring International Raceway in Florida.

“I believe I’m just going to add a lot of things into that synergy that was already created in the last year,” Viso said earlier this month in an INDYCAR teleconference.

“I like the three drivers and I think each one of them have their own forte, and obviously, [with] Ryan winning the championship, that’s a great momentum that the team has, that hopefully we can continue.”

Another driver in new surroundings, Sebastian Saavedra, also hopes to do well in 2013. He is stepping back up to full-time IndyCar competition with Dragon Racing, teaming up with four-time Champ Car World Series champion and ex-Formula 1 racer Sebastien Bourdais.

Saavedra, who ran with Conquest Racing in 2011 and focused mostly on the developmental Firestone Indy Lights series last season, comes to Dragon in the midst of controversy after taking over the team’s second ride that used to belong to Katherine Legge – who has promised legal action over the matter.

As far as on-track matters go, however, Saavedra is focused on helping Dragon move up the grid.

“The team is so positive about how they were able to build up last season, so we come with so much energy coming into the first race of the season at St. Petersburg,” Saavedra said to IndyCar.com. “We’re looking very good and looking to make things happen with [Bourdais], and I believe we’re a good combination to push each other.”

Will Viso and Saavedra’s fresh starts translate to success? With less than a month before the season-opening Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg (Mar. 24, Noon ET on NBC Sports Network), we’ll know the answer soon enough.

INDIANAPOLIS — The first Indy 500 victory for Josef Newgarden also was the richest in race history from a record 2023 purse of just more than $17 million.

The two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion, who continued his celebration Monday morning at Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned $3.666 million for winning the 107th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

The purse and winner’s share both are the largest in the history of the Indianapolis 500.

It’s the second consecutive year that the Indy 500 purse set a record after the 2022 Indy 500 became the first to crack the $16 million mark (nearly doubling the 2021 purse that offered a purse of $8,854,565 after a crowd limited to 135,000 because of the COVID-19 pandemic).

The average payout for IndyCar drivers was $500,600 (exceeding last year’s average of $485,000).

Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske, whose team also fields Newgarden’s No. 2 Dallara-Chevrolet, had made raising purses a priority since buying the track in 2020. But Penske but was unable to post big money purses until the race returned to full capacity grandstands last year.

The largest Indy 500 purse before this year was $14.4 million for the 2008 Indy 500 won by Scott Dixon (whose share was $2,988,065). Ericsson’s haul made him the second Indy 500 winner to top $3 million (2009 winner Helio Castroneves won $3,048,005.

Runner-up Marcus Ericsson won $1.043 million after falling short by 0.0974 seconds in the fourth-closest finish in Indy 500 history.

The 107th Indy 500 drew a crowd of at least 330,000 that was the largest since the sellout for the 100th running in 2016, and the second-largest in more than two decades, according to track officials.

“This is the greatest race in the world, and it was an especially monumental Month of May featuring packed grandstands and intense on-track action,” Penske Entertainment president and CEO Mark Miles said in a release. “Now, we have the best end card possible for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500: a record-breaking purse for the history books.”

Benjamin Pedersen was named the Indy 500 rookie of the year, earning a $50,000 bonus.

The race’s purse is determined through contingency and special awards from IMS and IndyCar. The awards were presented Monday night in the annual Indy 500 Victory Celebration at the JW Marriott in downtown Indianapolis.

The payouts for the 107th Indy 500:

1. Josef Newgarden, $3,666,000
2. Marcus Ericsson, $1,043,000
3. Santino Ferrucci, $481,800
4. Alex Palou, $801,500
5. Alexander Rossi, $574,000
6. Scott Dixon, $582,000
7. Takuma Sato, $217,300
8. Conor Daly, $512,000
9. Colton Herta, $506,500
10. Rinus VeeKay, $556,500
11. Ryan Hunter‐Reay, $145,500
12. Callum Ilott, $495,500
13. Devlin DeFrancesco, $482,000
14. Scott McLaughlin, $485,000
15. Helio Castroneves, $481,500
16. Tony Kanaan, $105,000
17. Marco Andretti, $102,000
18. Jack Harvey, $472,000
19. Christian Lundgaard, $467,500
20. Ed Carpenter, $102,000
21. Benjamin Pedersen (R), $215,300
22. Graham Rahal, $565,500*
23. Will Power, $488,000
24. Pato O’Ward, $516,500
25. Simon Pagenaud, $465,500
26. Agustín Canapino (R), $156,300
27. Felix Rosenqvist, $278,300
28. Kyle Kirkwood, $465,500
29. David Malukas, $462,000
30. Romain Grosjean, $462,000
31. Sting Ray Robb (R), $463,000
32. RC Enerson (R), $103,000
33. Katherine Legge, $102,000

*–Broken down between two teams, $460,000 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, $105,500 Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports