IndyCar points shift after new structure of Month of May - MotorSportsTalk

The Verizon IndyCar Series points standings have shifted a bit after the Indianapolis 500, and all the extra points that came with it.

Here’s a table breakdown of points after the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, then after the Indianapolis 500. The GP of Indy breakdown is on the left, the post-Indy 500 breakdown is on the right.

P	#	Driver	Pts	P	#	Driver	PRE-INDY	INDY	TOTAL
1	12	Power	149	1	28	Hunter-Reay	148	126	274
2	28	Hunter-Reay	148	2	12	Power	149	85	234
3	77	Pagenaud	143	3	3	Castroneves	102	118	220
4	3	Castroneves	102	4	77	Pagenaud	143	68	211
5	9	Dixon	102	5	25	Andretti	89	103	192
6	20	Conway	93	6	34	Munoz	61	99	160
7	25	Andretti	89	7	2	Montoya	70	82	152
8	19	J.Wilson	87	8	11	Bourdais	81	62	143
9	10	Kanaan	82	9	9	Dixon	102	30	132
10	11	Bourdais	81	10	19	J.Wilson	87	36	123
11	8	Briscoe	80	11	8	Briscoe	80	41	121
12	14	Sato	75	12	14	Sato	75	38	113
13	67	Newgarden	71	13	98	Hawksworth	71	42	113
14	98	Hawksworth	71	14	67	Newgarden	71	38	109
15	2	Montoya	70	15	27	Hinchcliffe	56	49	105
16	83	Kimball	67	16	10	Kanaan	82	22	104
17	17	Saavedra	63	17	17	Saavedra	63	38	101
18	18	Huertas	63	18	7	Aleshin	59	37	96
19	34	Munoz	61	19	20	Conway	93		93
20	7	Aleshin	59	20	18	Huertas	63	30	93
21	27	Hinchcliffe	56	21	83	Kimball	67	25	92
22	15	Rahal	55	22	16	Servia	55	33	88
23	16	Servia	55	23	26	Busch		80	80
24	41	Plowman	12	24	15	Rahal	55	24	79
25	26	Montagny	8	25	21	Hildebrand		66	66
				26	22	Karam		57	57
				27	20	Carpenter		53	53
				28	33	Davison		34	34
				29	5	Villeneuve		29	29
				30	68	Tagliani		28	28
				31	6	Bell		22	22
				32	63	Mann		21	21
				33	41	Plowman	12	6	18
				34	91	B.Lazier		11	11
				35	26	Montagny	8		8

With that established, here’s how everyone got the points they did at the Indianapolis 500. Indianapolis points were determined in two ways: Saturday qualifying Positions 1-33 were awarded points in decreasing order from 33 for first down to 1 for 33rd, plus a run of 9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the Fast Nine on Sunday. Then in Sunday’s race, double points were awarded per finishing position, with 1 bonus point on offer for leading one lap and 2 for leading the most laps.

P	#	Driver	INDY QUAL	INDY RACE	INDY TOTAL
1	28	Hunter-Reay	23	103	126
2	3	Castroneves	37	81	118
3	25	Andretti	32	71	103
4	34	Munoz	35	64	99
5	12	Power	36	49	85
6	2	Montoya	21	61	82
7	26	Ku.Busch	24	56	80
8	77	Pagenaud	32	36	68
9	21	Hildebrand	26	40	66
10	11	Bourdais	10	52	62
11	22	Karam	13	44	57
12	20	Carpenter	42	11	53
13	27	Hinchcliffe	38	11	49
14	98	Hawksworth	22	20	42
15	8	Briscoe	17	24	41
16	17	Saavedra	8	30	38
17	14	Sato	16	22	38
18	67	Newgarden	28	10	38
19	7	Aleshin	18	19	37
20	19	J.Wilson	20	16	36
21	33	Davison	6	28	34
22	16	Servia	5	28	33
23	9	Dixon	19	11	30
24	18	Huertas	4	26	30
25	5	Villeneuve	7	22	29
26	68	Tagliani	3	25	28
27	83	Kimball	15	10	25
28	15	Rahal	14	10	24
29	10	Kanaan	11	11	22
30	6	Bell	12	10	22
31	63	Mann	9	12	21
32	91	B.Lazier	1	10	11
33	41	Plowman	2	4	6

Note the biggest movers in the standings from pre-Indy 500 to post-Indy 500:

Carlos Munoz, +13, P19 to P6
Juan Pablo Montoya, +8, P15 to P7
James Hinchcliffe, +6, P21 to P15
Scott Dixon, -4, P5 to P9
Charlie Kimball, -5, P16 to P21
Mike Conway, -13, P6 to P19 (did not race)

Note also four drivers, Oriol Servia, Martin Plowman, Alex Tagliani and Jacques Villeneuve, incurred 10 driver and entrant point penalties for unapproved engine changes. Those 10 points were taken out of their Indianapolis 500 points totals.

There were not giant fluctuations in the positions, evidenced by the fact the top four in the standings entering the Indy 500 are still the top four leaving it. The points gaps themselves though, have increased, between drivers who either did or did not have a good month of May.

As we head to Detroit this weekend, the championship could swing yet again, as we head to our first double-header weekend of 2014.

In 2013, Scott Dixon thoroughly dominated the doubleheaders as he scored 83 more points than any other driver in the six races, on the three doubleheader weekends.

Chances are the points will swing once more through this weekend.

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Porsche will skip Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race with its two GTLM cars at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course after three positive COVID-19 tests were confirmed during the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

That resulted in Porsche choosing to pull out of the Nurburgring 24 Hour endurance race in Germany, electing to avoid sending any team members as a precautionary measure.

Porsche Motorsport announced Tuesday that its COVID-19 decision also would apply at Mid-Ohio to its No. 911 and No. 12 teams.

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Three of Porsche’s four IMSA GTLM drivers — Laurens Vanthoor, Frederic Makowiecki and Nick Tandy — also were racing in Le Mans. The trio has remained isolated in Europe and won’t be allowed to travel.

“Based on yesterday’s decision that no employee or racing driver of our Le Mans team will participate in the Nürburgring 24 Hours, we have today decided that this ruling will also apply to the upcoming IWSC race in Mid-Ohio,” Fritz Enzinger, vice president for Porsche Motorsport, said in a release. “This means that Laurens, Nick and Fred will not be traveling to the USA.

“This is very regrettable, but we would like to emphasize that in this case as well the health of all those concerned is the prime focus of the decisions we have taken.”

The decision also affects Earl Bamber, who teamed with Vanthoor to win the GTLM championship last year in the No. 912.

Porsche said its GTLM Porsche 911 RSR-19 entries will return for the Oct. 10 race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval.

That will reduce the GTLM class to four cars — two Corvettes and two BMWs — this weekend at Mid-Ohio, in what could be somewhat of a 2021 preview. Porsche Motorsport announced earlier this year that it will leave IMSA after the 2020 season because of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.