Fast Facts: Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis

By May 6, 2015, 8:00 AM EDT
1 Comment

The final race weekend for the Verizon IndyCar Series before the Indianapolis 500 occurs this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but on the road course. Here’s the weekend details, courtesy of the INDYCAR PR staff:

—

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit, a 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course (clockwise)
Race distance: 82 laps / 200 miles
Entry List:  Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis (PDF)
Push-to-pass parameters: 10 activations for 20 seconds each
Firestone tire allotment: Eight sets primary, three sets alternate
Twitter: @IMS @IndyCar, #GPofINDY, #IndyCar
Event website: www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com
INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com
2014 race winner: Simon Pagenaud
2014 Verizon P1 Award winner: Sebastian Saavedra, 1:23.8822, 104.672 mph
Qualifying lap record: Simon Pagenaud, 1:09.6716, 126.062 mph, May 2014 (Segment 1).

ABC race broadcast: Saturday, May 9 (3:30 p.m. ET)

Allen Bestwick is the lead announcer for ESPN on ABC broadcasts for the second consecutive year alongside analysts Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever Jr. Rick DeBruhl, Dr. Jerry Punch and Jon Beekhuis are the pit reporters.

Radio broadcasts: Paul Page is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Qualifying and all Verizon IndyCar Series races are broadcast live on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 212, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR 15 app. Verizon IndyCar Series practice sessions are available on IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and the INDYCAR 15 app.

Video streaming: All practice sessions for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season and this weekend’s qualifying session (3 p.m. ET, May 8) will be available on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.

INDYCAR 15 app: The Verizon INDYCAR 15 app has been enhanced with new features to keep fans in the know of the latest race-day action. Exclusive features of the INDYCAR 15 app for Verizon Wireless customers will stream live through the app and include interactive 3D Live View with real-time leaderboard and car telemetry to see where a fan’s favorite driver is positioned, leaderboard with enhanced 2D marching ants and car telemetry, in-car camera video streams from cameras that move 360 degrees and driver-pit crew chatter as drivers talk strategy with their pit crews during the race.

At-track schedule (all times local): 

Thursday, May 7
11 a.m. -1 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice
3-4:40 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice

Friday, May 8
11-11:45 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice
3 p.m. – Three rounds of Verizon IndyCar Series knockout qualifications (live-streamed on RaceControl.IndyCar.com)

Saturday, May 9
11:30 a.m.-Noon. – Verizon IndyCar Series warm-up
3:30 p.m. – ABC on air
3:50 p.m. – Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis green flag (ABC, Live).

Race notes:

* The Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis will be the second Indy car event conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Simon Pagenaud won the inaugural race in 2014 and will look for his first win with Team Penske.

* There have been four different winners in four Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2015: Juan Pablo Montoya (Streets of St. Petersburg), James Hinchcliffe (NOLA Motorsports Park), Scott Dixon (Streets of Long Beach) and Josef Newgarden (Barber Motorsports Park). In 2014, there were a record-tying 11 different race winners.

* Drivers from Team Penske are the only drivers to start from pole position in 2015. Helio Castroneves (Long Beach and Barber) and Will Power (St. Petersburg) earned Verizon P1 Awards through knockout qualifying. Juan Pablo Montoya started on pole at NOLA by virtue of the entrant point standings entering that race, after qualifications were cancelled by rain.

* At least three drivers will compete in their first Verizon IndyCar Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course: Gabby Chaves, Stefano Coletti and Luca Filippi. Chaves has competed at IMS in Indy Lights, while Coletti won a Formula BMW USA race on the IMS road course in 2006.

* Five drivers have a chance to become the first to win on both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the famed 2.5-mile oval: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya have all won the Indianapolis 500.

* Scott Dixon won at Long Beach on April 19 and took sole possession of fifth on the all-time Indy car victory list with 36. He is the active leader in wins.

* Tony Kanaan seeks to start his 238th consecutive race, which would extend his Indy car-record streak that began in 2001 at Portland. Teammate Dixon has made 179 consecutive starts.

* Castroneves will attempt to make his 300th career Indy car start. He will become the seventh Indy car driver to reach the milestone, joining Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Jr., Al Unser, Michael Andretti and Johnny Rutherford.

* Charlie Kimball’s car number (83) has a special meaning to not only him, but also his father, Gordon, and team owner, Chip Ganassi. In 1983, Ganassi had his best finish at the Indianapolis 500 while driving a car that was designed by Gordon Kimball, a noted engineer and car designer.

* The 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season marked the competition debut of aerodynamic bodywork kits designed, manufactured and supplied by Chevrolet and Honda. Cars are differentiated by their shape as the manufacturers have designed separate aero kit specifications for road and street course/short ovals and superspeedways for the Dallara IR-12 chassis. References to the cars will incorporate the name of the corresponding manufacturer.

* The No. 27 Snapple Andretti Autosport Honda crew of Marco Andretti won the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award during the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 26 with a total pit lane time of 84.023 seconds. The Snapple Andretti Autosport crew will receive its $10,000 award during pre-race festivities at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.

Texas starting lineup: Felix Rosenqvist back on pole; Scott Dixon qualifies second

By Apr 1, 2023, 4:00 PM EDT
0 Comments

FORT WORTH, Texas — For the second consecutive year, Felix Rosenqvist will lead the NTT IndyCar Series starting lineup to the green flag at Texas Motor Speedway.

The Arrow McLaren driver is hoping the third time will be the charm at the 1.5-mile oval, where he has run extremely well but has only a career-best 12th in five starts.

“We’ve always been good here, but this is a whole different confidence level compared to last year,” Rosenqvist told NBC Sports’ Marty Snider. “Let’s try to wrap it up (Sunday).”

In 2020, Rosenqvist was competing for a podium when he crashed with 10 laps remaining at Texas.

QUALIFYING RESULTS: Click here for speeds from Saturday’s time trials

INDYCAR AT TEXAS: Schedule, start times, how to watch on NBC, Peacock

Last year, he started first on an oval for the first time in his career but finished 21st because of a broken halfshaft.

“It’s definitely one of my favorite tracks, and naturally, I’ve always been OK here,” Rosenqvist said. “It was the first oval that made sense to me. Every year I’m building on that. But looking at the results, they don’t represent the speed I normally have.

“I don’t want to jinx anything, but I hope tomorrow is going to go a bit better and some luck our way would be nice. It’s been feeling super good. Arrow McLaren has been mega every session, so just keep it rolling.”

Arrow McLaren qualified all three of its Chevrolets in the top five, building on a second for Pato O’Ward and fourth for Alexander Rossi in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

The March 5 season opener was a disappointing start for Rosenqvist who was squeezed into the wall by Scott Dixon on the first lap.

Dixon, a five-time winner at Texas, will start second Sunday, followed by Rossi and Josef Newgarden. O’Ward will start fifth alongside Takuma Sato, who will start on the outside of the third row in his Chip Ganassi Racing debut.

During nearly four hours of practice and qualifying (including a special high-line session), Saturday’s lone incident involved Conor Daly.

The Ed Carpenter Racing driver spun three times but stayed off the wall and in the frontstretch grass. Aside from a front wing change and new tires, there was no damage to his No. 20 Dallara-Chevrolet during the incident midway through the 30-minute session in which drivers were limited to the high line.

“I hadn’t really had a moment before, but it snapped really aggressively,” Daly told NBC Sports after final practice. “Not ideal, but I do know my way around correcting a spin it seems like. I drove NASCAR last weekend and that seemed to help a little bit. I drove in the dirt a lot in USAC Midgets and seemed to be able to save something but not ideal or what we wanted to have happen.”

Daly will start 25th of 28 cars alongside teammate Rinus VeeKay in Row 13. Carpenter qualified 18th.

“Our three of our cars were clearly looking for something. Mechanical grip is for sure what we need. Qualifying we actually expected to be a lot better, but we found an issue there. We’ll see what happens. This race can change a lot. I’m confident in the team to hopefully figure some things out for tomorrow.”

Here’s the IndyCar starting lineup for Sunday’s PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway (qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine and speed):

ROW 1

1. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Dallara-Chevy, 220.264 mph
2. (9) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 219.972

ROW 2

3. (7) Alexander Rossi, Dallara-Chevy, 219.960
4. (2) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevy, 219.801

ROW 3

5. (5) Pato O’Ward, Dallara-Chevy, 219.619
6. (11) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 219.508

ROW 4

7. (10) Alex Palou, Dallara-Honda, 219.480
8. (12) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 219.355

ROW 5

9. (18) David Malukas, Dallara-Honda, 219.256
10. (26) Colton Herta, Dallara-Honda, 219.184

ROW 6

11. (28) Romain Grosjean, Dallara-Honda, 219.165
12. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Dallara-Honda, 219.146

ROW 7 

13. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Dallara-Chevy, 219.100
14. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Dallara-Chevy, 218.892

ROW 8

15. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Dallara-Chevy, 218.765
16. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Dallara-Honda, 218.698

ROW 9

17. (77) Callum Ilott, Dallara-Chevy, 218.427
18. (33) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 218.375

ROW 10

19. (78) Agustin Canapino, Dallara-Chevy, 218.367
20. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Dallara-Honda, 218.227

ROW 11

21. (06) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Honda, 218.196
22. (60) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 218.103

ROW 12

23. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Dallara-Honda, 217.676
24. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 217.611

ROW 13

25. (20) Conor Daly, Dallara-Chevy, 217.457
26. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Dallara-Chevy, 216.880

ROW 14

27. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Dallara-Honda, 216.210
28. (30) Jack Harvey, Dallara-Honda, 216.103