Considering he doesn’t view the road and street courses as his strong suit, Juan Pablo Montoya is rather pleased to still be leading the Verizon IndyCar Series’ points standings after five races, all on road and streets.
“My goal this year was not to lose that many points coming to Indy,” Montoya said after Saturday’s Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. “I know our strong part of the season should be the ovals, you know what I mean, some of the road courses. I was looking forward to not be that far behind because I know once the ovals start I can make up some points.
“Having the points coming into Indy, it’s encouraging. We were fastest in the open test. The car felt really good, too. I’m pretty happy.”
Also happy? Two of his three Team Penske teammates, with Will Power and Helio Castroneves making it a Penske 1-2-3 in the championship heading into the remainder of the month.
Here’s the standings as they are post-the Grand Prix:
1. 2-Juan Pablo Montoya, 171
2. 1-Will Power, 166
3. 3-Helio Castroneves, 161
4. 9-Scott Dixon, 144
5. 15-Graham Rahal, 144
6. 10-Tony Kanaan, 136
7. 21-Josef Newgarden, 129
8. 5-James Hinchcliffe, 129
9. 11-Sebastien Bourdais, 123
10. 22-Simon Pagenaud, 101
11. 26-Carlos Munoz, 101
12. 28-Ryan Hunter-Reay, 100
13. 27-Marco Andretti, 95
14. 83-Charlie Kimball, 89
15. 20-Luca Filippi, 85
16. 7-James Jakes, 75
17. 14-Takuma Sato, 72
18. 98-Gabby Chaves, 71
19. 4-Stefano Coletti, 65
20. 41-Jack Hawksworth, 64
21. 25-Simona de Silvestro, 44
22. 19-Francesco Dracone, 38
The final seven drivers in the points (Sage Karam, Sebastian Saavedra, Carlos Huertas, Conor Daly, Rodolfo Gonzalez, JR Hildebrand, Justin Wilson), ranging from Karam to Wilson in 23rd to 29th, have only started between one and three of the five races. All of the above 22 except for de Silvestro have started all five races.
Expect the points to shuffle significantly from here, given the number of points available both in qualifying and the race for the Indianapolis 500. Double race finish points are awarded for the Indianapolis 500® Mile Race and the last event of the season at Sonoma.
That means a driver could walk away from the Indianapolis 500 with a maximum of 146 points (100 to win, 33 Saturday fastest, 9 Sunday fastest, 1 one lap led, 2 most laps led). The minimum is 11 (10 for anywhere from 25th to 33rd, with just 1 for qualifying 33rd on Saturday).
So that 135-point swing could see the standings change dramatically after the race wraps on Sunday, May 24. Here’s the full points possibility breakdown for the rest of the month:
Double Points Pos. Pts Pos. Pts Pos. Pts 1 100 12 36 23 14 2 80 13 34 24 12 3 70 14 32 25 10 4 64 15 30 26 10 5 60 16 28 27 10 6 56 17 26 28 10 7 52 18 24 29 10 8 48 19 22 30 10 9 44 20 20 31 10 10 40 21 18 32 10 11 38 22 16 33 10 Leading At Least One Lap: 1 point Most Laps Led: 2 points
For the Indianapolis 500® Mile Race, championship points will be allocated based on qualfication efforts using the following point structures.
Indy Saturday Qualifying Pos. Pts Pos. Pts Pos. Pts 1 33 12 22 23 11 2 32 13 21 24 10 3 31 14 20 25 9 4 30 15 19 26 8 5 29 16 18 27 7 6 28 17 17 28 6 7 27 18 16 29 5 8 26 19 15 30 4 9 25 20 14 31 3 10 24 21 13 32 2 11 23 22 12 33 1 "Fast 9" Sunday Qualifying Points Pos. Pts 1 9 2 8 3 7 4 6 5 5 6 4 7 3 8 2 9 1