Reports: Ryan Briscoe to replace James Hinchcliffe in Indy 500 - MotorSportsTalk

While Schmidt Peterson Motorsports has not made an official announcement yet, media reports out of Indianapolis have Ryan Briscoe replacing James Hinchcliffe in Sunday’s Indianapolis 500.

WISH-TV was among the first to report that Briscoe, the 2012 pole winner of the 500, will be named to fill in for Hinchcliffe.

Curt Cavin of the Indianapolis Star also tweeted “expect Briscoe to drive car” as Hinchcliffe’s replacement in a Thursday morning press conference.

.SPMIndyCar planning Thursday press conference to talk #indy500 plans. Expect Briscoe to drive car. #Hinch #IndyCar

— Curt Cavin (@curtcavin) May 20, 2015

If the reports are confirmed in Thursday’s press conference, the 33-year-old Australian native would make his 10th career start in the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.

Hinchcliffe is continuing to recover from a horrific crash Monday while practicing for the 500. He suffered an injury to his pelvic area, as well as upper left thigh.

He had just completed a lap of 223.916 mph when his car slammed almost head-on into the Turn 3 wall.

Dr. Timothy Pohlman, who performed surgery on Hinchcliffe shortly after he arrived at IU Health Methodist Hospital, told IndyCar.com just how grave Hinchcliffe’s condition was.

“(Hinchcliffe is) stable and improving,” Pohlman said. “His condition was critical upon his arrival and I think the IndyCar system as a whole needs to be commended for how well they can take care of drivers in this situation.”

Briscoe has made five starts in the 500 for Team Penske, three for Target/Chip Ganassi Racing and one for Luczo-Dragon Racing.

His best finishes to date in the 500 were fifth-place showings in 2007 with Luczo-Dragon and 2012 for Team Penske.

Briscoe finished 10th in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings last season but has not competed in the series this season.

Briscoe’s tenure behind the wheel as Hinchcliffe’s replacement could be just for Sunday’s race. He’s slated to be the third driver for Corvette Racing in Corvette C7.R in the GTE-Pro class at the upcoming 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The Le Mans test day is May 31, while the race is June 13-14.

Including Indianapolis, there are 11 races remaining on the IndyCar schedule for this season.

Follow @JerryBonkowski

With three multiple winners now vying for the championship, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series heads to Round 11 at Lumen Field in Seattle, Washington.

Chase Sexton earned his second victory of the season in Detroit when Aaron Plessinger fell on the final lap. Though he was penalized seven points for disobeying a flag, Sexton is third in the championship race. The Honda rider trails leader Cooper Webb (two victories) by 17 points, and defending series champion Eli Tomac (five wins) is three points behind Webb in second with seven races remaining.

Tomac won last year in Seattle on the way to his second season title.

Honda riders have a Supercross-leading 20 victories in the Seattle event but none at Lumen Field since Justin Barcia in 2013. Tomac and Barcia are the only past 450 Seattke winners entered in Saturday’s event.

Here are the pertinent details for watching Round 11 of the 2023 Supercross season in Seattle:

(All times are ET)

BROADCAST/STREAMING SCHEDULE: TV coverage of Round 11 will begin Saturday at 10 p.m. ET streaming on Peacock with a re-air Monday at 1 a.m. ET on CNBC. The Race Day Live show (including qualifying) will begin on Peacock at 4:30 p.m. ET Saturday.

NBC Sports will have exclusive live coverage of races, qualifiers and heats for the record 31 events in SuperMotocross. The main events will be presented on Peacock, NBC, USA Network, CNBC, and NBC Sports digital platforms.

Peacock will become the home of the SuperMotocross World Championship series in 2023 with live coverage of all races, qualifying, and heats from January to October. There will be 23 races livestreamed exclusively on Peacock, including a SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff event. The platform also will provide on-demand replays of every race. Click here for the full schedule.

POINTS STANDINGS: 450 division l 250 division

ENTRY LISTS: 450 division l 250 division

EVENT SCHEDULE (all times ET):

Here are the start times for Saturday’s Supercross Round 11 in Seattle, according to the Monster Energy Supercross schedule from the AMA:

4:50 p.m.: 250SX Group B Qualifying 1
5:05 p.m.: 250SX Group A Qualifying 1
5:20 p.m.: 450SX Group A Qualifying 1
5:35 p.m.: 450SX Group B Qualifying 1
6:25 p.m.: 250SX Group B Qualifying 2
6:40 p.m.: 250SX Group A Qualifying 2
7:55 p.m.: 450SX Group A Qualifying 2
8:10 p.m.: 450SX Group B Qualifying 2
10:06 p.m.: 250SX Heat 1
10:20 p.m.: 250SX Heat 2
10:34 p.m.: 450SX Heat 1
10:48 p.m.: 450SX Heat 2
11:22 p.m.: 250SX Last Chance Qualifier
11:34 p.m.: 450SX Last Chance Qualifier
11:54 p.m.: 250SX Main Event
12:28 a.m.: 450SX Main Event