Piquet dismisses idea of full-time drive in IndyCar - MotorSportsTalk

DONINGTON PARK – Nelson Piquet Jr. has dismissed the idea of racing full-time in IndyCar in 2016, saying that his focus remains with his duties in FIA Formula E and Red Bull Global Rallycross.

Piquet became the first ever Formula E champion in London in June, clinching the title by a solitary point with the NEXTEV TCR team.

The Brazilian driver has balanced his Formula E duties with a drive in the GRC, but will test an IndyCar with Penske in the young driver running at Sonoma later this week.

Speaking to MotorSportsTalk at the first Formula E pre-season test at Donington Park on Monday, Piquet said how he was relishing the opportunity to test with one of the leading IndyCar teams.

“[Penske] decided to invite me to do a test, and luckily it was on a perfect day because it’s between a test and a race that I have so it worked perfectly,” Piquet said.

“It takes a day to get there, and then I have to fly overnight to get to D.C. to race rallycross so it’s all kind of worked out perfectly.

“I’ve always wanted to test an IndyCar, and not necessarily wanted to race, so it’s going to be a great opportunity to be with the best team and testing with them.”

However, when asked by MotorSportsTalk whether this could lead to a full-time drive in the series in 2016, Piquet dismissed the idea.

“Well I have a three year contract with [Formula E], so there’s no way I can think about IndyCar,” Piquet said.

Piquet has remained with NEXTEV TCR for the second season of Formula E, and said that the car was feeling good following private testing over the winter.

“Yeah it’s feeling good,” he said. It’s hard to say until we get to the first race, but I’m happy. The team did a lot of work in the off season, so it should be good.”

The 2015/2016 FIA Formula E season kicks off in Beijing on October 17.

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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