The month of May is here and as many NTT IndyCar series Fans know that means the sport is going home Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With the “greatest spectacle in racing”, the Indianapolis 500On the horizon, the teams must first take the street course of “The Brickyard” in the GMR Grand Prix. Chip Ganassi Racing‘s Scott Dixon has recaptured the points after the double header at Texas Motor Speedwaywith a margin of 22 points Patricio O’Ward.
This race will also feature the season debuts of Juan Pablo Montoya, O’Wards teammate at Arrow McLaren SP, and Charlie Kimball to the AJ Foyt EnterprisesWith 26 drivers, this is the largest grid of the season. After an exciting month of IndyCar action, here’s everything you need to know before the GMR Grand Prix.
What happened in the last year
Willpower On Saturday he picked up his fourth pole to lead the field into the green and was in the lead for most of the first stint. Meyer Shank Racing‘s Jack Harvey, who also started in the front row, stayed close behind until the pit stop phase. Track temperatures higher than usual meant that many switched to a three-stop strategy, the first of which were the first Chip Ganassi Racing Dixon’s cars, Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Ericsson. Just Graham Rahal, Spencer Pigot, Conor Daly and Santino Ferrucci stayed on a two-stop strategy.
When the pit stops were canceled, Power took the lead back during his Team Penske Teammate Josef Newgarden undercut Harvey to take second place. Power kept going in the next stint until his race was turned upside down on lap 35. Arrow McLaren SP rookie Oliver Askew lost control of his rear end as he exited the last corner, crashed into the outer wall, and exercised caution.
The teams using the three-stop strategy were in the middle of their second pit stop at this point, and the teams making the two-stop had a recent pit stop, but the leading trio did not have a pit stop and needed to do so with caution to do. This forced them out of the top ten when the two stoppers from Rahal, Pigot and Daly led the field to restart on lap 41. Dixon was the leading car in the three-stop strategy, restarting in fourth and quickly taking the lead on lap 47.
From there, Dixon was inviolable. On lap 50 he had a lead of more than five seconds and after his last pit stop he drove back forward and extended his lead further. When he crossed the finish line, he was more than 20 seconds ahead of second place Rahal. Simon Pagenaud took third place and was a big beneficiary of caution during the race.
(Photo credit: Chris Owens / Courtesy IndyCar)
You can read the full race report here.
WHAT TO LOOK FOR THIS WEEKEND?
Driver changes are high on the list at this race, similar to what happened in Texas last month. Tony Kanaan will return the reign of the Ganassi No. 48 on Jimmie Johnson for this race while Pietro Fittipaldi will give up Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing No. 51 back to the previous one Haas F1 team Teammate Romain Grosjean. Max Chilton returns to Carlin After Daly drives the # 59 car in Texas, Daly will return to the # 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet instead of the team owner Ed Carpenter.
More interesting will be the newcomers from Montoya and Kimball, who will also compete in the Indy 500 later this month. Montoya, a two-time Indy 500 winner with Penske, is switching similarly to Arrow McLaren Helio Castroneves was for a couple of races last year. He will drive car number 86 and pay homage to it Peter Revson, who put his McLaren on pole for the Indy 500 from 1971 half a century ago and thus shook the track record at the time.
Kimball, a 10-year IndyCar series veteran, is returning for AJ Foyt in the # 11 Chevrolet after driving full-time with the team last season. Kimball will take part Sebastien Bourdais and Dalton had to for the entire month of May while JR Hildebrand will join the trio for the Indy 500 later this month.
There was a lot of action on the IMS Road Course last season. Three of the 14 races were held on the racetrack. After Dixon’s victory, Penske won the two races of the with Power and Newgarden IndyCar Harvest Grand Prix Double header. Prior to last season, all six GMR Grands Prix / Indy GP were won by either Power or Pagenaud. So expect the Penske cars to be at the forefront.
It is mentioned every week, but the bad results from Alexander Rossi and No. 27 Andretti Autosport Team remain a topic of conversation. The Harvest GP was kind to Rossi last season when the 29-year-old American took two podiums, but he had to retire at last year’s GMR Grand Prix due to mechanical issues. It remains to be seen what hand will be given to Rossi, but this could again be a great opportunity to turn your luck around.
Rossi’s teammate Colton Herta also had a strong Harvest GP with second and fourth places. The winner of the 2021 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg could also be a name to look for a strong finish this weekend.
Two other names that might be envisaged for solid weekends are Jack Harvey and Rinus Veekay. Harvey’s best career third came in that race in 2019 and despite the unfortunate caution at the 2020 GMR Grand Prix which ruined a strong race, he finished in the top ten at both Harvest GP events. Meyer Shank Racing has had an incredible season so far, ranks tenth in the points and has been a consistent leader all year round. So make sure Harvey has another strong race.
Veekay made a name for himself as a rookie Ed Carpenter Racing with his appearances at IMS last season. After a disastrous start to the season in Texas, Veekay recovered with a fifth place at the GMR Grand Prix and in the first race of the Harvest GP earned his first IndyCar pole career, which ended with his first third podium. In a much quieter second race, Veekay finished seventeenth, but it shows that we know how fast the 20-year-old Dutchman is on the track.
And as always, the inevitable Dixon will be a threat to another victory.
(Photo credit: Walt Kuhn / Courtesy of IndyCar)
WHAT’S THE SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEKEND?
Friday May 14th
0930 EST / 1430 BST – Exercise 1
1300 EST / 1800 BST – Exercise 2
1630 EST / 2130 EST qualification
Saturday 15th May
1400 EST / 1900 BST – races
WHERE CAN I WATCH?
Coverage for qualifying and the UK race will be provided by Sky Sports F1.
In the US, the race will be broadcast on NBC. Training and qualification are streamed exclusively via the Peacock streaming service.
HOW CAN I KEEP WITH ALL MEASURES?
You can follow all actions here under The checkered flag. We will report on the training, qualification and racing sessions. You can also follow IndyCar on Twitter (@Indycar) for live updates during sessions.
The post PREVIEW: 2021 NTT IndyCar Series – GMR Grand Prix first appeared on monter-une-startup.
