News for the Week of May 5 – May 11, 2014

Grand Prix of Indianapolis

Qualifying – 5/9/14 – 2:00PM ET

Race – 5/10/14 – 2:30PM ET ABC

Wkd SchedEntry ListSpotter GuidePit AssignCircuit MapQual GroupsT&S

IndyCar Results: P1P2Fri CombinedP3Qualifying ResultsRace

Indy Lights Results: P1P2QualifyingRace 1Grid (Race 2)Race 2

Opening Day Practice for Indy 500 – Team Penske held the top 3 positions at the first day of oval practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway today.  Twenty-Four driver combinations ran a total of 731 laps without incident during today’s session. Not a huge surprise, J.R. Hildebrand was fourth fastest in the No. 21. Preferred Freezer/Ed Carpenter Racing Car. Check out the full results below, courtesy of INDYCAR PR. (5/11/14}

2014DAY1practice500

2014 Grand Prix of Alabama, Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award – Scott Dixon’s Target Chip Ganassi Team has yet again won the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award, this time at Barber Motorsports Park. This marks the second time in the first 3 races the team has won the award. Check out our Blog Page for a quick rundown. (5/10/14)

Hinchcliffe suffers concussion at GP of Indy/Viso to fill in until he’s cleared – “I don’t feel too behind with the other drivers with it being the first oval and being in very good circumstances with the team I was at last year,” Viso said. – INDYCAR – (5/10/14)

Pagenaud claims victory at inaugural GP of Indianapolis – Simon Pagenaud won a wild Grand Prix of Indianapolis ahead of Ryan Hunter-Reay and Helio Castroneves. The race got off to a rough start after pole-sitter Sebastian Saavedra’s car stalled on the grid, fortunately collecting only three cars in major impacts. Jack Hawksworth controlled the race once it was restarted but pit strategy produced a variety of leaders after the halfway point. “The fuel we’re saving is amazing,” said Pagenaud. “With the pace it was nerve-racking. I was worried about Helio coming back and I didn’t know what Hunter Reay was doing either, so I just kept working. My lap time was saving fuel, being off throttle. I don’t like racing off throttle. But it worked out.” Full results here. – INDYCAR – (5/10/14)

Davison confirmed to KV’s fourth 500 effort – James Davison will drive the No. 33 Always Evolving Racing/KV Racing Technology Chevy Dallara. “The Indy 500 is the childhood dream of mine,” said Davison. “Out of pure perseverance I’ve been able to make it here and find myself in a very good situation with KV Racing Technology and a good sponsor with Always Evolving Racing.” – INDYCAR – (5/10/14)

Razia wins 2nd Lights race at Indy – Schmidt Peterson Motorsport’s Luiz Razia won Saturday’s Indy Lights race at IMS and in doing so launched himself into 2nd in the title race. Full results here. – Indy Lights – (5/10/14)

Brabham wins the first Lights race at Indy – Andretti Autosport’s Matthew Brabham won a wild Indy Lights race at IMS on Friday. Championship leaders Veach and Chaves each struggled win an early spin and mechanical failure. Full results here. – Indy Lights – (5/9/14)

BHA adds Integrity Energee Drink as a sponsor – Indianapolis 500 winning team Bryan Herta Autosport announced today that Integrity Energee Drink will be the primary sponsor of the No. 98 BHA/BBM w/ Curb Agajanian entry driven by Jack Hawksworth in the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series. – BHA – (5/9/14)

Saavedra claims shock pole at GP of Indianapolis – Sebastian Saavedra took advantage of a session-ending spin from then-leader Ryan Hunter-Reay to capture his first ever Verizon IndyCar Series pole award. RHR hit the wall hard coming out of the final turn bringing out a red flag and thus losing his two fastest laps. He will still start third. Jack Hawksworth will start outside Saavedra in P2. Full results here. – INDYCAR – (5/9/14)

Pagenaud tops the charts at rainy final practice – Simon Pagenaud was fastest on Friday’s last practice session before qualifying in the rain. The practice featured plenty of passing and off track excursions by drivers such as Briscoe, Power, and Aleshin. Full results at the link. – @indy44 – (5/9/14)

IMS expects GP attendance to beat projections – IMS President Doug Boles is very optimistic about GP attendance thus far this race weekend and is very encouraged for the actual race tomorrow. “Our goal was 40,000, and I really feel comfortable we’re going to exceed that,” Boles said. “If the weather is good, we could break that mark by quite a bit.” – IBJ – (5/9/14)

Debut of new live daily show at IMS – The Indianapolis Star’s Curt Cavin and Andretti Autosport driver James Hinchcliffe will have a daily show live from IMS, Pit Pass Live. The first show features Hinch previewing qualifying, taking his girlfriend around the track in a pace car (at speed), and much more. – Indianapolis Star – (5/9/14)

Grand Prix of Indianapolis: Day 1 Highlights – Highlights from the Day 1 practice at Indy today. One of the more interesting parts of the video is where Pippa discusses how the wind affects the cars on the front stretch. Today the wind was from the south, leading to a tail wind on the cars going down the front stretch into Turn 1. This caused several cars to either miss the turn all together or lock up the wheels going into Turn 1. – INDYCAR – (5/8/14)

Chaves leads each Lights practice session at Indy – Belardi Racing’s Gabby Chaves was fastest in each of the two Indy Lights practice sessions on Thursday at IMS. Title rival Zach Veach finished 9th and 5th in each session. Luiz Razia followed up leading the test session charts on Wednesday by finishing 2nd and 3rd fastest on Thursday. – Indy Lights – (5/8/14)

Penske and Pennzoil team up for another “Yellow Submarine” at the 500 – Helio Castroneves will drive the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevy Dallara in the 98th running of the Indianapolis 500 in a throwback paint scheme sure to catch the eye. You can see the car here on our No. 3 livery page. – INDYCAR – (5/8/14)

Dixon tops the charts at GP of Indianapolis practice 2 – Scott Dixon led the way at the second and final practice of the day for the Verizon IndyCar Series. The big surprises were Mikhail Aleshin and Graham Rahal finishing 4th and 6th. Conway was slowest again. Full results at the link. – @indy44 – (5/8/14)

Bourdais leads first official practice at GP of Indianapolis – Sebastien Bourdais led the way at the first practice of the day for the Verizon IndyCar Series. Surprisingly Sato and Conway were at the bottom of the time sheet. Full results at the link. – @indy44 – (5/8/14)

LeAnn Rimes to sing the national anthem at the 500 – The country star will sing the national anthem at the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 25th. – Indianapolis Star – (5/8/14)

INDYCAR’s wives and fiancees talk about their drivers – Very entertaining read as Lauren Bohlander Kanaan, Nicole Brisoce, Emma Davies Dixon, and Kathleen Thompson (Kimball) talk about the rituals of their significant others. – Indianapolis Monthly – (5/8/14)

Dario still adjusting to “bizarre”/”bittersweet” role – Good interview of Dario Franchitti by Dave Furst of Indy’s ABC affiliate. Dario talks about his accident and how he’s doing with his new role with Ganassi. “Life’s been good. There’s been a couple of horrible bumps in the road, but this is not terrible,” Franchitti said. “I had a great thing going and it’s gone and I’ve got to get used to it, but the alternatives were a lot worse.” – RTV6 – (5/8/14)

Wednesday Indy Lights Test Results – Luiz Razia led each test session yesterday on the Grand Prix course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Results at the link – Session 1Session 2 – (5/8/14)

Indy Lights site previews their GP of Indy – Good background on the Indy Lights title race between Zach Veach and Gabby Chaves as well as the battles behind them. – Indy Lights – (5/8/14)

Jim Nabors opens up – Very entertaining interview done by Indianapolis Monthly.  Jim gives honest answers on his history with the 500, makes nut jokes (he owns a macadamia nut farm), talks about his fascinating acting and musical background, and his marriage last year. – Indianapolis Monthly – (5/7/14)

Google Glass provides unique view of RLL pit stop – Rahal Lanigan Racing used Google Glass to produce this awesome video of the different jobs involved of an IndyCar pit stop. It’s a must watch. – RLL – (5/7/14)

Cavin’s Q&A 5/7/14 – Curt Cavin answers fans’ questions on what to expect from the big names returning to the 500, GA viewing for the GP of Indy, and more. – Indianapolis Star – (5/7/14)

Miller’s Mailbag 5/7/14 – Robin Miller’s weekly fan Q&A returns this week and it’s another good one. Highlights include Robin’s always wonderfully nostalgic 500 memories, information on the IMS Museum’s turbine exhibit, the event at NOLA Motorsports Park, and much more. As well as this on Ayrton Senna’s secretive Indy test in 1992: “As for the Firebird test, Emerson encouraged Senna to do it because Indy cars were more racecars than all the active suspension stuff in F1. Senna was damn fast in that test – faster than Emmo – and he loved the fact the car wasn’t over-teched but he didn’t like the thought of ovals.”- RACER – (5/7/14)

Andretti Autosport adds Bud as a sponsor – Budweiser will serve as an associate sponsor for Andretti Autosport for the month of May according to this tweet. – Andretti Autosport – (5/7/14)

Alan Wilson on NOLA Motorsports Park – Alan Wilson, the designer of NOLA, a new road course outside of New Orleans. In this RACER article Alan shares some of his thoughts on the track and its future with IndyCar. He discusses why the track is flat. “The track is flat for the very simple reason that it stands on very poor soil with a water table that is around 4ft below the surface. This prevents any additional weight being placed on the surface or else the entire track would start to subside.” Alan then discusses how well developed the facility is and how it is on par with the other racetracks in this country. In addition to the road course that can accommodate the IndyCar Series, NOLA has a karting complex that can simultaneously use two tracks.  The course was actually used to host the 2013 Rotax world Championships. – RACER – (5/6/14)

Stefan Wilson’s 500 deal comes up short – Stefan Wilson tweeted today that his proposal deal for the Indy 500 has failed to be completed. At one time he looked very likely to be one of the necessary deals to reach 33 but unfortunately a deal could not be reached. – Stefan Wilson – (5/6/14)

LPR signs Cripps to lead 500 effort – Lazier Partners Racing has signed veteran engineer David Cripps to lead Buddy Lazier’s Indy 500 program. – Curt Cavin – (5/6/14)

“Little Al” to serve as a driver coach this May – Al Unser, Jr. will serve as a driver coach for KV Racing Technology for both the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indy 500 this month at IMS. – KV Racing Technology – (5/6/14)

Davison and KV will be 33rd entry to the 500 – Australian James Davison will drive the to-be-announced No. 33 KV Racing Technology Chevy Dallara at the Indianapolis 500 according to sources.  He raced in two races with Dale Coyne Racing last year at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma. “The fact that IndyCar was kind enough to support this, I felt it was an appropriate salute and respect to the (series) and the event to be that number,” Davison said. – Indianapolis Star – (5/6/14)

Rookies have a successful day at IMS – Mikhail Aleshin, Jack Hawksworth, Martin Plowman, and Carlos Huertas all completed their Rookie Orientation Program for the Indy 500 on Monday. Sage Karam didn’t complete his due to mechanical issues but according to the team will have no problems doing so when the oval opens again on Sunday. Kurt Busch and Jacques Villeneuve each were on the track as well with Busch completing the most laps (180) and fastest speed (222.289mph). Full results here. – IMS – (5/6/14)

Our own Parker Hall features on popular IndyCar blog – Not news but you can see Parker’s thoughts on the upcoming events this month at the following link. His picks for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Indy 500 are Ryan Briscoe and Will Power. – Indycar Minnesota – (5/6/14)

Karam lands big sponsorship deal for 500 – Sage Karam’s No. 22 Indy 500 entry will be sponsored by Comfort Revolution, Big Machine Records, and Brantley Gilbert.  It will be one of the easiest cars on the grid to spot. – NBC Sports – (5/5/14)

2014 car 22 unveil

Cavin Q&A 5/5/14 – Curt Cavin’s fan Q&A has answers on this weekend’s GP of Indianapolis, Ayrton Senna, and Sam Hornish, Jr.  Cavin believes that IMS shouldn’t have named the IndyCar race on the road course “Grand Prix” because of confusion and frustration with Formula 1 and the current MotoGP race. – Indianapolis Star – (5/5/14)

Sam Schmidt to drive at IMS on Pole Day – The former IndyCar driver and current team owner will drive a modified 2014 Corvette C7 Stingray “fitted with advanced electronics and a human-to-machine interface to allow people with disabilities similar to Schmidt’s to drive solo.”  The drive will take place on Pole Day Sunday, May 18th. – Indianapolis Star – (5/5/14)

New Orleans to join IndyCar schedule next year – The governor of Louisiana told the Associated Press that IndyCar will be coming to NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, LA next year.  An official announcement could come as soon as today. – AP – (5/5/14)

Daly’s GP2 ride confirmed for rest of the season – Conor Daly will drive for Venezuela GP Lazarus for the full GP2 season.  He has already spent winter testing and the first (and only) race weekend with the team this season.  “This has been a long winter of uncertainty for me, but I am committed on my path to Formula One. GP2 is where I want to be right now, and the Lazarus team really has a great group of people,” said Daly. – GP2 – (5/5/14)

Mitch Daniels joins Hulman & Co board – The former Governor of Indiana and current President of Purdue University joins the board of directors that oversees Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  “I spent many a Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway growing up in Indianapolis, and there’s no more iconic racing facility in the world,” said Daniels. “The connection between Purdue and Hulman & Company is already strong and this new relationship will take us even further.” – IBJ – (5/5/14)

Indy Lights Open Test at IMS Oval – Indy Lights Drivers took to the IMS oval for an open test. During the first session Mathew Brabham topped the time sheets at 186.845 mph, which was just faster than the current Indy Lights leader Zach Veach at 186.610 mph. In the second session Gabby Chaves topped the charts at an impressive 187.819 mph, with Jack Harvey second at 187.006 mph. You can check out the official results by enlarging the photos below. – INDYCAR – (5/5/14)

Session 1 Session 2

Session 1 Session 2

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