Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis Fast Facts
Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway circuit, a 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course (clockwise)
Race distance: 82 laps / 200 miles
Entry List: Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis (PDF)
Push-to-pass parameters: 10 activations for 20 seconds each
Firestone tire allotment: Eight sets primary, three sets alternate
Twitter: @IMS @IndyCar, #GPofINDY, #IndyCar
Event website: www.indianapolismotorspeedway.
INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com
2014 race winner: Simon Pagenaud
2014 Verizon P1 Award winner: Sebastian Saavedra, 1:23.8822, 104.672 mph
Qualifying lap record: Simon Pagenaud, 1:09.6716, 126.062 mph, May 2014 (Segment 1).
ABC race broadcast: Saturday, May 9 (3:30 p.m. ET)
Allen Bestwick is the lead announcer for ESPN on ABC broadcasts for the second consecutive year alongside analysts Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever Jr. Rick DeBruhl, Dr. Jerry Punch and Jon Beekhuis are the pit reporters.
Radio broadcasts: Paul Page is the chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Qualifying and all Verizon IndyCar Series races are broadcast live on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 212, XM 209, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and on the INDYCAR 15 app. Verizon IndyCar Series practice sessions are available on IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com and the INDYCAR 15 app.
Video streaming: All practice sessions for the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season and this weekend’s qualifying session (3 p.m. ET, May 8) will be available on RaceControl.IndyCar.com.
INDYCAR 15 app: The Verizon INDYCAR 15 app has been enhanced with new features to keep fans in the know of the latest race-day action. Exclusive features of the INDYCAR 15 app for Verizon Wireless customers will stream live through the app and include interactive 3D Live View with real-time leaderboard and car telemetry to see where a fan’s favorite driver is positioned, leaderboard with enhanced 2D marching ants and car telemetry, in-car camera video streams from cameras that move 360 degrees and driver-pit crew chatter as drivers talk strategy with their pit crews during the race.
At-track schedule (all times local):
Thursday, May 7
11 a.m. -1 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice
3-4:40 p.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice
Friday, May 8
11-11:45 a.m. – Verizon IndyCar Series practice
3 p.m. – Three rounds of Verizon IndyCar Series knockout qualifications (live-streamed on RaceControl.IndyCar.com)
Saturday, May 9
11:30 a.m.-Noon. – Verizon IndyCar Series warm-up
3:30 p.m. – ABC on air
3:50 p.m. – Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis green flag (ABC, Live).
Race notes:
* The Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis will be the second Indy car event conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Simon Pagenaud won the inaugural race in 2014 and will look for his first win with Team Penske.
* There have been four different winners in four Verizon IndyCar Series races in 2015: Juan Pablo Montoya (Streets of St. Petersburg), James Hinchcliffe (NOLA Motorsports Park), Scott Dixon (Streets of Long Beach) and Josef Newgarden (Barber Motorsports Park). In 2014, there were a record-tying 11 different race winners.
* Drivers from Team Penske are the only drivers to start from pole position in 2015. Helio Castroneves (Long Beach and Barber) and Will Power (St. Petersburg) earned Verizon P1 Awards through knockout qualifying. Juan Pablo Montoya started on pole at NOLA by virtue of the entrant point standings entering that race, after qualifications were cancelled by rain.
* At least three drivers will compete in their first Verizon IndyCar Series race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course: Gabby Chaves, Stefano Coletti and Luca Filippi. Chaves has competed at IMS in Indy Lights, while Coletti won a Formula BMW USA race on the IMS road course in 2006.
* Five drivers have a chance to become the first to win on both the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and the famed 2.5-mile oval: Ryan Hunter-Reay, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya have all won the Indianapolis 500.
* Scott Dixon won at Long Beach on April 19 and took sole possession of fifth on the all-time Indy car victory list with 36. He is the active leader in wins.
* Tony Kanaan seeks to start his 238th consecutive race, which would extend his Indy car-record streak that began in 2001 at Portland. Teammate Dixon has made 179 consecutive starts.
* Castroneves will attempt to make his 300th career Indy car start. He will become the seventh Indy car driver to reach the milestone, joining Mario Andretti, A.J. Foyt, Al Unser Jr., Al Unser, Michael Andretti and Johnny Rutherford.
* Charlie Kimball’s car number (83) has a special meaning to not only him, but also his father, Gordon, and team owner, Chip Ganassi. In 1983, Ganassi had his best finish at the Indianapolis 500 while driving a car that was designed by Gordon Kimball, a noted engineer and car designer.
* The 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series season marked the competition debut of aerodynamic bodywork kits designed, manufactured and supplied by Chevrolet and Honda. Cars are differentiated by their shape as the manufacturers have designed separate aero kit specifications for road and street course/short ovals and superspeedways for the Dallara IR-12 chassis. References to the cars will incorporate the name of the corresponding manufacturer.
* The No. 27 Snapple Andretti Autosport Honda crew of Marco Andretti won the Firestone Pit Stop Performance Award during the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama on April 26 with a total pit lane time of 84.023 seconds. The Snapple Andretti Autosport crew will receive its $10,000 award during pre-race festivities at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
ANGIE’S LIST GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS PRE-RACE DRIVER QUOTES:
WILL POWER (No. 1 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “The new road course at Indianapolis is such a mega facility, probably one of the nicest racetracks that we go to as far as how it’s laid out. It has quickly become a favorite of many of the drivers in the Verizon IndyCar Series. I wanted so badly to win the first race there last year, but I’ve turned my focus to winning this weekend instead. Whether it is the road course or the oval, Indianapolis is such a special place to me. It just brings out the absolute best in a driver. We really need to get that first win of the season for the No. 1 Verizon Chevy team. It’s not for a lack of effort and I think it’s going to come sooner rather than later.”
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “The Indianapolis road course is a cool track and last year’s race was amazing. With the long straights and the drafting they create, it gives the drivers an opportunity to put on a great show. I really feel like we let one slip away here last year. Unfortunately, we had a part break on the car, but we were good enough with the Verizon Chevy to win the race. With a year of experience under our belt, I expect us to have a great car again. A win on the road course would be a good way to start the month of May and keep the points lead. If you would have told me before the season started that we would have the points lead going into Indianapolis, I wouldn’t have believed you. But this Verizon Chevy team has come out of the gates really strong and I’ve been fortunate to be the driver.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): (On making his 300th career Indy car start in the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis): “What a special moment for me to wake up every day and do something that I love 300 times. It’s fantastic and it’s a blessing. I’m just a person living out my dream and I’m very fortunate to be able to keep doing it with the same enthusiasm that I had in my first race. I can still recall that first race at Homestead in 1998. I was just hoping to make it to 50 starts or 100 starts. To have this type of longevity means that I’ve been fortunate to have a great team around me. We have been able to do a lot of special things and we still have plenty more to do. Hopefully we end the day on Saturday with a big celebration because that will mean we have put the No. 3 Verizon Chevrolet in Victory Lane at Indianapolis again.”
STEFANO COLETTI (No. 4 KV Racing Technology Chevrolet): “I am very excited to get back in the car for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It’s a track that I’m more familiar with, having won there in 2006 when I was driving in Formula BMW (as a support race to the Formula One U.S. Grand Prix), but there are some parts that have changed since I was there. I am sure the team and I will do a great job and that the result that we have been waiting for will finally come this weekend.”
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow/Lucas Oil Schmidt Peterson Honda): “The Indy GP is an incredible event. Obviously, last year it was a bit of a low point for my season because of the concussion (sustained in the race), but hopefully that means the track owes me one. I don’t remember much about the inaugural event, but from what I hear, last year was such a success and the track is a lot of fun to drive. The Arrow Electronics car had some great race pace in Barber and hopefully we can just keep pushing and be competitive when it counts on race day.”
JAMES JAKES (No. 7 Schmidt Peterson Honda): “I’m very excited to drive at the Indy grand prix course; it’s my first time there, so I can’t wait to get out on Thursday and drive it. I’ve heard really good things about the track and the event. It’s just a great way to kick off the month of May and hopefully we can get a good result to start off an exciting few weeks of racing at IMS.”
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 8 AFS Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “Last year we started in the best spot you could have here – on pole for the very first Indy car road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, so it was cool to be a part of history in a sense. The first race with the team this year in Long Beach was great. I felt comfortable and felt I got up to speed quickly. It’s such a great team to be a part of. I want to continue the momentum we started there and carry it into this weekend and then into the Indianapolis 500. We just need to take one lap at a time and continue to get better, and I’m confident we can do that.”
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “Well, we didn’t have the greatest race here last year in the Target car, so I’m looking forward to getting a better result this time around. In 2014 we had good pace and got a good start. We got into it a little bit with the No. 12 car (Will Power) and went off the track, though, and that was our race, really. We’ve started the year strong on the road courses, winning at Long Beach and finishing on the podium at Barber, so I’m hoping that will translate into a good result on Saturday for the No. 9 team in the grand prix.”
TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “It’s always great to be back at the (Indianapolis Motor) Speedway in May, especially with the chance to get out on the road course for the second annual GP of Indianapolis. We had a decent race here last year with a top-10 finish, but with this season’s consistently solid road course qualifying efforts I think we have a chance for a much better result this weekend. The No. 10 car had a tough weekend at our last race at Barber, but NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing has refocused and we’re ready to for this weekend.”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Team MISTIC E-Cigs – KVSH Racing Chevrolet): “The KVSH Racing team has had a good start to the season. We have shown good pace, but haven’t achieved the results we want and need. It is time to get on the podium and score some bigger points if we are going to be players in the championship race. I was skeptical of the changes they made to the Indy road course, but have to admit that they turned out very well. We were quite strong there last year, finishing fourth, but we need to build on that to have a good race this weekend for the team and our sponsors, Mistic, Hydroxycut, Circle K, Plantronics, GEICO, American Racing Wheels, everyone.”
TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): “(The circuit) is unique, simply as it is Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It has a long straight so we trim out the downforce level, which is unique, as not many other road circuits do in our calendar. And because of that, there are quite a few overtaking opportunities and that’s great for racing. … IMS did a good job to make it fun to drive by combining fast and technical sections together. The track layout is quite a bit different from F1 days, but still one-third of the track is the same, so it reminds me of the USGP and my special memory here (finishing third in 2004). It is a good feeling.” (On how he thinks the Honda aero kit will perform on the road course): “It should perform well as the track has a long straight line, so we need a good top speed. Honda has been very fast in the speed trap so I am looking forward to racing there.”
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Steak ‘n Shake Honda): “I hope a lot of the (car) setup for Barber (Motorsports Park) works for the (Angie’s List) Grand Prix of Indianapolis. We’re going to start from a pretty similar setup as we did there. Barber went so well for the Steak ‘n Shake team, I don’t know why you would change the car so much. We were pretty competitive on the Indy road course last year and had a solid baseline setup, so that will help as well. Last year, we had run in the top five or six and then (Juan Pablo) Montoya, who was a lap down, hit us on a restart and ended our day with plenty of racing to go. I hope we can have a really good weekend this year. We are so close in points now that a good finish would mean so much to us as a team. We need to be good and continue to rack up points. We’re only nine points out of fifth place in the championship. If we can have a couple of good days, we can slide right up in there. The car felt pretty good in Barber, so I hope it transfers to Indy. We get a lot of practice time on Thursday, so we should be all right. Momentum is pretty important to have heading into May and we have it right now. We just need to keep it.”
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 DeVilbiss Team Penske Chevrolet): “It’s such a great feeling to go into the month of May as a member of Team Penske. Everyone knows the history that the team has at Indianapolis. I’m very excited to get to work with my new sponsors, DeVillbiss and Avaya for both the GP of Indy and the Indianapolis 500. The No. 22 team is ready to break out with a win and I would love to do that this weekend at the GP of Indy. My win in the inaugural race last year was definitely one of the highlights of my career. It’s a beautiful track, one that all the people at Indianapolis should be proud of. This race has just added another level of excitement to the month.”
JUSTIN WILSON (No. 25 Andretti Autosport Honda): “I’m really looking forward to getting back in the car for the (Angie’s List) Grand Prix of Indianapolis. It’s been a long time since I’ve driven on a road course in an Indy car. I’m very much looking forward to the race, working with Andretti Autosport, my new teammates and experiencing the Honda aero kits for the first time. There is a lot to do and a lot to cram into a short amount of time, but excited to get this race weekend started and get going.”
CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 26 AndrettiTV/Cinsay Honda): “I’m excited to go to the Grand Prix of Indy. Last year, I couldn’t really start the race (due to an incident at the start). … The road course circuit is really nice and it will be a new experience with the aero kits. Looking forward to starting the weekend.”
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 Snapple Honda): “Last year’s grand prix was an exciting race, for sure, and any day we get to spend at Indy is a good day. It’s been busy on the crews to get turned around from the oval test, but we’ll be ready to go Thursday. The long straight and passing zones make it difficult to dial in all the levels of downforce, but we’re looking forward to a good weekend in the Snapple car.”
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “It’s really great to be back in Indy and get the grand prix going this weekend. Last year’s grand prix was good start to the month for us; we finished second and then went on to win the ‘500.’ I’m hoping to one better with the grand prix this year for the DHL Honda and keep the momentum going through the month.”
JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 41 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): “This has always been a great circuit for me. The front-row start last year and then leading the most laps, etc., winning the sports car race here in July and topping the time sheets in my first Star Mazda test way back in 2011, it’s certainly been a happy hunting ground for me. I don’t particularly think there is any specific reason why I have been strong here, other than I seem to have had some pretty good cars. It’s certainly an interesting circuit, though, and being good on the brakes and carrying good minimum speed is pretty important. … The key is the same as it always is, you need to be fast, consistent and mistake-free. We need to call a good strategy and be strong on both the start and restarts. It’s a very long run down to Turn 1 and that makes things very interesting.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “Obviously any race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is exciting, and to be coming back for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis is definitely one I’m looking forward to. We had a good race here last year, ending up in the top five. We’ll be able to apply some of the things we’ve learned at both Barber and New Orleans this year to the Indy road course. The NovoLog FlexPen car has been quick; we could do with a little bit of luck. But I know the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing guys – all of Chip Ganassi Racing, really – have been working really hard, so I feel like we’ll be in good shape when we get on track Thursday for practice.”
GABBY CHAVES (No. 98 Angie’s List Honda): “I am very excited to be part of this partnership with Angie’s List for this weekend. Not only are they the title sponsor for the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, but they also are a local Indianapolis company and that makes the connection even stronger. I will be looking forward to a very exciting Angie’s List Grand Prix. Last year proved the track is well designed for passing and I’m confident we’ll have a good car from the beginning of practice through race day.”
