After nearly a month off track, it’s finally time for another IndyCar race, this time at the most famous track on the calendar. The Indianapolis GP acts as a prelude to the rather more famous Indy 500, with the circuit race being the first major event of the Month of May.
It seems like a long time ago, but the winner last time out was Alexander Rossi who dominated Long Beach for the second year running to take Andretti Autosport’s 200th IndyCar win. His win never looked in danger with no one else even close to challenging him however, it is not Rossi who comes into this round leading the championship.
That honour goes to Long Beach runner-up Josef Newgarden, who has been the most consistent driver in the first four races of the season with one win and two podiums. Each of the first four races have been won by different drivers with Newgarden taking the glory at St Petersburg followed by Colton Herta at the Circuit of the Americas, Takuma Sato at Barber Motorsports Park and, most recently, Rossi at Long Beach.
Coming into the Indy GP, Newgarden and Rossi are the ones who should be in with a good chance of becoming the first repeat winner of the season, but there are plenty of other drivers in the field who will be doing everything they can to stop that from happening.
Included in that is defending Indy GP winner Will Power, who would be delighted if he could have the same fortunes this May as he did last year. Penske were the ones getting their 200th win at the Indy GP in 2018 after Power broke a pretty awful run of form to take the win first at the GP and then at the 500.
Whoever finds themselves in Victory Lane this year will be hoping to emulate Power’s double-win, because there’s no race they want to win more than the Indy 500!
The form book does look to be swaying in Power’s favour; the Penske driver has won the Indy GP three times in the past four years while Penske themselves have won the race four years in a row. Power has also had a similarly dreadful start to the season as he did in 2018, however, there’s no saying that history will repeat itself and there are plenty of other contenders in the mix.
Defending champion Scott Dixon is in the hunt for his first win of the season while Penske’s third driver, Simon Pagenaud, is after his first podium since Toronto 2018, while his future at the team is being continually called into question.
Unlike in previous years, there is only one addition to the grid for this race. Helio Castroneves returns to IndyCar in the build-up to what could be his final attempt at the Indy 500 after it all ended in the barriers last season. He will be piloting the #3 Penske, bringing their total back up to four cars for the next two races.
The Indy GP if often an unpredictable one but the stakes are obviously higher than in most races as all the drivers know how important it is to get their Month of May off to the best possible start.
All three series of the Road to Indy are also back in action this weekend after around two months off track. One thing to note about this weekend is that it is a two-day event with the race held on Saturday afternoon, rather than Sunday. The timings for this weekend are as follows:
May 10
Practice 1 – 9:10am (EDT) / 2:10pm (BST)
Practice 2 – 12:30pm / 5:30pm
Qualifying – 4:35pm / 9:35pm
May 11
Final Warmup – 11:15am / 4:15pm
Race – 3:40pm / 8:40pm
Entry List:
| # | Driver | Team |
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | Team Penske |
| 3 | Helio Castroneves | Team Penske |
| 4 | Matheus Leist | AJ Foyt Racing |
| 5 | James Hinchcliffe | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 7 | Marcus Ericsson (R) | Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 10 | Felix Rosenqvist (R) | Chip Ganassi Racing |
| 12 | Will Power | Team Penske |
| 14 | Tony Kanaan | AJ Foyt Racing |
| 15 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
| 18 | Sebastien Bourdais | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 19 | Santino Ferrucci (R) | Dale Coyne Racing |
| 20 | Ed Jones | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 21 | Spencer Pigot | Ed Carpenter Racing |
| 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Team Penske |
| 26 | Zach Veach | Andretti Autosport |
| 27 | Alexander Rossi | Andretti Autosport |
| 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Andretti Autosport |
| 30 | Takuma Sato | Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
| 31 | Patricio O’Ward (R) | Carlin |
| 59 | Max Chilton | Carlin |
| 60 | Jack Harvey | Meyer Shank Racing/Schmidt Peterson Motorsports |
| 88 | Colton Herta (R) | Harding Steinbrenner |
| 98 | Marco Andretti | Andretti Autosport |
Featured Image Credit: Joe Skibinski/IndyCar