Round 5: Sonsio Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. May 9-10
Round 5: Sonsio Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. May 9-10
This weekend's race kicks off The Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Current driver's champion and championship leader Alex Palou, has won the last two races, can he make it three in a row?
.
History
On October 1, 2013, after a feasability test in September, it was announced that an IndyCar race for 2014 would be held on the GP Circuit, either as a "double header" event in May prior to the Indy 500, or as a stand-alone race in the fall. Up until the announcement IndyCar hadn't raced on the GP Circuit, though Indy Lights had four times.
The inaugural race was held on May 10, 2014 and was won by Simon Pagenaud, driving a Dallara DW12- Honda HI14RTT for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
The race featured a standing start, which was not without incident, when Pole sitter Sebastián Saavedra stalled as the lights went out and his car was hit by Carlos Munoz's and Mikhail Aleshin's cars, showering the track with carbon-fibre and forcing a restart. It was therefore decided, that from 2015 onwards the race would have a conventional rolling start.
Despite the change, the start of each race has been barely without incident, with 2017, 2020 and last year being the exceptions.
In 2019 GMR, Global Medical Response, parent company of AMR, American Medical Response, signed a multi-year agreement to become the title sponsor of the race.
In 2020, as part of the revised schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the race was moved forward to July 4 and held with no spectators. A second event, the Harvest Grand Prix, was added to the race calendar and was also held at the IMS Grand Prix circuit, from October 1-3.
It was also the fifth double-header of the 2020 season. The following year, the GMR Grand Prix was back in it's usual place on the calendar.
Apart from the Covid-19 pandemic, the only other disruption to the race was in 2022, when it was delayed by approximately 45 minutes, due to lightning and shortened by the two-hour time limit and shortened to 75 laps.
On November 1, 2023, Sonsio Vehicle Protection was announced as the title sponsor of the event, replacing GMR.
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Some trivia
Driver with the most wins:
Simon Pagenaud: 2014, 2016, 2019.
Will Power: 2015, 2017, 2018
Team with the most wins:
Team Penske: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.
Track layout
The layout is a modified version of the one previously used for the F1 United States Grand Prix, which was held from 2000 - 2007 and by MotoGP from 2008 to 2015. The race is run clockwise, the opposite direction to the Indianapolis 500.
F1 Course, 2000-2007
IndyCar Road Course
Length
2.439 Miles (3.925 Km)
Turns: 14
Lap record
Will Power, May 12, 2017. 1:07.704, 129.69 mph (208.44 km/h).
Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.
Verizon IndyCar Series.
Last Year's Race
https://www.indycar.com/news/2024/05...-sonsiogp-race
Pole:
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI24TT Indy V-6
Winner:
Alex Palou,
Chip Ganassi Racing,
Dallara IR18-Honda HI24TT Indy V-6
Laps: 85
Distance: 207.315 Miles / 333.641 km
Race Time: 1:45:27.2320
Average Speed: 117.956 mph (189.832 km/h)
Fastest Lap
Alex Palou - Chip Ganassi Racing.
Lap 82, 71.1111 sec. 123.474 Mph, (198.712 km/h)
Cautions: 1
Laps: 2
-
Practice and Qualifications
Practice 1- Friday, May 9. 9:30 AM ET
Sky Sports F1, 2:30 PM BST
Practice 2 - Friday, May 9. 1:00 PM ET
Sky Sports F1, 6:00 PM BST
Qualifications - Friday, May 9. 4:30 PM ET
Sky Sports F1, 9:30 PM BST
-
Race broadcast
Fox Saturday, 10 May, 4:30 PM ET, 8:30 PM UTC, 9:30 PM BST
Sky Sports F1, 9:30 PM BST
This weekend's race kicks off The Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Current driver's champion and championship leader Alex Palou, has won the last two races, can he make it three in a row?
.
History
On October 1, 2013, after a feasability test in September, it was announced that an IndyCar race for 2014 would be held on the GP Circuit, either as a "double header" event in May prior to the Indy 500, or as a stand-alone race in the fall. Up until the announcement IndyCar hadn't raced on the GP Circuit, though Indy Lights had four times.
The inaugural race was held on May 10, 2014 and was won by Simon Pagenaud, driving a Dallara DW12- Honda HI14RTT for Sam Schmidt Motorsports.
The race featured a standing start, which was not without incident, when Pole sitter Sebastián Saavedra stalled as the lights went out and his car was hit by Carlos Munoz's and Mikhail Aleshin's cars, showering the track with carbon-fibre and forcing a restart. It was therefore decided, that from 2015 onwards the race would have a conventional rolling start.
Despite the change, the start of each race has been barely without incident, with 2017, 2020 and last year being the exceptions.
In 2019 GMR, Global Medical Response, parent company of AMR, American Medical Response, signed a multi-year agreement to become the title sponsor of the race.
In 2020, as part of the revised schedule due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the race was moved forward to July 4 and held with no spectators. A second event, the Harvest Grand Prix, was added to the race calendar and was also held at the IMS Grand Prix circuit, from October 1-3.
It was also the fifth double-header of the 2020 season. The following year, the GMR Grand Prix was back in it's usual place on the calendar.
Apart from the Covid-19 pandemic, the only other disruption to the race was in 2022, when it was delayed by approximately 45 minutes, due to lightning and shortened by the two-hour time limit and shortened to 75 laps.
On November 1, 2023, Sonsio Vehicle Protection was announced as the title sponsor of the event, replacing GMR.
-
Some trivia
Driver with the most wins:
Simon Pagenaud: 2014, 2016, 2019.
Will Power: 2015, 2017, 2018
Team with the most wins:
Team Penske: 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019.
Track layout
The layout is a modified version of the one previously used for the F1 United States Grand Prix, which was held from 2000 - 2007 and by MotoGP from 2008 to 2015. The race is run clockwise, the opposite direction to the Indianapolis 500.
F1 Course, 2000-2007
IndyCar Road Course
Length
2.439 Miles (3.925 Km)
Turns: 14
Lap record
Will Power, May 12, 2017. 1:07.704, 129.69 mph (208.44 km/h).
Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.
Verizon IndyCar Series.
Last Year's Race
https://www.indycar.com/news/2024/05...-sonsiogp-race
Pole:
Alex Palou
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI24TT Indy V-6
Winner:
Alex Palou,
Chip Ganassi Racing,
Dallara IR18-Honda HI24TT Indy V-6
Laps: 85
Distance: 207.315 Miles / 333.641 km
Race Time: 1:45:27.2320
Average Speed: 117.956 mph (189.832 km/h)
Fastest Lap
Alex Palou - Chip Ganassi Racing.
Lap 82, 71.1111 sec. 123.474 Mph, (198.712 km/h)
Cautions: 1
Laps: 2
-
Practice and Qualifications
Practice 1- Friday, May 9. 9:30 AM ET
Sky Sports F1, 2:30 PM BST
Practice 2 - Friday, May 9. 1:00 PM ET
Sky Sports F1, 6:00 PM BST
Qualifications - Friday, May 9. 4:30 PM ET
Sky Sports F1, 9:30 PM BST
-
Race broadcast
Fox Saturday, 10 May, 4:30 PM ET, 8:30 PM UTC, 9:30 PM BST
Sky Sports F1, 9:30 PM BST