IndyCar’s GP of Indianapolis – facts, figures, entry list
All you need to know ahead of the fifth round of the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series, the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
Event date: Friday, May 14 – Saturday, May 15
Track: 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course in Indianapolis, IN.
Race distance: 85 laps / 207.315 miles
Firestone tire allotment: 6 sets primary (7 sets for rookies), 4 sets alternate
At-track IndyCar schedule (local/Eastern Time) and broadcast details
Friday, May 14
9.30-10.15am – First practice – Peacock Premium
1.00-1.45pm – Second practice – Peacock Premium
4.30-5.45pm – Qualifying – Peacock Premium
6.00 – Qualifying, same-day delay broadcast – NBCSN
Saturday, May 15
10.45-11.15am – Warm-up – Peacock Premium
2.30pm – NBC broadcast
2.39pm – NTT IndyCar Series “Drivers, start your engines” – NBC
2.45pm – Green flag: GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis (85 laps) – NBC
Leigh Diffey is play-by-play announcer for NBC's coverage of the NTT IndyCar Series, alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy.
IndyCar Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Nick Yeoman and Jake Query are the turn announcers. The GMR Grand Prix will air live on network affiliates, SiriusXM 205, indycar.com, indycarradio.com and the IndyCar Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All NTT IndyCar Series practices and qualifying are available on SiriusXM 205, indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app.
Race Notes
2020 race winner: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda).
2020 NTT P1 Award winner: Will Power (Team Penske-Chevrolet) 1m10.1779sec (125.116mph).
Qualifying lap record: Power (Penske-Chevy), 2017, 1m07.7044sec (129.687mph).
The GMR Grand Prix will be the 10th IndyCar race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course. Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud and Will Power are the only drivers to win on the IMS road course. Power has four wins – three GMR GPs plus the second race of last October’s Harvest GP double-header; Pagenaud has three GMR GP wins; Dixon won the 2020 GMR Grand Prix; Newgarden won the first race of the 2020 Harvest GP doubleheader.
Power has five pole positions here – four for the GMR Grand Prix, one for the Harvest GP. Other drivers to win pole on the IMS road course are Sebastian Saavedra, Pagenaud, Felix Rosenqvist and Rinus VeeKay.
Twenty-three of the drivers entered in Saturday’s race have competed in IndyCar races on the IMS road course and 11 of them have led laps in the GMR Grand Prix: Power 210, Pagenaud 68, Dixon 66, Graham Rahal 36, Newgarden 25, Ryan Hunter-Reay 18, Rosenqvist 15, James Hinchcliffe 4, Alexander Rossi 2, Marcus Ericsson1 and Jack Harvey.
Dixon has finished first or second in the last four GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis, including last year’s win – his first on the IMS road course.
Rookies Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda), Jimmie Johnson (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda) and Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske-Chevrolet) will race IndyCars cars on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s road course for the first time this weekend.
Entry list for the 2021 GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis
| No. | Driver | Hometown | Car name | Team-Engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Josef Newgarden | Nashville, Tennessee | Snap-on Team Penske | Team Penske-Chevrolet |
| 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Christchurch, New Zealand | PPG Team Penske | Team Penske-Chevrolet |
| 4 | Dalton Kellett | Stouffville, Canada | K-Line Insulators / AJ Foyt Racing | A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet |
| 5 | Pato O'Ward | Monterrey, Mexico | Arrow McLaren SP | Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet |
| 7 | Felix Rosenqvist | Varnamo, Sweden | Arrow McLaren SP | Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Kumla, Sweden | Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 9 | Scott Dixon | Auckland, New Zealand | PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 10 | Alex Palou | Barcelona, Spain | The American Legion | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 11 | Charlie Kimball | Camarillo, California | Tresiba / AJ Foyt Racing | AJ Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet |
| 12 | Will Power | Toowoomba, Australia | Verizon 5G Team Penske | Team Penske-Chevrolet |
| 14 | Sebastien Bourdais | Le Mans, France | ROKiT / AJ Foyt Racing | A.J. Foyt Enterprises-Chevrolet |
| 15 | Graham Rahal | New Albany, Ohio | Fifth Third Bank | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda |
| 18 | Ed Jones | Dubai, United Arab Emirates | MOUSER / MOLEX | Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan-Honda |
| 20 | Ed Carpenter | Indianapolis, Indiana | MannKind | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet |
| 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Hoofddorp, Netherlands | Sonax / Autogeek | Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet |
| 22 | Simon Pagenaud | Montmorillon, France | Menards Team Penske | Team Penske-Chevrolet |
| 26 | Colton Herta | Valencia, California | Gainbridge | Andretti Autosport-Honda |
| 27 | Alexander Rossi | Nevada City, California | NAPA AUTO PARTS / AutoNation | Andretti Autosport-Honda |
| 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | DHL | Andretti Autosport-Honda |
| 29 | James Hinchcliffe | Toronto, Canada | Genesys | Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport-Honda |
| 30 | Takuma Sato | Tokyo, Japan | Panasonic / Shield Cleansers | Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda |
| 48 | Jimmie Johnson | El Cajon, California | Carvana Chip Ganassi Racing | Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda |
| 51 | Romain Grosjean | Geneva, Switzerland | Nurtec ODT | Dale Coyne Racing with RWR-Honda |
| 59 | Max Chilton | Reigate, UK | Carlin | Carlin-Chevrolet |
| 60 | Jack Harvey | Bassingham, UK | AutoNation/SiriusXM | Meyer Shank Racing-Honda |
| 86 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Bogota, Colombia | Arrow McLaren SP | Arrow McLaren SP-Chevrolet |
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