2020 IndyCar Grand Prix

The 2020 GMR Grand Prix, was an IndyCar Series event scheduled for July 4, 2020 and was the second of fourteen rounds of the 2020 IndyCar Series Season. It was originally scheduled for May 9, but was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] As a result of the postponement, the race was run as a double-header event with the NASCAR Xfinity Series, with IndyCar sharing the card with the Shell 150 NASCAR Xfinity Series event, the day before the NASCAR Cup Series Big Machine Hand Sanitizer 400.[2] The race was also reduced from 85 laps to 80 laps to compensate for the compacted schedule, and was the first of two meetings held on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. The second road course meeting was held October 2–4 as part of the Harvest Auto Racing Classic featuring the Intercontinental GT Challenge. It was the inaugural NASCAR meeting race for INDYCAR.

United States 2020 GMR Grand Prix
Race details
2nd round of the 2020 IndyCar Series season
DateJuly 4, 2020
Official nameGMR Grand Prix
LocationIndianapolis Motor Speedway
CoursePermanent racing facility
2.439 mi / 3.925 km
Distance80 laps
195.12 mi / 314.02 km
Pole position
DriverAustralia Will Power (Team Penske)
Time1:10.1779
Fastest lap
DriverNew Zealand Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time1:11.751 (on lap 49 of 80)
Podium
FirstNew Zealand Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
SecondUnited States Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing)
ThirdFrance Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)

Qualifying

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Qualifying was held Friday, July 3, with the first session beginning at 4:30 p.m. EST. With temperatures much higher than the normal May date the event had normally been run at, qualifying times were slower than in years previous. Will Power qualified on pole position with a time of 1:10.1779, besting Jack Harvey and Colton Herta. Rookie Oliver Askew set the fastest time of the day in the second round of qualifying with a 1:09.8780, but wore out his tires in doing so, causing him to only manage 5th place in the Firestone Fast 6 session.[3]

Key Meaning
 R  Rookie
 W  Past winner
Pos No. Name Grp. Round 1 Round 2 Fast 6
1 12   Will Power  W  2 1:10.2548 1:10.1313 1:10.1779
2 60   Jack Harvey 2 1:10.5157 1:10.0238 1:10.3653
3 88   Colton Herta 2 1:10.4114 1:10.0985 1:10.5197
4 15   Graham Rahal 2 1:10.5647 1:10.0707 1:10.5844
5 7   Oliver Askew  R  1 1:10.5306 1:09.8780 1:10.8404
6 1   Josef Newgarden 1 1:10.6188 1:10.1420 No Time
7 9   Scott Dixon 2 1:10.5000 1:10.1990
8 20   Conor Daly 1 1:10.5658 1:10.2169
9 10   Felix Rosenqvist 1 1:10.5558 1:10.2310
10 59   Max Chilton 1 1:10.5465 1:10.3055
11 27   Alexander Rossi 2 1:10.5947 1:10.3426
12 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay 1 1:10.5880 1:10.5764
13 5   Patricio O'Ward 1 1:10.7333
14 8   Marcus Ericsson 2 1:10.6287
15 18   Santino Ferrucci 1 1:10.7902
16 45   Spencer Pigot 2 1:10.6350
17 30   Takuma Sato 1 1:10.8853
18 21   Rinus VeeKay  R  2 1:10.7070
19 29   James Hinchcliffe 1 1:11.1478
20 22   Simon Pagenaud  W  2 1:10.7438
21 55   Álex Palou  R  1 1:11.1815
22 26   Zach Veach 2 1:11.2762
23 24   Sage Karam 1 1:11.7774
24 4   Charlie Kimball 2 1:11.4026
25 98   Marco Andretti 1 1:12.0513
26 14   Dalton Kellett  R  2 1:11.5876

Race

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Pos No. Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Status Pit
Stops
Grid Laps
Led
Pts.1
1 9   Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 1:41:59.3232 3 7 26 51
2 15   Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 80 +19.946 2 4 18 41
3 22   Simon Pagenaud  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 80 +20.564 3 20 35
4 88   Colton Herta Andretti Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda 80 +25.088 3 3 32
5 21   Rinus VeeKay  R  Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 80 +25.636 3 18 30
6 8   Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 +25.713 3 14 1 29
7 1   Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 80 +31.897 3 6 4 27
8 5   Patricio O'Ward Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 80 +33.836 3 13 24
9 18   Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing w/Vasser-Sullivan Honda 80 +43.046 2 15 22
10 30   Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 80 +44.891 4 17 20
11 29   James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Honda 80 +46.167 3 19 19
12 20   Conor Daly Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 80 +49.977 2 8 18
13 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 80 +50.489 3 12 17
14 26   Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Honda 80 +52.217 4 22 1 17
15 10   Felix Rosenqvist Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 80 +56.688 3 9 15
16 59   Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet 80 +1:00.231 3 10 14
17 60   Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda 80 +1:03.845 3 2 1 14
18 4   Charlie Kimball A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 80 +1:05.519 3 24 12
19 55   Álex Palou  R  Dale Coyne Racing w/Team Goh Honda 80 +1:06.478 3 21 11
20 12   Will Power  W  Team Penske Chevrolet 80 +1:11.612 3 1 28 14
21 14   Dalton Kellett  R  A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 79 +1 Lap 3 26 9
22 98   Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport w/ Marco Andretti & Curb-Agajanian Honda 79 +1 Lap 3 25 8
23 24   Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet 79 +1 Lap 3 23 7
24 45   Spencer Pigot Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing w/Citrone/Buhl Autosport Honda 74 Mechanical 2 16 1 7
25 27   Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 41 Mechanical 2 11 5
26 7   Oliver Askew  R  Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet 34 Contact 1 5 5

Race statistics

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Average speed: 114.789 mph (184.735 km/h)

Lead changes: 10

Lap leader breakdown
From
lap
To
lap
Total
laps
Driver
1 16 16 Will Power
17 17 1 Jack Harvey
18 26 9 Graham Rahal
27 38 12 Will Power
39 47 9 Graham Rahal
48 54 7 Scott Dixon
55 55 1 Spencer Pigot
56 56 1 Marcus Ericsson
57 60 4 Josef Newgarden
61 61 1 Zach Veach
62 80 19 Scott Dixon
Cautions: 1 for 4 laps
From
lap
To
lap
Total
laps
Reason
36 39 4 #7 (Askew) accident turn 14

Championship standings after the race

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Drivers' Championship standings
Pos Driver Points
  1   Scott Dixon 104
  2   Simon Pagenaud 75
  3   Josef Newgarden 64
  3 4   Colton Herta 58
  12 5   Graham Rahal 54

References

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  1. ^ Malsher, David (March 26, 2020). "Indianapolis 500 rescheduled to August". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  2. ^ Malsher, David (June 30, 2020). "Daly, Pagenaud: IndyCar, NASCAR double-header at IMS is "awesome"". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
  3. ^ Miller, Robin (July 3, 2020). "Power soars to pole on Indy road course". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Retrieved July 3, 2020.


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