This particular Brit is suffering way too much from England’s mini-heatwave to write anything intelligible in time for practice tomorrow. No bumping, no month of May, no fans – however, 23 August will still see the Indy 500 and it’ll still be the usual compelling, hard-fought spectacle.
This week is time trial week: the cars fire up for the first time on Wednesday 12 August, for the first of three all-day practice sessions around the 2.5-mile track. Then it’s onto qualifying on Saturday and Sunday, and then on Carb Day the following Friday (the 21st) a chance to make final setup tweaks and understand how the track surface has changed. This is all preparation and obsessive lapping ahead of the big 500-mile race, which begins on Sunday, 23 August at the later-than-traditional (latest ever?) green flag time of 2.30pm Eastern. So in tabular form, that’s
Wednesday, 12 August: Practice 11am-6pm
Thursday, 13 August: Same
Friday, 14 August: Same
Saturday, 15 August: Practice 8.30-9.30am; Qualifying 11am-5pm
Sunday, 16 August: Practice 11-11.30am; Qualifying 12.30-3pm; Practice 4-6pm
Friday, 21 August: Carb Day practice 11am-1.30pm
Sunday, 23 August: Pre-race 1pm, Race start 2.30pm
Honours so far this season have been split by Chip Ganassi and Roger Penske. Ganassi’s star driver Scott Dixon notched up victories in the first three rounds, followed by his teammate Feli Rosenqvist coming out on top of a classic duel with McLaren’s Pato O’Ward. In Iowa last month Penske swept the board, with Josef Newgarden and online controversialist Simon Pagenaud picking up the wins while Third Penske Will Power got a DNF and a second.
2020 has been a good year for Indycar’s young and inexperienced, with podium finishes for rookies Oliver Askew and Alex Palou, and sophomores and former teammates Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward occupying 7th and 4th in the points standings. On the other end of the achievement spectrum, drivers in need of the metaphorical jump leads of Indy success include serial top-ten botherers Takuma Sato and Marcus Ericsson, and every Andretti driver who isn’t Colton Herta. Dutch rookie Rinus Veekay, who at least displays Verstappenesque self-confidence, could probably do with a finish. The same goes for Jack Harvey, who has the alchemist’s ability to turn great qualifying performances into average results, and Charlie Kimball, who had a fantastic run in Texas but is one of only two full-time drivers whose finishing positions have always been in double figures. No prizes for guessing the other one.
What of the Indy-only drivers, and part-timers? Well, in order of likelihood of winning, three-time champion Helio Castroneves is back in with Team Penske for another crack at a record-equalling fourth victory. He came very close in 2017, although his two attempts as a part-time entry were not scintillating. Another guy who could’ve won in 2017, Fernando Alonso, is back for a third effort (and hopefully a first finish) with the Elizabethan boys’ company that is McLaren-Schmidt-Peterson. Ed Carpenter is back in his own cockpit for another chance at winning the thing and entering Hoosier valhalla, and his temporary 2014 nemesis James Hinchcliffe has scored a return with Andretti Autosport. AJ Foyt has stretched the budget out to getting time-share partners Tony Kanaan and Dalton Kellett into separate, moving cars for Indy. Dale Coyne has put on an extra entry for the Australian by-now-veteran James Davison, and Bobby Rahal has pulled off a similar stunt to get Spencer Pigot back behind the wheel. Finally, we have a couple of part-time teams: old-timers Dreyer & Reinbold (with Sage Karam and JR Hildebrand) and sports car guys DragonSpeed with the ageless Ben Hanley.
I put Ben Hanley last! I bet he wins now. Or I dunno, any of the other 32 drivers could. It’s Indy! There’s a reason why we’ve had 9 winners in the last 10 races. Anyway, feel free to fill in my gaps with your own love, enthusiasm, analysis and livery appreciation.
