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2014 Grand Prix of Indianapolis

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United States 2014 GP Indianapolis
Race details
4th round of the 2014 IndyCar Series season
DateMay 10, 2014
Official nameGrand Prix of Indianapolis
LocationIndianapolis Motor Speedway
Speedway, Indiana
CourseCombined road course
2.439 mi / 3.925 km
Distance82 laps
200 mi / 321.87 km
Pole position
DriverSebastián Saavedra (KV Racing Technology)
Time1:23.8822
Fastest lap
DriverScott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time1:10.4062 (on lap 76 of 82)
Podium
FirstSimon Pagenaud (Sam Schmidt Motorsports)
SecondRyan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)
ThirdHélio Castroneves (Team Penske)

The 2014 Grand Prix of Indianapolis, the inaugural running of the event, was an IndyCar Series race held on May 10, 2014, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The fourth round of the 2014 IndyCar Series season, it was won by Simon Pagenaud of Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports.

Report

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Background

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The race was officially announced on October 1, 2013. The track's road course was formerly used by Formula One for the United States Grand Prix. The track featured various modifications: the track runs clockwise, with turn 1 entering the oval's turn 4 onto the road course. Turns 2 to 4 remain the same, while turn 5 and 6 became a chicane, and entered the Hulman Blvd. straight. Turn 7 is a 90-degree left turn into turns 8 and 9, leading into the oval's turn 2, which serves as the road course's turns 10 and 11. The oval's turn 1 is not entered, as the track follows the MotoGP format, with turns 12 to 14 leading into the front straight.[1] The cars were also modified to fit the track's specifications, with fueling plugs on the opposite side.[2]

A contest was held for fans to design the trophy for the event. Dan Nichols, a California native, beat out 150 other entries.[3]

Qualifying

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Qualifying took place on May 9. Rain had affected the track during the four sessions held. Prior to the Fast Six session, rain escalated, causing a red flag, which delayed qualifying for 20 minutes, before the six cars were sent onto the track. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the fastest during his qualifying attempt, with a lap time of 1:23.8480,[4] but drove into a puddle of water, spinning out, bring out another red flag.[5] As a result, Hunter-Reay was relegated to third, while Sebastián Saavedra was awarded the pole position.[4]

Race

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The race's honorary race starter was Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard; the event began with a standing start, but as the lights went out, pole-sitter Saavedra stalled, and was later hit by Carlos Muñoz and Mikhail Aleshin.[6]

Race results

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Key Meaning
R Rookie
Pos Car
#
Driver Team Engine Laps Status Pit
Stops1
Grid Laps
Led
Points2
1 77 France Simon Pagenaud Sam Schmidt Motorsports Honda 82 2:04:24.0261 9 4 6 51
2 28 United States Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 82 + 0.8906 8 3 18 41
3 3 Brazil Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet 82 + 1.8244 9 10 15 36
4 11 France Sébastien Bourdais KV Racing Technology Chevrolet 82 + 2.5406 9 7 1 33
5 83 United States Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 82 + 5.3007 9 23 30
6 8 Australia Ryan Briscoe Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 82 + 9.1914 10 14 28
7 98 United Kingdom Jack Hawksworth R Bryan Herta Autosport Honda 82 + 14.6161 9 2 31 29
8 12 Australia Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 82 + 18.5958 11 5 24
9 14 Japan Takuma Sato A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda 82 + 20.9721 10 16 20
10 10 Brazil Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 82 + 21.4539 10 9 20
11 19 United Kingdom Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda 82 + 26.4750 9 18 4 20
12 16 Spain Oriol Servià Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 82 + 29.6561 10 22 7 19
13 18 Colombia Carlos Huertas R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 82 + 33.0827 9 17 17
14 25 United States Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 82 + 1:04.2370 11 13 16
15 9 New Zealand Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet 82 + 1:08.6263 9 6 15
16 2 Colombia Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Chevrolet 81 + 1 Lap 9 8 14
17 67 United States Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda 80 + 2 Laps 10 15 13
18 41 United Kingdom Martin Plowman R A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda 80 + 2 Laps 12 20 12
19 20 United Kingdom Mike Conway Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 58 Parked3 5 24 11
20 27 Canada James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Honda 56 Driver injury4 8 11 10
21 15 United States Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 50 Crash frontstretch 8 12 9
22 26 France Franck Montagny Andretti Autosport Honda 47 Crash T7 9 21 8
23 17 Colombia Sebastián Saavedra KV Racing Technology Chevrolet 0 Crash frontstretch 0 1 8
24 34 Colombia Carlos Muñoz R Andretti Autosport Honda 0 Crash frontstretch 0 19 6
25 7 Russia Mikhail Aleshin R Sam Schmidt Motorsports Honda 0 Crash frontstretch 0 25 5
Notes

1 Due to the crash on the starting grid, all cars went through pit lane behind the safety car for the first six laps. These passages were counted as pit stops.

2 Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

3 Mike Conway's team ordered him to park the car once he overtook James Hinchcliffe for position on the track by completing 1 more lap than him for an additional point.

4 James Hinchcliffe was injured when a piece of debris hit him on the helmet knocking him unconscious. He would make a full recovery & compete in the next round.

References

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  1. ^ DiZinno, Tony (October 1, 2013). "Grand Prix of Indianapolis set for May 10, 2014 on revised course". NBC Sports. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  2. ^ Garrett, Jerry (May 9, 2014). "Grand Prix Blazes New Trail at Indianapolis Speedway". The New York Times. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  3. ^ Proffitt, Chris (May 7, 2014). "Calif. man wins contest to design Grand Prix of Indianapolis trophy". WRTV. Archived from the original on April 5, 2015. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  4. ^ a b DiZinno, Tony (May 9, 2014). "IndyCar: Sebastian Saavedra takes GP of Indy pole in bizarre session". NBC Sports. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  5. ^ "INDYCAR: SAAVEDRA TAKES POLE FOR INAUGURAL GRAND PRIX OF INDIANAPOLIS". Foxsports.com. Associated Press. May 9, 2014. Retrieved May 12, 2014.
  6. ^ "Crash mars start of Indy Grand Prix". ESPN. May 11, 2014. Retrieved May 15, 2014.


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2014 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
IndyCar Series
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Next race:
2014 Indianapolis 500
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Grand Prix of Indianapolis Next race:
2015 Grand Prix of Indianapolis