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.
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 2nd round of the 2020 IndyCar Series season | |
 | |
| Date | July 4, 2020 |
| Official name | GMR Grand Prix |
| Location | Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
| Course | Permanent racing facility 2.439 mi / 3.925 km |
| Distance | 80 laps 195.12 mi / 314.02 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Will Power (Team Penske) |
| Time | 1:10.1779 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver |  Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Time | 1:11.751 (on lap 49 of 80) |
| Podium | |
| First | Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Second |  Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) |
| Third |  Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske) |
Qualifying edit
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 edit
Race statistics edit
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 edit
- 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 edit
- ^ Malsher, David (March 26, 2020). "Indianapolis 500 rescheduled to August". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ Malsher, David (June 30, 2020). "Daly, Pagenaud: IndyCar, NASCAR double-header at IMS is "awesome"". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
- ^ Miller, Robin (July 3, 2020). "Power soars to pole on Indy road course". Racer.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Retrieved July 3, 2020.