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
Background 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. The cars were also modified to fit the track's specifications, with fueling plugs on the opposite side.
A contest was held for fans to design the trophy for the event. Dan Nichols, a California native, beat out 150 other entries.
Qualifying 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, but drove into a puddle of water, spinning out, bring out another red flag. As a result, Hunter-Reay was relegated to third, while Sebastián Saavedra was awarded the pole position.
Race 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.
Race results Key Meaning R Rookie
Pos Car# Driver Team Engine Laps Status PitStops Grid LapsLed Points1 77 Simon Pagenaud Sam Schmidt Motorsports Honda822:04:24.0261946512 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda82+ 0.89068318413 3 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet82+ 1.824491015364 11 Sébastien Bourdais KV Racing Technology Chevrolet82+ 2.5406971335 83 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet82+ 5.3007923306 8 Ryan Briscoe Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet82+ 9.19141014287 98 Jack Hawksworth R Bryan Herta Autosport Honda82+ 14.61619231298 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet82+ 18.5958115249 14 Takuma Sato A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda82+ 20.972110162010 10 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet82+ 21.45391092011 19 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing Honda82+ 26.475091842012 16 Oriol Servià Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda82+ 29.6561102271913 18 Carlos Huertas R Dale Coyne Racing Honda82+ 33.08279171714 25 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda82+ 1:04.237011131615 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet82+ 1:08.6263961516 2 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Chevrolet81+ 1 Lap981417 67 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda80+ 2 Laps10151318 41 Martin Plowman R A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda80+ 2 Laps12201219 20 Mike Conway Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet58Parked5241120 27 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Honda56Driver injury8111021 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda50Crash frontstretch812922 26 Franck Montagny Andretti Autosport Honda47Crash T7921823 17 Sebastián Saavedra KV Racing Technology Chevrolet0Crash frontstretch01824 34 Carlos Muñoz R Andretti Autosport Honda0Crash frontstretch019625 7 Mikhail Aleshin R Sam Schmidt Motorsports Honda0Crash frontstretch0255
Notes 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.
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.
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.
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