GMR Grand Prix 2023-05-13 - TheSportsDB.com

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Event
GMR Grand Prix

Date
Sat 13th May 2023 (UTC)
Sat 13th May 2023 (Local)

Timestamp
2023-05-13T00:00:00

Time

00:00:00 UTC (00:00:00 Local)

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League
IndyCar Series

Season
2023

Round
5

Status

Location
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

Video Highlights

Description

The IndyCar Series hosts two races a year on the combined road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The first, the GMR Grand Prix is held in early May with an inaugural running in 2014. The second race, the Gallagher Grand Prix is held in the summer as a support race for the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Brickyard and was first run in 2020.

The race is run on a newer, modified layout of the circuit previously used for the Formula One United States Grand Prix, and later the Moto GP motorcycle event.

The GMR Grand Prix serves as a lead-in to the Indianapolis 500. Support races are held, including Indy Lights, Pro Mazda and U.S. F2000. From 2014 to 2016, the race was known as the Grand Prix of Indianapolis, and from 2015 to 2016 it was sponsored by Angie's List. For 2017, the Angie's List title sponsorship was dropped, and the race name was changed to the IndyCar Grand Prix. This was done in order to reduce confusion with the previous Formula One grand prix race that used to be held there, and to emphasize to fans that the race was part of the American-based IndyCar Series.

Background
In 2012, Hulman & Co., then parent company of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, hired Boston Consulting Group to evaluate its business operations. In their report, one of their suggestions was to explore the possibility of hosting an IndyCar Series race on the road course at Indy. The modern FIA Grade One infield road course had opened in 2000, and was initially used for the United States Grand Prix from 2000 to 2007. Later, it was used for Moto GP, and Grand Am. The layout for the infield road course was originally designed in 1992 by Kevin Forbes during the reconstruction of the Brickyard Crossing golf course. It had already gone through some various improvements, most notably in 2008 when the "Snake Pit" segment was added in the infield of oval turn one. Indy cars had never raced on the road course layout, sticking only to the oval circuit for the Indianapolis 500, but their support series, the Indy Lights, had raced there four times. Occasionally Indy cars used the Indianapolis road course as a test facility, since many teams are headquartered in the Indianapolis area. Dan Wheldon notably tested the DW12 chassis at the course in September 2011.

In September 2013, an IndyCar feasibility test was conducted on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The test yielded positive results. Speculation immediately began to grow about a possible race for 2014, either as a May "doubleheader" event with the Indy 500, or a stand-alone race in the fall. The inaugural race was announced on October 1, 2013, and was scheduled for early May. The decision was made to utilize the course in a clockwise layout, and to re-work certain parts of the track.