Preview – 2022 GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
By Dylan Reynolds, OpenWheel.com
The 2022 INDYCAR season continues with the NTT INDYCAR SERIES 2022 GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. OpenWheel.com will be covering the action all weekend so stay tuned to this site and our Twitter page @openwh33l for all of the latest news.
Photo by OpenWheel.com’s Parker Hall/Fly By Wire Photography
Weekend Schedule – Entry List – Spotter Guide – Circuit Map – Tickets
Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires Preview: Indy Lights Grand Prix of Indianapolis – Race 1: Friday, May 13, 2022 5:30PM (ET) Peacock & Race 2: Saturday, May 14, 2022 1:15PM (ET) Peacock – It’s the first doubleheader weekend of the year in Indy Lights and its poised to be a good one after an epic finish at Barber Motorsports Park as Linus Lundqvist held off a late challenge from teammate Benjamin Pedersen. It’s early days in this championship after just two days, but Lundqvist holds a narrow championship lead over Pedersen followed by the Andretti Autosport duo of Matthew Brabham and Sting Ray Robb. Lundqvist won here last year so watch out for him again this weekend.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Preview: GMR Grand Prix – Saturday, May 14, 2022 3:00PM (ET) NBC – The 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES is back this weekend for the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The road course at IMS has produced some excellent racing over the years and this weekend’s GMR Grand Prix should be no different with the depth of talent throughout the field. The Top 4 in points after the first four races are separated by just 10 points as Alex Palou leads over Scott McLaughlin, Josef Newgarden, and Will Power.
Previous driver experience on the IMS road course shows five former winners in the field in Power (5), Scott Dixon (1), Newgarden (1), Simon Pagenaud (1), and Rinus VeeKay (1). Power and VeeKay are the last two winners at the circuit. Looking at the box scores from the 2021 GMR Grand Prix and Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix, only Romain Grosjean has finished in the Top 5 of the last two races. If that’s expanded to the Top 10, Grosjean is joined by Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, and Marcus Ericsson. The active Top 5 in laps led at the circuit are Power (210), Dixon (68), Grosjean (44), Rahal (36), and VeeKay (33).
My pick to win: Will Power – Power is a five-time winner with a ridiculous advantage in laps led at this circuit and has finished in the Top 4 of all four races so far this season. This feels like a time for him to win the pole and run away with one.
My fantasy.indycar.com picks: Will Power $30, Romain Grosjean $28, Conor Daly $21, & Christian Lundgaard $20 – You know my thoughts on Power. Grosjean finished second in both races last year and will absolutely be a strong factor this weekend. This has been a good circuit for Daly’s speed and he’s due to have some luck go his way overall and in this race after being taken out in the first turn last year from P6 on the starting grid. Lundgaard was ultra quick here last August in his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut and I expect the RLL cars to be strong this weekend as well as Rahal and Harvey have done here in the past.
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