The 2021 GMR Grand Prix was an IndyCar motor race held on May 15, 2021, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.[1] It was the 5th round of the 2021 IndyCar Series.
The 85-lap race was won by Ed Carpenter Racing's Rinus Veekay, clinching his first win of his Indycar career. IndyCar rookie Romain Grosjean won pole and finished second, his best ever finish in Indycar. Alex Palou finished 3rd for Chip Ganassi Racing.[2]
Background
The event was held over three days on May 13–15, 2021 at the road course of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. This was the first time the venue featured in the 2021 season, later that year, Indycar would return for the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix in August, and the eighth edition of this race, having debuted in May 2014
The race was the 5th race of the 16-race calendar, held two weeks after the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway and two week prior to the 105th Indianapolis 500.
Entrants
| Key | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
Practice
Practice 1
Practice 1 took place at 9:30 AM ET on May 14, 2021.[1]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 |  Alexander Rossi
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:09.8784 |
| 2 | 60 |  Jack Harvey
|
Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 01:09.9646 |
| 3 | 21 |  Rinus VeeKay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:10.0624 |
| Source:[3] | |||||
Practice 2
Practice 2 took place at 1:00 PM ET on May 14, 2021.[1]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | Josef Newgarden W
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:09.3323 |
| 2 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:09.4020 |
| 3 | 12 |  Will Power W
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:09.4747 |
| Source:[4] | |||||
Qualifying
Qualifying took place at 4:30 PM ET on May 14, 2021.[1]
Qualifying classification
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Time | Final grid | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Round 1 | Round 2 | Round 3 | |||||||
| Group 1 | Group 2 | ||||||||
| 1 | 51 |  Romain Grosjean R
|
Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:09.8556 | 01:09.5476 | 01:09.4396 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | Josef Newgarden W
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:09.6101 | 01:09.7837 | 01:09.5665 | 2 |
| 3 | 60 | Jack Harvey
|
Meyer Shank Racing | Honda | 01:09.7589 | N/A | 01:09.5189 | 01:09.6528 | 3 |
| 4 | 10 |  Álex Palou
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:09.6589 | 01:09.4743 | 01:09.7118 | 4 |
| 5 | 3 |  Scott McLaughlin R
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:09.7537 | 01:09.7727 | 01:09.7140 | 5 |
| 6 | 20 | Conor Daly
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:09.7646 | 01:09.5627 | 01:09.8662 | 6 |
| 7 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:09.4890 | N/A | 01:09.8185 | N/A | 7 |
| 8 | 26 | Colton Herta
|
Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian | Honda | 01:09.5867 | N/A | 01:09.8222 | N/A | 8 |
| 9 | 18 |  Ed Jones
|
Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan | Honda | 01:09.7152 | N/A | 01:09.8548 | N/A | 9 |
| 10 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud W
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | 01:09.8061 | N/A | 01:09.8722 | N/A | 10 |
| 11 | 15 | Graham Rahal
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:09.7918 | N/A | 01:09.9060 | N/A | 11 |
| 12 | 12 | Will Power W
|
Team Penske | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:09.8963 | No Time | N/A | 12 |
| 13 | 7 |  Felix Rosenqvist
|
Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | 01:09.8243 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 13 |
| 14 | 27 | Alexander Rossi
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:09.9012 | N/A | N/A | 14 |
| 15 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:09.8382 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 15 |
| 16 | 9 | Scott Dixon W
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | N/A | 01:09.9512 | N/A | N/A | 16 |
| 17 | 30 |  Takuma Sato
|
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing | Honda | 01:09.8665 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 17 |
| 18 | 5 |  Patricio O'Ward
|
Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:10.0726 | N/A | N/A | 18 |
| 19 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
Andretti Autosport | Honda | 01:09.8759 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 19 |
| 20 | 14 | Sébastien Bourdais
|
A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:10.1830 | N/A | N/A | 20 |
| 21 | 11 | Charlie Kimball
|
A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | 01:10.6810 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 21 |
| 22 | 29 |  James Hinchcliffe
|
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport | Honda | N/A | 01:10.6174 | N/A | N/A | 22 |
| 23 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson R
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:11.0455 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 23 |
| 24 | 4 | Dalton Kellett
|
A. J. Foyt Enterprises | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:10.9312 | N/A | N/A | 24 |
| 25 | 86 |  Juan Pablo Montoya
|
Arrow McLaren SP | Chevrolet | N/A | 01:11.1370 | N/A | N/A | 25 |
| Source:[5][6][7][8] | |||||||||
- Notes
- Bold text indicates fastest time set in session.
Warmup
Warmup took place at 10:45 AM ET on May 15, 2021.[1]
| Pos | No. | Driver | Team | Engine | Lap Time |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay
|
Ed Carpenter Racing | Chevrolet | 01:10.5598 |
| 2 | 10 | Álex Palou
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:10.5924 |
| 3 | 9 | Scott Dixon W
|
Chip Ganassi Racing | Honda | 01:10.6617 |
| Source:[9] | |||||
Race
The race started at 2:30 PM ET on May 15, 2021.[1]
Race classification
Championship standings after the race
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
- Note: Only the top five positions are included.
References
- ^ a b c d e f "GMR Grand Prix". IndyCar.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
- ^ "Indycar Event Summary" (PDF). indycar.com. Retrieved November 21, 2021.
- ^ "Results of Session - Practice 1" (PDF). indycar.com. May 14, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on September 6, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Results of Session - Practice 2" (PDF). indycar.com. May 14, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on November 3, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Results of Session Qualifications - Segment 1 / Group 1" (PDF). indycar.com. May 14, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Results of Session Qualifications - Segment 1 / Group 2" (PDF). indycar.com. May 14, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Results of Session Qualifications - Segment 2 / Top 12" (PDF). indycar.com. May 14, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Results of Session Qualifications - Segment 3 / Firestone Fast 6" (PDF). indycar.com. May 14, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Results of Session Warm-Up" (PDF). indycar.com. May 15, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ a b "Official Final Results - Race" (PDF). indycar.com. May 15, 2021. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
- ^ "Indianapolis 500 Spotters Guide". indycar.com. Archived from the original on May 21, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2022.