IndyCar’s Harvest GP double-header preview – facts, schedule

Event date: Thursday, Oct. 01 – Saturday, Oct. 03

Track: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, 2.439-mile 14-turn road course

Race distances: Friday – 1 x 85 laps (207.35 miles) / Saturday – 1 x 75 laps (182.925 miles)

Firestone tire allotment: Nine sets of primary tires are available for each entry across the weekend, with rookies getting one extra set, while each car will be allotted five sets of alternate (softer, red-sidewalled) tires, and seven set of rain tires (gray sidewalls).

Cara Adams, director of race tire engineering and production at Bridgestone Americas Motorsports, says, “Firestone Racing is bringing the same race-proven primary and alternate race tire designs that were used for the GMR Grand Prix in the summer heat, but the crisp autumn air and cooler track temperatures anticipated this weekend will result in more grip and less tire degradation compared to the July event.”

Push-to-pass parameters (per race): 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

At-track schedule (local/Eastern Time) and broadcast details

Thursday, Oct. 01
2.25pm – 3.40pm Practice NBC Sports Gold (live)
6.20pm Qualifying (two groups, 12mins each) for Race 1 NBC Sports Gold (live)

Friday, Oct. 02
3.30pm USA Network on air
3.55pm IndyCar Harvest GP presented by GMR Race 1 USA Network (live)

Saturday, Oct. 03
10.20am Qualifying (two groups, 12mins each) for Race 2 NBC Sports Gold (live)
2.30pm NBC on air
2.31pm IndyCar Harvest GP presented by GMR Race 2 NBC (live)

Leigh Diffey is the announcer alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy.

IndyCar Radio Network broadcasts: Mark Jaynes is chief announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. All IndyCar races air live on network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All practice and qualifying sessions are available on indycar.com and the IndyCar Mobile app.

Race Notes

2020 GP of Indy race winner: Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda) 

2020 GP of Indy NTT pole winner: Will Power (Team Penske-Chevrolet), 1min10.1779 seconds, 125.116mph

Qualifying record: Power (Penske-Chevy) 1min07.7044 seconds, 129.687mph (2017)

This event will mark the eighth and ninth times that the IMS road course has hosted an IndyCar race. So far, only Simon Pagenaud (three times), Will Power (also three times) and Scott Dixon have won here. Power has started from pole position here four times, with the other three poles going to Sebastian Saavedra, Pagenaud and Felix Rosenqvist.

Seven drivers are still mathematically eligible for the 2020 IndyCar championship. Dixon 456 points, Josef Newgarden -72, Pato O’Ward -118, Colton Herta -129, Will Power -150, Graham Rahal -155, Takuma Sato -156. There will be no double-points available at the St. Petersburg finale, however. So with a maximum of 54 points available from any race (50 for the win, 1 for pole, 2 for leading most laps, 1 for leading a lap), drivers emerging from Friday’s race more than 108 points behind Dixon will be out of the title running. Dixon will clinch his sixth championship a race early if he’s more than 54 points ahead of his nearest pursuer come Saturday evening.