Indianapolis 500 secures 33-car field for 2012 race
The first Indianapolis 500 to be held under IndyCar's new technical regulations will feature a full field of 33 cars, with 34 entries being received for the event
Despite some fears that it may not be possible to supply enough equipment for the expanded Indy 500 field in the first year of IndyCar's new technical rules, there will be at least one non-qualifier on Bump Day.
Eight additional entries have been placed in addition to the 26 regular IndyCar competitors.
Andretti Autosport will expand from its usual three car line-up to five, adding Ana Beatriz and Sebastian Saavedra, with the former's entry run in collaboration with Conquest Racing.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan's second car will join the fray from Indianapolis onwards. This had been earmarked for GP2 convert Luca Filippi, but there have been reports that Champ Car race-winner and former Team Rahal driver Michel Jourdain Jr could make a single-seater comeback in the car for Indy only, with Filippi's IndyCar debut pushed back to Detroit.
The Ed Carpenter Racing, Sarah Fisher Hartman, AJ Foyt and Schmidt-Hamilton teams will also run additional entries. Brian Clauson and Wade Cunningham have been confirmed for Fisher and Foyt respectively, with 2004 Indy 500 winner Buddy Rice and event regular Townsend Bell linked to Carpenter and Schmidt.
The other extra entry is a return for Newman/Haas. Ex-Formula 1 driver Jean Alesi has announced that he will drive this car, which will be Lotus-powered. Alesi is now a Lotus advisor and will be making his first attempt at oval racing, a decade after retiring from F1. Newman/Haas withdrew from IndyCar at the end of 2011 due to a lack of sponsorship.
No. Driver Team (Engine) 2 Ryan Briscoe Team Penske (Chevrolet) 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske (Chevrolet) 4 JR Hildebrand Panther Racing (Chevrolet) 5 EJ Viso KV Racing Technology (Chevrolet) 6 Katherine Legge Dragon Racing (Lotus) 7 Sebastien Bourdais Dragon Racing (Lotus) 8 Rubens Barrichello KV Racing Technology (Chevrolet) 9 Scott Dixon Target Chip Ganassi Racing (Honda) 10 Dario Franchitti Target Chip Ganassi Racing (Honda) 11 Tony Kanaan KV Racing Technology (Chevrolet) 12 Will Power Team Penske (Chevrolet) 14 Mike Conway AJ Foyt Enterprises (Honda) 15 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Honda) 17 Sebastian Saavedra AFS Racing/Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet) 18 Justin Wilson Dale Coyne Racing (Honda) 19 James Jakes Dale Coyne Racing (Honda) 20 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing (Chevrolet) 21 TBA Ed Carpenter Racing (Chevrolet) 22 Oriol Servia Lotus DRR (Lotus) 25 Ana Beatriz Andretti Autosport/Conquest (Chevrolet) 26 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet) 27 James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet) 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport (Chevrolet) 38 Graham Rahal Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing (Honda) 39 Bryan Clauson Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (Honda) 41 Wade Cunningham AJ Foyt Enterprises (Honda) 45 TBA Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (Honda) 67 Josef Newgarden Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing (Honda) 77 Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports (Honda) 78 Simona de Silvestro Lotus HVM Racing (Lotus) 83 Charlie Kimball Novo Nordisk Ganassi Racing (Honda) 98 Alex Tagliani Bryan Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian (Lotus) 99 TBA Sam Schmidt Motorsports (Honda) TBA TBA Newman/Haas Racing (Lotus)
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