Indianapolis 500
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Indianapolis 500: The lead five are breaking away ever so slightly, and the fifth driver in that group - Helio Castroneves - has just been warned for blocking Marco Andretti.
Indianapolis 500: Another lead change - Will Power made up two places in as many laps, and now in P1.
Indianapolis 500: The leaders have cycled through their first stops, and Hinchcliffe has emerged back in the lead ahead of Carpenter.
Indianapolis 500: Carpenter and Hinchcliffe have both pitted. Will Power led a lap before making his own stop, and Juan Pablo Montoya currently holds P1. He'll visit the pits any moment.
Indianapolis 500: Lap 25 of 200 and here's the current top 10:
1 Carpenter
2 Hinchcliffe
3 Power
4 Castroneves
5 Hildebrand
6 Andretti
7 Dixon
8 Munoz
9 Hunter-Reay
10 Pagenaud
1 Carpenter
2 Hinchcliffe
3 Power
4 Castroneves
5 Hildebrand
6 Andretti
7 Dixon
8 Munoz
9 Hunter-Reay
10 Pagenaud
Indianapolis 500: There's a lot of overtaking going on behind the leaders: Ryan Hunter-Reay has claimed 10 scalps so far and is P9; Townsend Bell has made up 11 places and is 14th.
Indianapolis 500: Carpenter has retaken the lead. A little further back, Scott Dixon has made some early progress and is up to seventh.
Indianapolis 500: The current top five: Hinchcliffe, Carpenter, Power, Castroneves, Andretti.
Indianapolis 500: Not a great start from one of 2013's heroes Carlos Munoz, who has fallen from seventh to 11th. Even worse start from Ryan Briscoe who brushed the wall on lap one, then bounced back down and tapped compatriot James Davison. Davison's car seems OK, but Briscoe has been forced to pit for a new front wing.
Indianapolis 500: Hinchcliffe got the jump on Carpenter at the start and takes an early lead.
Green flag
Indianapolis 500: Green flag!
Indianapolis 500: Dario Franchitti has led a lot of laps around this place. Not sure if these ones count - he is driving the pace car as the field heads out on its parade laps - but it's still nice to see him here.
Indianapolis 500: It is an absolutely perfect day in Indianapolis - the sun is out and so are the crowds, with an estimated 250,000 packed into IMS for this 98th running of the race.
Indianapolis 500: Mary Hulman-George gives the command to start engines.
Indianapolis 500: Jim Nabors' rendition of Back Home Again in Indiana is a central part of the traditional build-up to the 500, but this year's rendition was especially poignant - the 83-year-old is performing it for the final time.
And if you're desperate to know who is singing the The Star-Spangled Banner, it's Leann Rimes. Remember her? She had trouble fighting the moonlight, or something...
It's nearly national anthem time, and that means racing isn't far away. It's not going to start immediately but tuning in now means you'll be ready and waiting.
Pre-race driver introductions completed and it's safe to say the sea of fans are immensely eager ahead of today's race. Incredible atmosphere!
Busch seems to have had little trouble adapting to the car - bar a shunt earlier in the week - as preparing for an oval seems relatively straightforward, but even so, he was impressively quick during the first three practice days and qualified a respectable 12th.
The 2004 NASCAR Sprint Cup champion says he must remain completely focused while on double-duty today:
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A former NASCAR foe will be joining Montoya today in the form of the infamous/notorious Kurt Busch, who becomes the fourth driver to contest both Indy and NASCAR’s 600-miler in Charlotte, which is generating a lot of interest across both motorsport disciplines.
Montoya’s return will be an intriguing one to watch as the Colombian has been building towards this weekend.
His optimism has been backed up by his early pace on the speedway and he has routinely been among the fastest at the end of each day.
Why Montoya is still smiling
Those two aren't the only former Indy 500 winners in this year’s field. Far from it, in fact, as Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon and Juan Pablo Montoya will also be wanting to kiss the bricks again today.
Villeneuve's return marks the comeback of a driver who breaks IndyCar’s record for the longest gap between starts.
Lazier, who won 12 months after the Canadian, is also back in the field in what is a part-time campaign for the 46-year-old driver.
Lazier, who won 12 months after the Canadian, is also back in the field in what is a part-time campaign for the 46-year-old driver.
Indy 500 returnee and 1995 race winner Jacques Villeneuve was solid in qualifying and starts today’s race from 27th.
James Hinchcliffe came closest to beating Carpenter, which was a remarkable performance considering that the Canadian missed the opening days of practice while recovering from concussion he sustained in the race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course a fortnight ago.
The gap between Carpenter’s pole time and that of last-place qualifier Buddy Lazier was just 2.1509s - the closest in the history of the event.
Ed Carpenter will lead the 33-car field to the green flag at approximately 17:12 UK time (BST), having topped what was a record-breaking qualifying session.
The 98th running of America’s blue riband event gets underway in approximately 40 minutes, which gives us plenty of time to remind you of some of the main developments in the run up to this year’s race.
Good afternoon and welcome to AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live.
Over the next few hours, we will be bring you as it happens commentary from the spectacle that is the Indianapolis 500.
Over the next few hours, we will be bring you as it happens commentary from the spectacle that is the Indianapolis 500.
By: Dan Cross, Mark Glendenning, Matt Beer
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