2021 Indy 500 preview

05/25/21 • 64 min

IndyCar racer JR Hildebrand and The Race's American racing correspondent Jack Benyon look back on qualifying for the Indy 500, and look ahead to how the race could play out on Sunday. JR also gives his insights into his own programme with AJ Foyt Racing, having successfully qualified for the race!

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Previous Episode

How to prepare for the Indy 500 + why Grosjean missed out on a first win

This week on the IndyCar Podcast, co-host JR Hildebrand gives you an expert preview ahead of what will be his 11th attempt to qualify for the Indy 500.
Ahead of starting practice this week, Hildebrand gives you some insider tips in what to look for, how to asses the practice order and how to gain the most from the week’s action as a viewer, also helping to explain the complicated schedule of the 500.
As ever Hildebrand is joined by American Editor Jack Benyon and the duo also look back on the Indianapolis road course race last weekend where Romain Grosjean took a stunning pole and Rinus VeeKay completed the unrivalled quartet of winning at every level of the Road to Indy and now in IndyCar where he became its sixth youngest winner at just 20.
Hildebrand expertly breaks down the blue flag situation which Grosjean said cost him the race having been on both sides of that story, after that incident became a talking point for fans of F1 watching Grosjean as IndyCar doesn’t always enforce blue flags like its fellow series.

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Next Episode

Beast: The Indy 500 engine that shocked the world, with Al Unser Jr

In a special episode of The Race IndyCar Podcast, Al Unser Jr stars to talk about his and Penske's 1994 Indianapolis 500 victory. The event is significant mainly due to the shock the Ilmor-built Mercedes-badged engine produced. Built in secret, it exploited the rulebook with bigger displacement and turbo boost than its rivals. Whether its parts being flown on a World War 2 fighter jet and Concorde to reach Penske, a scuba-diving holiday that helped trigger an engineering breakthrough or the 'Taj Mahal' factory where the engines were rebuilt before being wheeled in the dead of night to Penske's race shop, it's a fascinating tale. Helping to tell the story, the manager of Penske's Indy 500 engine programme Kevin Walter and author of the critically acclaimed book called Beast - Jade Gurss - add to Unser Jr's memories of testing the car and, among other things, learning of the fact that its 1000bhp+ turned the wheels inside the tyres.

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