The 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was the 4th round of the

2016 IndyCar Series The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 21st season of the IndyCar Series and the 105th season of American open wheel racing. It included the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. Scott Dixon entered as the reigning Drivers' Champion, while Ch ...

. The race was contested over 90 laps at

Barber Motorsports Park Barber Motorsports Park is an multi-purpose racing facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built by George W. Barber, and includes the Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum. It has been the site of the IndyCar Series' Grand Prix of Alabam ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

. It was the 7th time that the

IndyCar Series The IndyCar Series, currently known as the NTT IndyCar Series under sponsorship, is the highest class of regional North American open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars in the United States, which has been conducted under the auspices of ...

had raced on the circuit. In qualifying,

Simon Pagenaud Simon Pagenaud (born 18 May 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He is contracted to drive the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the IndyCar Series. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the top class ...

took pole position with a time of 1:06.7762, beating out his teammate

Will Power William "Will" Steven Power (born 1 March 1981) is an Australian motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He is the 2014 and 2022 IndyCar Series champion and the 2018 Indianapolis 500 champion. ...

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...

set a new track record during the second round of qualifications with a time of 1:06.6001, but was unable to match that pace in the third round of qualifying, relegating him to a fifth place start. Championship contender

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver. He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech S ...

struggled heavily in qualifying, placing 21st and last. The race opened with an incident before it even started. As the field came off the final turn to prepare to take the green flag, Carlos Muñoz tipped

Mikhail Aleshin Mikhail Petrovich Aleshin ( rus, Михаи́л Петро́вич Алёшин, p=mʲɪxɐˈil pʲɪˈtrovʲɪtɕ ɐˈlʲɵʂɨn, born 22 May 1987 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional racing driver and the 2010 champion of the For ...

into a spin, sending Aleshin and

Jack Hawksworth Jack W. Hawksworth (born 28 February 1991) is a British professional racing driver from Bradford, West Yorkshire. , he competes in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for AIM Vasser Sullivan. He has also raced in the Star Mazda Championsh ...

off into the outside grass. All involved escaped major damage, while the rest of the field ran an extra lap under yellow before the start. It would be the only caution flag of the day.

held the lead when the race started, with Power slotting in behind him. Further back in the field,

and

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...

made contact in turn five, sending Dixon into a spin and causing front wing damage to Bourdais' car. Both would continue, but their races were both greatly hampered due to the incident. Pagenaud dominated the majority of the race. However, in the closing laps, Pagenaud was held up in lap traffic, allowing

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner ...

to catch up and set a thrilling duel for the lead. On lap 82, Rahal and Pagenaud made contact entering turn seven, sending Pagenaud off course and handing Rahal the lead. The lead would be short lived, as four laps later, Pagenaud caught back up and attempted to make a pass at the exit of turn six. In the middle of the move, Rahal made contact with back-marker

, damaging Rahal's front wing and ending any chance of holding off Pagenaud. Pagenaud would extend his lead and take victory by 13.7 seconds. It was Pagenaud second consecutive victory of the season. Despite his damaged wing, Rahal managed to hang on and finish second.

Josef Newgarden Josef Nicolai Newgarden (born December 22, 1990) is an American race car driver who competes in the IndyCar Series full-time for Team Penske. He is the 2017 and 2019 IndyCar Series Champion and 2011 Indy Lights champion. Career Karting Newga ...

finished third. Despite his terrible starting position,

was able to charge through the field and finish in a respectable fifth place. The highest finishing rookie was

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional racing driver and podcast host. He currently competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi is best known for winning ...

, who came across the line in 15th, the last car on the lead lap. For the second year in a row, there were no DNFs.

Report

Qualifying

Source for individual rounds:

Race Results

;Notes: Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position. Source for time gaps:

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

External links

Official Pit Stop DataOfficial Race Broadcast
{{IndyCar Series race report , Name_of_race =

Indy Grand Prix of Alabama The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is an IndyCar Series race held at Barber Motorsports Park, a 17-turn road course, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Officially announced on July 27, 2009, the inaugural event was on the weekend of April ...

, Year_of_race = 2016 , Previous_race_in_season = 2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach , Next_race_in_season = 2016 Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis , Previous_year's_race = 2015 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama , Next_year's_race =

2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama The 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was the third round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. The race was held on April 23, 2017 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Australian Will Power qualified on pole for the event, while Am ...

Grand Prix of Alabama

Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is an IndyCar Series race held at Barber Motorsports Park, a 17-turn road course, in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Officially announced on July 27, 2009, the inaugural event was on the weekend of April ...