The 2020 Harvest Grand Prix was
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 o ...
event scheduled October 2-3, 2020. It made up the twelfth and thirteenth and penultimate rounds of the series'
2020 season.
Rinus VeeKay
Rinus van Kalmthout (born 11 September 2000), known professionally as Rinus VeeKay is a Dutch racing driver. He drives the No. 21 Dallara-Chevrolet for Ed Carpenter Racing in the IndyCar Series.
Career Karting
van Kalmthout started karting in 2 ...
won pole for the first race with
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 ...
taking victory.
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. ...
led every lap from pole position to take victory in the second race.
Background
As a result of races cancelled by the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, 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 o ...
announced on April 6, 2020 that a third trip to the
Indianapolis Motor Speedway would be added to the
2020 season as a support race for the
Intercontinental GT Challenge
The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a sports car racing series developed by the SRO Group in 2016. It consists of international endurance races for grand tourer racing cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations.
Format
The series is aimed ...
's
Indianapolis 8 Hours. The Harvest name paid tribute to the
Harvest Auto Racing Classic, the only event held outside the
Month of May at the Speedway between 1911 and 1993. Following further race cancellations, on July 27, 2020, the IndyCar Series changed the weekend from a single race to a doubleheader weekend.
The Speedway opened the gates to spectators for the first time in 2020 after being behind closed doors for much of the season, with a limit of 10,000 spectators for practice day, and the three race days (including the
Intercontinental GT Challenge
The Intercontinental GT Challenge is a sports car racing series developed by the SRO Group in 2016. It consists of international endurance races for grand tourer racing cars complying with the FIA's GT3 regulations.
Format
The series is aimed ...
event that was the feature).
Entrants
A. J. Foyt Enterprises
A. J. Foyt Racing, officially and historically known as A. J. Foyt Enterprises, is an American racing team in the IndyCar Series and formerly NASCAR. It is owned by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, 1972 Daytona 500 winner, 1967 24 Hours of Le ...
announce the signing of
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 u ...
for the remainder of the 2020 season starting with the Harvest Grand Prix. Locally based
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
Dreyer & Reinbold Racing is an automotive racing organization that competes in the IndyCar Series and Nitro Rallycross. The team is owned by Indianapolis BMW, Infiniti, Volkswagen, Mini, and Subaru dealer Dennis Reinbold.
Off the track, Dreyer ...
made their third race weekend appearance with
Sage Karam
Sage Rennie Karam (born March 5, 1995) is an American professional racing driver who competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the Nos. 43 and 45 Chevrolet Camaros for Alpha Prime Racing and part-time in the IndyCar Series, drivi ...
, making 2020 the most appearances by the team since the
2013 season. A week before the race, Indycar's medical team declared rookie
Oliver Askew
Oliver Clark Askew (born December 12, 1996) is an American-Swedish race car driver who races under the American flag. He previously competed in the Formula E World Championship for Avalanche Andretti Formula E. He is the 2019 Indy Lights cham ...
as not fit to drive.
Arrow McLaren SP
The IndyCar Series operation of McLaren Racing competes under the banner of Arrow McLaren SP. This entry is based in Indianapolis and was founded by former driver Sam Schmidt as Sam Schmidt Motorsports. Fellow ex-driver Davey Hamilton joined ...
replaced Askew with vetern
Hélio Castroneves
Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He has won the Indianapolis 500 a record-equalling four times: in 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021. He won the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona with Wa ...
. It would be Castroneves' first
open-wheel
An open-wheel single-seater (often known as formula car) is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have thei ...
start away from
Team Penske
Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...
since the
1999 Marlboro 500
The 1999 Marlboro 500 Presented by Toyota was held on October 31, 1999, at Auto Club Speedway (then known as California Speedway) in Fontana, California as the final race of the 1999 CART World Series season. The race was marred by an accident i ...
. A day later, James Hinchcliffe was announced as taking over
Andretti Autosport
Andretti Autosport is an auto racing team that competes in the IndyCar Series, Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000, and Formula E. The team also has a 37.5% ownership stake in the Australian Supercars Championship touring car team, Walkinshaw Andretti ...
's #26 entry for
Zach Veach
Zachary E. Veach (born December 9, 1994) is an American auto racing driver who competes full time in the IMSA SportsCar Championship GT3 class for Vasser Sullivan.
Veach was named to CNN's list of "Intriguing People" in May 2010, is the national ...
.
Practice
A single practice session was held over the weekend. The session was held October 1 at 2:15 PM
ET
Race 1 – October 1-2
Qualifying
Qualifying was held the day before the race at 6:20 PM
ET.
As the event was doubleheader, series rules meant qualifying was a single round (instead of two rounds as normal), split into two groups. Drivers from the group with the fastest driver having the better time started in the odd number positions, while the group whose fastest time was worse than the other group took even number positions.
Qualifying classification
Race
The first race was held October 2 at 3:30 PM ET.
Race classification
Race 2 – October 3
Qualifying
Qualifying at 10:20 AM ET.
Qualifying classification
Race
The second race of the weekend was held October 3 at 2:30 PM ET.
Race classification
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harvest Grand Prix
2020 in IndyCar
2020 in sports in Indiana
September 2020 sports events in the United States