Entry list || Tickets and event information
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama is a short weekend in the midst of a long stretch of on-track activity, which presents another set of challenges for Verizon IndyCar Series teams.
Two practice sessions totaling 105 minutes on the 2.3-mile, 17-turn road course will be conducted April 26 preceding the three rounds of knockout qualifications. Watch all three on-track sessions on RaceControl.indycar.com complemented by real-time Timing & Scoring and Paul Page’s broadcast on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network.
The 90-lap race is April 26 (3 p.m. ET, NBCSN).
“Yeah, that's a tough one. We’ve got to get a lot done in a very short amount of time,” said Hunter-Reay, driving the No. 28 DHL Andretti Autosport Honda. “With that, we'll put to use our potential advantage that we have, which is a three‑car team, and attack it from every different angle that we have when it comes to setup.
“We're dealing with a completely different car now, a different package, so things are going to need to be reworked a bit,” he said. “We didn't have the best test that you could imagine at the Barber open test, but we certainly found some things that worked and I think we found a direction.”
“I think we'll see different approaches from the 28 car, from the 27 car and from the 26 car, and hopefully we'll be able to find what works in a shorter amount of time that way. When we're doing the longer weekends, we tend to kind of stick to what's worked in the past and find setup tweaks that are balanced and go from there.”
Hunter-Reay (2013, 2014), Will Power (2012, 2011) and Helio Castroneves (2010) are the only race and pole winners in the five years of the event.
Drivers who have three-peats in the past 10 years:
* Sebastien Bourdais: Long Beach street circuit, 2005-07
* Dan Wheldon: Homestead-Miami Speedway oval, 2005-07
* Scott Dixon: Nashville Superspeedway oval, 2006-08
* Scott Dixon, Watkins Glen International road course, 2005-07
* Will Power, Sao Paulo, Brazil, street circuit, 2010-12
Hunter-Reay followed his 2014 victory in the rain at Barber with a runner-up finish in the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis and a victory by .0600 of a second over Castroneves in the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.
“I think it definitely helped build some momentum, we went to Barber last year, won that, and it was really a special one because it's the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and we won for Honda. Bringing that 28 Honda into Victory Lane was pretty special. It was a pretty good stretch for us as a team, and hopefully we can get going on the same tone here this year.”