Honda IndyCar Watkins Glen talking points


INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen
Watkins Glen International Raceway, Watkins Glen, N.Y.
1 p.m. EDT Sunday, September 3, 2017
NBC Sports Network
IMS Radio Network Live Stream and Broadcast

HONDA AT WATKINS GLEN

• This weekend’s INDYCAR Grand Prix at the Glen will be the eighth appearance for the series at the classic upstate New York road course. Previous events were held here from 2005-2010, and in 2016.

• Honda drivers have won five of the seven Indy Car races here, with the most recent victory recorded at the 2010 race by the Honda Dallara of Team Penske’s Will Power.

• In addition to Power, Honda-powered victors at the Glen include Scott Dixon in 2006 and ’07; Ryan Hunter-Reay in 2008; and the late Justin Wilson in 2009 – the first Indy car victory for Dale Coyne Racing
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• Honda is one of several event sponsors for the 2017 International Motor Racing Research Center Award Dinner Honoring Mario Andretti, which will be held Thursday night, August 31, at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y.

COMPETITION

• Honda comes to Watkins Glen having scored six victories in 2017. Honda’s most recent victory came at Road America, as Scott Dixon scored his first win of 2017 and the 41st of his career. Dixon is currently second in the drivers’ championship with 516 points, 31 points behind series leader Josef Newgarden’s total of 547.

• Takuma Sato’s Indianapolis 500 victory in May was Honda’s 12th Indy triumph in the last 14 years. Sato is currently ranked eighth in the drivers’ championship, with 422 points.

• Other Honda race winners this year include Graham Rahal, who swept both rounds of the Detroit doubleheader race weekend; Sebastien Bourdais, winner of the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg; and James Hinchcliffe at the Grand Prix of Long Beach in April. Each of the five Honda-powered teams in the Verizon IndyCar Series has won at least one race this year.

• Eight Honda drivers are currently among the top 12 in the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings. In addition to Dixon and Sato, the others include Rahal, sixth; Alexander Rossi, seventh; Tony Kanaan, ninth; Hinchcliffe, 10th; Ryan Hunter-Reay, 11th, and Max Chilton, 12th.

• Drivers and teams using Honda engines have won 225 Indy car races, both during years of multi-manufacturer competition (2004-05, 2012- ); and during Honda’s tenure as single engine supplier to the series (2006-11).

• Since its founding in 1993, Honda Performance Development (HPD), the racing arm of the American Honda Motor Co., Inc., has grown from just a handful of staffers to approximately 150 associates; and from an engine-rebuilding facility, focused on a single racing series, to a complete motorsports Research & Development organization. HPD is currently engaged in programs ranging from the Verizon IndyCar Series, Pirelli World Challenge and IMSA WeatherTech Championship to grassroots and entry-level categories including karting, Quarter Midgets and the new SCCA Formula 4 Championship.