Honda PR

Honda INDYCAR Grand Prix message points

Posted on by Steve Wittich

INDYCAR Grand Prix
May 12, 2018
3:30 p.m. EDT
ABC
IndyCar Radio Network Broadcast and Live Stream

MANUFACTURER COMPETITION 

  • On the strength of two wins and nine (out of a possible 12) podium finishes in four races this season, Honda has claimed an early-season, 67-point lead in the IndyCar Manufacturers’ Championship.  After four of 17 races, Honda has 338 points to 271 for Chevrolet.
  • Sebastien Bourdais led a first- through sixth-place Honda sweep at last the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March.  Bourdais was followed to the checkers by Honda drivers Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, James Hinchcliffe, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Scott Dixon. 
  • Honda’s most recent victory was scored by Rossi, who dominated the Grand Prix of Long Beach for his first victory of the season.  Honda drivers claimed five of the top six finishing positions at Long Beach, with Ed Jones taking his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to third; followed by fellow Honda racers Zach Veach, Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti. 
  • Honda drivers also claimed five of the top six finishing positions at ISM Raceway in Phoenix last month, led by rookie sensation Robert Wickens in second. Rossi finished third, followed by Honda drivers Dixon, Hunter-Reay and Hinchcliffe.  Two weeks ago, at the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama, Honda drivers finished second through eighth, led by Hunter-Reay in second and Hinchcliffe in third.
  • The 2018 season marks the seventh year of manufacturer competition in the Verizon IndyCar Series, following six years of Honda serving as the single engine supplier from 2006-11.  Chevrolet and Honda are again battling for supremacy throughout the 17-race season and at the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 in May.
  • Drivers using Honda engines have won 227 Indy car races and 12 Indianapolis 500s, both during years of multi-manufacturer competition (2004-05, 2012-present); and during Honda’s 2006-11 tenure as single engine supplier to the series.  Last May, Honda-powered Takuma Sato made history by becoming the first Japanese driver to win the “500”.
  • Heading into this weekend’s INDYCAR Grand Prix, Honda drivers hold eight of the top ten positions in the drivers’ championship, led by Rossi in second with 145 points, to 158 for points leader Josef Newgarden.   Bourdais is third, with 119 points, followed by Rahal (also with 119 points); Hinchcliffe (118), Hunter-Reay (113), Dixon (107), Wickens (97) and Marco Andretti (88).
  • 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, engaged in programs ranging from the Verizon IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech Championship and Pirelli World Challenge to grassroots and entry-level categories including karting, Quarter Midgets and the new SCCA Formula 4 Championship.

MARKETING

  • On Wednesday, May 9, Honda IndyCar Series drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay, Marco Andretti and Jack Harvey will visit the Honda Manufacturing of Indiana auto assembly plant in Greensburg, Indiana, approximately 50 miles southeast of Indianapolis.  The drivers will take part in a Q&A session with plant associates, and be featured at a 90-minute autograph session.  Opened in 2008, HMIN is Honda’s newest American auto assembly plant, with approximately 2,500 associates, and has the capacity to build up to 200,000 Honda and Acura vehicles annually. 
  • Next week, during practice activities in preparation for the Indianapolis 500, Honda and Purdue University will host the MSTEM 500 Student Fair at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  In its fifth year, the Fair will use motorsports to provide more than 1,200 middle school and high school students with hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering and math.
  • Running from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Tuesday, May 15, and Wednesday, May 16, MSTEM 500 students will meet with Andretti Autosport driver Zach Veach and other special guests; have a Q&A session with Honda Performance Development race engineers; and examine the aerodynamics and performance characteristics of a Honda IndyCar.