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 2.38-mile (3.83 km) road course, in Leeds, Alabama, United States. Officially announced on July 27, 2009, the inaugural event was on the weekend of April 9–11, 2010.[1][2] The event is under contract through the 2016 season and under the management of the local group Zoom Motorsports. The venue is designed to allow for nearly 100,000 spectators and will have an estimated economic impact on Greater Birmingham of $30 million.[1]

Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
IndyCar Series
VenueBarber Motorsports Park
LocationLeeds, Alabama
Corporate sponsorHonda
First race2010
Distance214.2 miles (344.7 km)
Laps90
Most wins (driver)Josef Newgarden (3)
Most wins (team)Team Penske (6)
Most wins (manufacturer)Chassis: Dallara (9)
Engine: Chevrolet (6)

History

Having an IRL race at Barber became a possibility in 2007 when the league had testing session at the facility on October 12, 2007.[3] The test would also serve in evaluating the track as a potential site for a race beginning in the 2009 season. By July 2008, IRL revealed its 2009 schedule with new races being held at Long Beach and Toronto, but not at Barber.[4] However local officials indicated that Barber was under strong consideration for a 2010 date.[4]

Due to the success of the testing session in 2007, Barber was selected for a full-field, three-day testing session in March 2009.[5] Officials remained confident that the track would gain a race in the future due to the desire of the IRL to expand into The South in addition to the location of Honda Manufacturing of Alabama at plant in nearby Lincoln, the official engine of IRL.[5]

The opportunity to pursue the event came after the Detroit Indy Grand Prix was discontinued.[1][6] Initially, Zoom Motorsports looked to have the Detroit race moved to Alabama for the 2009 season; however, the league decided in February 2009 to not replace the event on its schedule.[7] With an open date available for 2010, Birmingham made its pitch to IRL officials and was selected to hold the event over Cleveland (Burke Lakefront Airport), Houston, Baltimore, Nashville, Charlotte and Portland.[1] IRL cited both strong support from both local and state government in addition to the large crowd that attended an IRL training session in March 2009 as factors in Birmingham being selected for the race.[1]

Past winners
Season Date Driver Team Chassis Engine Tires Race Distance Race Time Average Speed
(mph)		 Report
Laps Miles (km)
2010 April 11 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara Honda Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 1:56:41 106.436 Report
2011 April 10 Will Power Team Penske Dallara Honda Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 2:14:43 92.194 Report
2012 April 1 Will Power Team Penske Dallara Chevrolet Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 2:01:40 102.081 Report
2013 April 7 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara Chevrolet Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 1:52:05 110.818 Report
2014 April 27 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara Honda Firestone 69* 164.22 (264.286) 1:40:43 94.537 Report
2015 April 26 Josef Newgarden CFH Racing Dallara Chevrolet Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 1:55:53 107.176 Report
2016 April 24 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara Chevrolet Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 1:48:42 114.254 Report
2017 April 23 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara Chevrolet Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 1:54:09 108.809 Report
2018 April 22/23 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara Chevrolet Firestone 82* 195.16 (314.06) 2:01:14 93.335 Report
2019 April 7 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Dallara Honda Firestone 90 214.2 (344.721) 1:55:46 107.272 Report
2020 April 5 Canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
  • 2014: Heavy rain and lightning forced the race to be delayed, and eventually shortened to a 1:40 timed race.
  • 2018: Heavy rain forced the race to be delayed and postponed to the following day after 23 laps. The race was resumed as a timed race with roughly 75 minutes remaining.

Indy Lights winners
Season Date Winning Driver Winning Team
2010 April 11 Jean-Karl Vernay Sam Schmidt Motorsports
2011 April 10 Víctor García Team Moore Racing
2012 April 1 Sebastián Saavedra Conquest Racing
2013 April 7 Carlos Muñoz Andretti Autosport
2014 April 26 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport
April 27 Gabby Chaves Belardi Auto Racing
2015 April 25 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing
April 26 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing
2016 April 25 Ed Jones Carlin
April 26 Santiago Urrutia Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
2017 April 22 Nico Jamin Andretti Autosport
April 23 Colton Herta Andretti Steinbrenner Racing
2018 April 21 Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
April 22 Patricio O'Ward Andretti Autosport
2019 Not Held
2020 April 4 Canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic
April 5 Canceled due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

References
  1. Tomberlin, Michael (July 26, 2009). "Indy Car race coming to Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama". The Birmingham News.
  2. Tomberlin, Michael (July 27, 2009). "It's official: 3 Indy car races coming to Barber Motorsports Park". The Birmingham News.
  3. Bolton, Mike (October 2, 2007). "Star drivers to test at Barber Course is potential 2009 series event". The Birmingham News.
  4. Demmons, Doug (July 31, 2008). "Barber misses cut for 2009 Indy race". The Birmingham News.
  5. Bolton, Mike (December 7, 2008). "IndyCar Series drivers to conduct test session at Barber: Preseason testing bodes well for possible race at Barber in 2010". The Birmingham News.
  6. "INDYCAR: Detroit Canceled for 2009, Vision Racing Trims Staff". speedtv.com. 2008-12-18. Archived from the original on 2008-12-19. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
  7. Demmons, Doug (February 6, 2009). "Barber Motorsports Park won't get '09 IRL race". The Birmingham News.
Preceded by
First race of season		 IndyCar Series
Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama		 Succeeded by
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
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