Other Series PR

* James Hinchcliffe and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports played strategy to perfection and won the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana at NOLA Motorsports Park on April 12. Now the "mayor of Hinchtown" hopes to make Long Beach his latest conquest.

“In the wet, the car was really good and I was able to move my way up quickly and get a good spot to contend the rest of the day. I had a couple of good restarts, picked off a couple more spots but unfortunately in the end the guys up front got lucky with the yellows and strategy. We played it right but unfortunately it just didn’t stay green. There was nothing we could do about that."

Faced with starting deep in the field for the inaugural Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana after spinning out early during a wet Verizon IndyCar Series qualifying session, points leader Juan Pablo Montoya benefitted from a rainout that promoted him to the front of the grid.

As part of a multi-year agreement announced today, Panasonic will serve as Official Partner of INDYCAR, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Indianapolis 500, Angie's List Grand Prix of Indianapolis and the Brickyard 400.

The Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana is the first Indy car race at NOLA Motorsports Park and first major auto race in the state of Louisiana since a 1995 IMSA GT race in downtown New Orleans.

The Indy Grand Prix of Louisiana will be the inaugural IndyCar Series event at NOLA Motorsports Park in Avondale, La., approximately 20 minutes from New Orleans and the famed French Quarter. Graham Rahal will pilot the No. 15 D-A Lubricant Company entry.

The following is a medical update on Pro Mazda Championship Presented by Cooper Tires driver Michael Johnson of JDC MotorSports, who made contact with the Turn 3 wall in the opening practice session of the Allied Building Products Grand Prix of St. Petersburg on Friday, March 27.

The penultimate race of the Verizon IndyCar Series season Aug. 23 at Pocono Raceway has been renamed the ABC Supply 500. The racetrack in Pennsylvania and the building supplies distributor announced the entitlement earlier today.

“The car was really good, I was very pleased with it. I thought we had a car that could have won today. When we got into fifth place after passing Bourdais in Turn 1, Pagenaud in Turn 4 and then Charlie, I had Helio in my sights. I was strong on restarts so I thought I would be able to fight my way up there and catch up to Power. I knew we had reds (alternate tires) to come which in the end proved to be a strong suit."

Juan Pablo Montoya held off Team Penske teammate and reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Will Power over the final 27 laps to win the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg by 0.9930 of a second.