Chevrolet IndyCar Drivers Aim for More Road Course Success

· Chevrolet drivers prepare for Indy car return to Road America
ᴏ 50-lap/202-mile race the first for Indy cars at the course since 2007
· Chevrolet drivers have won every road/street course race this season
ᴏ Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud has won three of the six
· Sebastien Bourdais won the last IndyCar race on 4.048-mile racetrack
ᴏ Driver of Team Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing Chevrolet seeks repeat
· Pagenaud continues to lead standings; top four in points pilot Chevrolet Aero Kit with integrated Chevy 2.2 liter twin turbocharged direct injected V6 engine
· Since returning to IndyCar competition in 2012, Chevrolet has accumulated 50 victories and 57 poles in 76 races.

DETROIT (June 22, 2016) – Road America, Sebastien Bourdais proclaims, is “my favorite racetrack in America,” which is high praise from the four-time IndyCar champion.
Bourdais, who won the last Series’ race on the 14-turn, 4.048-mile course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, in 2007, will have an opportunity to add his 36th career win this weekend as Verizon IndyCar Series drivers compete in the Kohler Grand Prix.

Bourdais, who won Race 1 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit earlier this month in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut-KVSH Racing Chevrolet, has been looking forward to the race weekend since participating in a compatibility test at the track last October.

“I have never driven like a madman as I did in the October test. It was a great feeling and I think the fans will see some seriously fast cars there,” said Bourdais, who has finished on the podium in all four of his previous IndyCar starts at Road America.

“Road America takes the perfect car because it’s all about flow and speed. I was fortunate enough to win there in 2007 and I’d love to do it again, but it’s just an absolute commitment racetrack where the car has to be there for you.”

In the six road/street course events this season, Chevrolet has earned the pole position and won the race. Team Penske’s Will Power was the No. 1 qualifier and teammate Juan Pablo Montoya won at St. Petersburg. Simon Pagenaud won at Barber Motorsports Park and the GP of Indianapolis from the pole, and he claimed the victory while teammate Helio Castroneves earned the pole at Long Beach. Pagenaud earned the pole for both ends of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, while Bourdais and Power recorded the victories.

Since returning to IndyCar competition in 2012, Chevrolet has accumulated 50 victories and 57 poles in 76 races.

Pagenaud, driving the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet, continues to lead the Verizon IndyCar Series championship standings, and the top four drivers represent Chevrolet.

“It’s a long track. We don’t get to race on long tracks like this anymore. So it’s quite special,” said Pagenaud, who is among nine drivers entered who have competed in an IndyCar race at Road America. “Most of the time the racing series takes away the gravel and makes it tarmac everywhere so it’s easy to drive and you don’t speed and crash, where Road America has really kept the unique nature of it. You also are driving through nature, which is really cool.”

Josef Newgarden, who sustained a fractured right clavicle and a small fracture on his right hand in an on-track incident June 11 during the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway, is listed on the entry list as driving the No. 21 Direct Supply/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet this weekend. JR Hildebrand will be at Road America on standby if Newgarden does not drive. The Firestone 600 was suspended by rain after Lap 71 of the scheduled 248 laps and has been rescheduled to resume on Lap 72 on Aug. 27.

NBCSN will telecast the 50-lap Kohler Grand Prix live at 11:30 a.m. CT. Also, the INDYCAR Radio Network broadcast is available on network affiliates, indycarradio.com, RaceControl.indycar.com, the INDYCAR Mobile app, Sirius 212, and XM 209.

Chevrolet will welcome fans to its Chevrolet Racing Display near Gate 6 inside the racetrack. It will include a number of Chevrolet’s award-winning production vehicles, including a Chevrolet Corvette Convertible Z51. Examples of Chevrolet engines, and a selection of performance parts and accessories that are available for fans to purchase from their local Chevrolet dealer also will be on display. Hours of operation are (all times local) 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m. Sunday.

Members from Chevrolet Verizon IndyCar Series teams will be at the Chevrolet Racing Display to great fans and answer questions: 1:10-1:25 p.m. Friday – Team owner Ed Carpenter and drivers from Ed Carpenter Racing; 1:45-2 p.m. Friday – Team co-owner Jimmy Vasser and driver Sebastien Bourdais from KVSH Racing; 12:45-1 p.m. Saturday – Drivers Helio Castroneves, Simon Pagenaud, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Will Power from Team Penske.