Background

The race was officially announced on October 1, 2013. The track's road course was formerly used by Formula One for the United States Grand Prix. The track featured various modifications: the track runs clockwise, with turn 1 entering the oval's turn 4 onto the road course. Turns 2 to 4 remain the same, while turn 5 and 6 became a chicane, and entered the Hulman Blvd. straight. Turn 7 is a 90-degree left turn into turns 8 and 9, leading into the oval's turn 2, which serves as the road course's turns 10 and 11. The oval's turn 1 is not entered, as the track follows the MotoGP format, with turns 12 to 14 leading into the front straight.^[1] The cars were also modified to fit the track's specifications, with fueling plugs on the opposite side.^[2]

A contest was held for fans to design the trophy for the event. Dan Nichols, a California native, beat out 150 other entries.^[3]

Qualifying

Qualifying took place on May 9. Rain had affected the track during the four sessions held. Prior to the Fast Six session, rain escalated, causing a red flag, which delayed qualifying for 20 minutes, before the six cars were sent onto the track. Ryan Hunter-Reay was the fastest during his qualifying attempt, with a lap time of 1:23.8480,^[4] but drove into a puddle of water, spinning out, bring out another red flag.^[5] As a result, Hunter-Reay was relegated to third, while Sebastián Saavedra was awarded the pole position.^[4]

Race

The race's honorary race starter was Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard; the event began with a standing start, but as the lights went out, pole-sitter Saavedra stalled, and was later hit by Carlos Muñoz and Mikhail Aleshin.^[6]