Full 2017 Indianapolis 500 entry list announced by IndyCar
The IndyCar Series has announced the final 33-car entry list for the 2017 Indianapolis 500
Confirmation of 1996 winner Buddy Lazier's Lazier Partners Racing programme completed the list of contenders for the 101st edition of the legendary race.
Lazier is one of seven previous Indy 500 winners in the field, along with Team Penske's Helio Castroneves and Juan Pablo Montoya, Ganassi duo Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan, last year's victor Alexander Rossi and his Andretti Autosport team-mate Ryan Hunter-Reay.
But the driver getting the majority of attention in the build-up has been an IndyCar novice with an illustrious pedigree - double Formula 1 world champion Fernando Alonso skipping the Monaco Grand Prix to contest Indianapolis with Andretti Autosport.
Alonso is not the only IndyCar debutant under Michael Andretti's wing this month.
Briton Jack Harvey, Indy Lights runner-up in both 2014 and '15 and winner of the series' Indy 500-supporting Freedom 100 in the latter year, will make his IndyCar debut in an Andretti entry run by renowned IMSA team Michael Shank Racing (pictured above).
Harvey's former Lights rival Zach Veach (pictured below) was due to be another driver making his IndyCar debut at the 500, but his outing with AJ Foyt Racing in the showpiece event ended up being preceded by a call-up to stand in for the injured JR Hildebrand at Ed Carpenter Racing at Barber Motorsports Park last month.
The fourth Indy 500 debutant is the series' only full-time rookie in 2017: Ed Jones of Dale Coyne Racing.
The reigning Indy Lights champion took pole for last year's Freedom 100, but was narrowly edged to victory by Dean Stoneman.
The race will also feature two teams new to IndyCar.
Leading Road to Indy ladder series team Juncos Racing's toe-in-the-water approach involves a sixth Indy 500 start for sometime Ganassi driver Sebastian Saavedra and a second 500 for Spencer Pigot, off-duty from his normal squad ECR as team owner Ed Carpenter races his car on the ovals.
The other newcomer Harding Racing, run by veteran Indy car team manager and engineer Larry Curry, has a technical alliance with Curry's former employer Dreyer & Reinbold Racing.
This effectively pairs up Harding's driver Gabby Chaves with the DRR/Kingdom-entered Sage Karam.
Other drivers on one-off deals for the 500 or limited programmes include veteran Oriol Servia teaming up with Graham Rahal at Rahal Letterman Lanigan again, Jay Howard making his first IndyCar appearance since the end of 2011 with Schmidt Peterson and Pippa Mann getting another outing with Dale Coyne Racing.
Practice commences on Monday, with qualifying taking place across both days of next weekend.
ENTRY LIST
No. Driver Team Engine 1 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 2 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 3 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet 4 Conor Daly AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet 5 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 7 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 8 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 9 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 10 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 11 Spencer Pigot Juncos Racing Chevrolet 12 Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 14 Carlos Munoz AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet 15 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 16 Oriol Servia Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 17 Sebastian Saavedra Juncos/AFS Racing Chevrolet 18 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Honda 19 Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing Honda 20 Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 21 JR Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 22 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Chevrolet 24 Sage Karam Dreyer & Reinbold/Kingdom Racing Chevrolet 26 Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Honda 27 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 29 Fernando Alonso McLaren Honda Andretti Autosport Honda 40 Zach Veach AJ Foyt Racing Honda 49 Buddy Lazier Lazier Partners Racing Chevrolet 50 Jack Harvey Andretti Autosport/Mike Shank Racing Honda 63 Pippa Mann Dale Coyne Racing Honda 77 Jay Howard Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 83 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 88 Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Chevrolet 98 Alexander Rossi Andretti-Herta Autosport Honda
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