2011 Indianapolis 500 entry list published

IndyCar has published the entry list for this year's running of the Indy 500. 42 cars will compete to line up on the starting grid, including four former winners and five rookies.

Andrew Lewin_1

15 Apr 2011

15-21 MAY, 2010, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA Parade lap in turn two.
© Dan R Boyd

IndyCar has released the entry list for the 100th anniversary running of the Indianapolis 500, with 35 named drivers that include former Indy 500 champions Helio Castroneves, Dan Wheldon, Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon.

Wheldon, Franchitti and Dixon are also former IndyCar series champions, along with Tony Kanaan who is also formally entered in the race. 18 of the drivers have won at least one race in either the IZOD IndyCar series or the CART/Champ Car series in the past.

There are also five rookies entered in this year's race (JR Hildebrand, James Hinchcliffe, Jay Howard, James Jakes and Charlie Kimball) as well as three women drivers (Danica Patrick, Simona De Silvestro and Ana Beatriz). The youngest entrant is 20-year-old Sebastian Saavedra, and the oldest is 48-year-old Davey Hamilton.

Ten entries feature American drivers, with six apiece from Brazil and the United Kingdom (Franchitti, Wheldon, James Jakes, Justin Wilson, Mike Conway and Jay Howard). There are three Canadians, two Australians and single representatives from Belgium, Colombia, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland and Venezuela.

Andretti Autosport, which won the Indy 500 in 2005 and 2007, fields its regular four entries and a fifth in association with NASCAR legend Richard Petty to give the team more involvement in the race than any other single outfit.

The 42 entries will be competing for 33 grid slots for the start of the Indy 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, meaning that nine cars will be failing to take the green flag come race day.

Seven entries lack a named driver at present: the #8 of Dragon Racing (regular driver Paul Tracy having already signed a deal to appear for Dreyer & Reinbold Racing), the #19 of Dale Coyne Racing (as regular driver Sebastian Bourdais is only competing on road courses in 2011), the #36 of Conquest Racing, the #44 of Panther Racing, the #57 of Sarah Fisher Racing and the #89 of China Racing. The #16 entry lacks any driver or team information whatsoever at this stage.

As well as the 42 cars shown below, each entry also has a corresponding 'T' car registered with the exception of the proposed #57 from Sarah Fisher Racing, meaning that a total of 83 cars are formally entered for the race.

The 2011 Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to start at noon Eastern Time (5pm in the UK) on Sunday, May 29. Opening Day - the first day of on-track activity - is scheduled for Saturday, May 14.

Full entry list

#2 Oriol Servia (Spain) - Newman/Haas Racing
#3 Helio Castroneves (Brazil) - Team Penske
#4 JR Hildebrand (USA) - Panther Racing
#5 Takuma Sato (Japan) - KV Racing Technology - Lotus
#6 Ryan Briscoe (Australia) - Team Penske
#7 Danica Patrick (USA) - Andretti Autosport
#8 TBA - Dragon Racing
#9 Scott Dixon (New Zealand) - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#10 Dario Franchitti (UK) - Target Chip Ganassi Racing
#11 Davey Hamilton (USA) - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#12 Will Power (Australia) - Team Penske
#14 Vitor Meira (Brazil) - AJ Foyt Enterprises
#16 TBA
#17 Raphael Matos (Brazil) - AFS Racing
#18 James Jakes (UK) - Dale Coyne Racing
#19 TBA - Dale Coyne Racing
#22 Justin Wilson (UK) - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#23 Paul Tracy (Canada) - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#24 Ana Beatriz (Brazil) - Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
#26 Marco Andretti (USA) - Andretti Autosport
#27 Mike Conway (UK) - Andretti Autosport
#28 Ryan Hunter-Reay (USA) - Andretti Autosport
#30 Bertrand Baguette (Belgium) - Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
#34 Sebastian Saavedra (Colombia) - Conquest Racing
#36 TBA - Conquest Racing
#38 Graham Rahal (USA) - Service Central Chip Ganassi Racing
#43 John Andretti (USA) - Richard Petty/Andretti Autosport
#44 TBA - Panther Racing
#57 TBA - Sarah Fisher Racing
#59 EJ Viso (Venezuela) - KV Racing Technology - Lotus
#67 Ed Carpenter (USA) - Sarah Fisher Racing
#77 Alex Tagliani (Canada) - Sam Schmidt Motorsports
#78 Simona De Silvestro (Switzerland) - Nuclear Clean Air Energy HVM Racing
#82 Tony Kanaan (Brazil) - KV Racing Technology - Lotus
#83 Charlie Kimball (USA) - Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing
#88 Jay Howard (UK) - Sam Schmidt - RLL Racing
#89 TBA - China Racing
#98 Dan Wheldon (UK) - Bryan Herta Autosport
#99 Townsend Bell (USA) - Sam Schmidt Motorsports
#06 James Hinchcliffe (Canada) - Newman/Haas Racing
#07 Tomas Scheckter (South Africa) - KV Racing Technology - SH Racing
#TBA Bruno Junqueira (Brazil) - AJ Foyt Enterprises