• Delayed season opens Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway
• Honda seeks 'three-peat' of Manufacturer Championships
• Talented 14-driver lineup features eight IndyCar Series race winners, including four Indianapolis 500 winners, two series champions
Eight race winners, four Indianapolis 500 champions and two former series title holders make up the talented Honda-powered lineup for the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES, opening this weekend with the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Originally scheduled to begin at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March, the season start was delayed due to effects of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 season now will begin Saturday night with a non-spectator event at the 1.5-mile Texas oval. NBC will provide live network television coverage starting at 8 p.m. EDT.
Eight wins in 2019 brought Honda the company's eighth INDYCAR Manufacturers' Championship, and second consecutive title, with Honda drivers claiming victory in 19 of 34 races over the past two seasons.
'HPD Is proud that in 2019 – together with our partner teams – we achieved a second consecutive INDYCAR Manufacturers' Championship', said Ted Klaus, president of Honda Performance Development, the racing arm for American Honda in North America. 'So far this year, HPD has been 'racing' to support medical ventilator companies with engineering services, as well as finding ways to safely run our racing business and get back to the track. It will be great to begin the 2020 racing season, where we intend to win on the track AND demonstrate common sense ways we can resume our livelihoods.
'For 2020, HPD's goals are to win the Indianapolis 500, as well as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. Everyone at HPD has worked extremely hard to prepare for another highly competitive season, and we're looking forward to getting our title defense under way.'
Honda will present an impressive lineup in Texas, all utilizing the Honda HI20TT twin-turbo V6 engine and Dallara chassis. It begins with five-time IndyCar series champion and 2008 Indianapolis 500 victor Scott Dixon, and includes 2017 Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato; 2012 series and 2014 Indianapolis 500 champion Ryan Hunter-Reay; 2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi; multi-race winners Graham Rahal and James Hinchcliffe; plus Colton Herta, who broke through with two race wins during his rookie 2019 season.
Honda has been a fixture in North American open-wheel racing since 1994, and has played an active role in the growth of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES as both a Manufacturers' Championship competitor and single engine supplier, with a record that includes eight Manufacturers' Championships. Honda's Indy car total of 245 wins in 26 years of North American open-wheel racing – including 12 Indianapolis 500 victories since 2004 – is unmatched by any other manufacturer in the same period.
The company scored its first Indianapolis 500 victory in 2004 with Buddy Rice; Manufacturers' Championships in 2004 and '05; and became engine supplier to the entire IndyCar Series in 2006. Honda supplied racing engines to the full, 33-car Indianapolis 500 field every year from 2006-2011, and for six consecutive years – and the only six times in event history – the '500' ran without a single engine failure.
Since the return of multi-manufacturer competition in 2012, Honda has scored four more Indy 500 triumphs, by Dario Franchitti in 2012, Hunter-Reay in 2014, Rossi's dramatic victory in 2016's historic 100th race and Sato's popular victory in 2017. The 12 wins by Honda at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway lead all other major automobile manufacturers.
2020 Honda IndyCar Series Lineup| Andretti Autosport | #26 Zach Veach |
| | #27 Alexander Rossi (W) |
| | #28 Ryan Hunter-Reay (C) (W) |
| | #29 James Hinchcliffe (W) |
| Andretti-Herta Autosport | #98 Marco Andretti (W) |
| Andretti-Harding Autosport | #88 Colton Herta (W) |
| Chip Ganassi Racing | # 8 Marcus Ericsson |
| | # 9 Scott Dixon (C) (W) |
| | #10 Felix Rosenqvist |
| Dale Coyne Racing: | |
| -with Vasser-Sullivan | #18 Santino Ferrucci |
| -with Team Goh | #19 Alex Palou (R) |
| Meyer Shank Racing | #60 Jack Harvey |
| Rahal Letterman Lanigan | #15 Graham Rahal (W) |
| Racing | #30 Takuma Sato (W) |
| C – IndyCar Series Champion | W – Race Winner | R – Series Rookie |
