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IndyCar: Helio Castroneves to drive for Team Penske in 2019 Indianapolis Grand Prix

By Asher Fair

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Helio Castroneves of Brazil, driver of the #3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet talks with team owner Roger Penske during Carb Day for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 25, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MAY 25: Helio Castroneves of Brazil, driver of the #3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet talks with team owner Roger Penske during Carb Day for the 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motorspeedway on May 25, 2018 in Indianapolis, Indiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images) /
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Helio Castroneves is set to drive for Team Penske in the 2019 IndyCar Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

In addition to driving for Team Penske in the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this year, former full-time IndyCar driver Helio Castroneves is set to drive for the team in the Indianapolis Grand Prix, officially titled the IndyCar Grand Prix, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Castroneves has competed in all five of the IndyCar races that have been held at the 13-turn, 2.439-mile (3.925-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in Speedway, Indiana.

The 43-year-old Brazilian competed in the first four races at the track as the full-time driver of the #3 Chevrolet from the 2014 season through the 2017 season.

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He then returned to Team Penske as the driver of the #3 Chevrolet in last year’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in what was his first season not competing in IndyCar on a full-time basis since the 1997 season.

Castroneves competed in this race before driving for the team in the Indy 500 just over two weeks later, and this is what he is set to do again this year. The IndyCar Grand Prix is the fifth race on the 17-race 2019 IndyCar schedule while the Indy 500 is the sixth.

Here is what Castroneves had to say about driving for Team Penske in the IndyCar Grand Prix once again before making what is set to be his 19th career start in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing”, according to Motorsport.

"“Yes, I’m doing the Indy GP again to give us a little bit of a balance, little bit of a rhythm and then we’ll do the Indy 500. We need to do some changes [technically] to the car. But the good news is that IndyCar is not going to have many ovals again, which should help me to go in on a similar playing field to the guys who are full time. What happened last year [in the Indy 500]…we’ve just got to fix it and hope it doesn’t happen this year, and instead get what we’re looking for.”"

In five career starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, Castroneves has never finished outside of the top six. He finished in third place in the race in the 2014 season, sixth in the race in the 2015 season, second in the race in the 2016 season, fifth in the race in the 2017 season and sixth in the race in the 2018 season, giving him an average finish of 4.4. While he has not yet won a race at the track, he has led 46 of the 416 laps that he has completed there.

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The IndyCar Grand Prix is scheduled to be broadcast live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on NBC starting at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, May 11. To see the full 2019 IndyCar schedule, click here.