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IndyCar: J.R. Hildebrand to participate in Indianapolis Motor Speedway test

By Asher Fair

FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: JR Hildebrand, driver of the #21 Fuzzy's Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, looks on during qualifying for the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images)
FORT WORTH, TX - JUNE 09: JR Hildebrand, driver of the #21 Fuzzy's Vodka Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, looks on during qualifying for the Verizon IndyCar Series Rainguard Water Sealers 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 9, 2017 in Fort Worth, Texas. (Photo by Robert Laberge/Getty Images) /
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J.R. Hildebrand is set to be one of 29 IndyCar drivers taking part in today’s test sessions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to prepare for next month’s Indianapolis 500 at the track.

Last week, it was confirmed that 28 of the 33 IndyCar drivers who had been confirmed on the entry list for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 next month would be participating in at least one of today’s test sessions at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

J.R. Hildebrand was then confirmed as Dreyer & Reinbold Racing’s second driver for this race earlier this week, so he, too, is set to participate in at least one of these test sessions at the four-turn, 2.5-mile (4.023-kilometer) Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval in Speedway, Indiana ahead of the race at the track in roughly four and a half weeks.

Dreyer & Reinbold Racing confirmed this news on Twitter.

Hildebrand, whose confirmation on the entry list for this year’s running of the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” made him the 34th confirmed driver for this race and thus ensured that there would be bumping to determine which 33 drivers will actually compete in it, is set to drive the #48 Chevrolet as the teammate to Sage Karam, who was his teammate at Dreyer & Reinbold Racing for the race last year and was confirmed as one of their two drivers for this year’s edition of the race in late February.

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Karam is set to drive the #24 Chevrolet in this year’s Indy 500 like he did in last year’s. Meanwhile, Hildebrand drove the #66 Chevrolet in last year’s Indy 500, but the #66 was already confirmed as the car number for Fernando Alonso’s Carlin Chevrolet two months ago.

Of today’s three test sessions, Hildebrand will be eligible to participate in two. He will be eligible to participate in the refresher test for non-series regulars and the test session for all 29 of the 34 confirmed drivers for the race who are set to participate at all today.

The refresher test for the non-series regulars is scheduled to take place from 1:00 p.m. ET to 3:00 p.m. ET along with the Rookie Orientation Program. This test session, which is the second of the three test sessions, is scheduled to precede the test session for all 29 drivers, which is scheduled to take place from 3:00 p.m. ET to 6:00 p.m. ET.

Today’s action is scheduled to begin at 11:00 a.m. ET, as that is when the test session for the IndyCar veterans is scheduled to commence. That session is scheduled to last until 1:00 p.m. ET.

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IndyCar RaceControl is set to broadcast all three of these test sessions live later today. Meanwhile, qualifying for the 103rd running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC from the track beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET on both days.

The race itself is scheduled to take place on Sunday, May 26, and it is set to be broadcast live on NBC beginning at 11:00 a.m. ET. It is scheduled to begin after 12:00 p.m. ET.