2011 Indy Car Series Season - Series News

Series News

• The 95th Indianapolis 500 marked the third race of the three-year long Centennial era, celebrating the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the 100th anniversary of the first Indianapolis 500-mile race.
• Sunoco would become the official fuel of the series starting in 2011 and running through 2014. Sunoco would work with APEX–Brasil and UNICA to provide ethanol for the series.
• On January 11, the series made several announcements with regards to the upcoming season:
  • The governing body adopted the doing business as name of INDYCAR (all capital letters). The legal entity remains Indy Racing League, LLC, and is specifically mentioned in the INDYCAR Rule Book.
  • The "restart zone" on ovals were moved from turn 3 to just before the start/finish line.
  • Restart procedures would mimic those of NASCAR, including double-file restarts, separate pitting for lead lap and non-lead lap cars, and the waving around of lapped cars that did not pit. The "free pass" rule would not be implemented.
  • Pit stall selection for each race would be determined by the qualifying order of the previous round at the track of the same type (e.g., road course or oval). Exceptions to this will be the season opener at St. Petersburg, which would be set by final entrants' points from 2010, and the Indy 500, which carries its own pit selection process.
• On March 6, the series announced that the maximum field size for every IndyCar event this season would be limited to 26 cars, except for the Indianapolis 500 (which remains at the traditional 33) and the Las Vegas finale (34 cars).
• Firestone has signed an extension to remain as the series' sole tire supplier through 2013.