2020 Indianapolis 500

Oval layout of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The 107th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race, known colloquially as the **2020 Indianapolis 500**, was a 500 mile (800 kilometer) motor race held 10 May 2020 as the premier event of the 2020 AT&T Champ Car World Series season. The race was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana, a suburb of Indianapolis. Pre-race activities began on Tuesday, 28 April with the annual Indy 500 Media Day, with full days of practice occurring in the three days leading up to time trial weekend on the 2nd and 3rd of May. A full week of race practice followed, ending with Carburation Day on Friday, 8 May.

The 2020 event was overshadowed on multiple facets. The 2019 season saw the race cancelled by track owners, Citadel Promotions, amidst a heavily turbulent dispute between them and the North American Motor Racing Association (NAMRA) regarding finances around the Indycar World Championship, which Citadel Promotions also controlled from 2016 until April of 2019. The 2020 event was also marred by a series of high velocity accidents at the previous race at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which saw Champ Car rookies Jace Clarke and Gerard Perth injured and unable to compete. And thirdly, the lead up to the event, and the event itself saw highly unusual weather disruptions, with rain, and high winds frequently interrupting practice days. Some pundits compared the leadup of the 2020 event to that of the 2016 event, which was chaotic for different reasons, but equally tense in the paddock area.

Entering the event, Striker Motorsports were the betting favorites to win the event, with the team scoring a first and third place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Phantom Motors, who were leading the Indycar World Team's Championship entering the event, were considered underdogs. Their drivers, Andrew Draco, and David Wessel, were seen as not aggressive enough to contend for the race win at the Brickyard, which was backed up by Draco's prior record at the Speedway, where he relinquished the 2016 pole position early in that race and never recovered it. Also in contention leading up to the race was Cat Devil Racing, who'd previously won the race four times in a row from 2015 to 2018, acting as de-facto defending race winners in the face of the 2019 event never occurring.

Three former Indianapolis 500 Champions highlighted the 33 car entry list for the race. The 2020 entry list was the smallest entry list for the race since before the introduction of the Indycar World Championship, with all 33 entries guaranteed to start. Stephanie Porter-Kelley, the 2009 race winner, looked to win the event 11 years after, with the 2009 event marred by tragedy. Kunimitsu Kinoshita, the 2015, 2017, and 2018 race winner, headlined a five car effort for Cat Devil Racing, as she attempted to join the rare four time winners club for the event. Cristine Espinoza, a five time winner of the race, co-starred a two car effort for the legendary Escuderia Aguila team.

The race was won by Sebastian Devereux, who led 85 of the 200 laps in the race for LM Competition. Devereux was called in to fill the #34 Mercedes fielded by LM Competition in place of Gerard Perth, but the race was marred by one of the worst crashes in the 21st century at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway when a crash on lap 171 ultimately claimed the lives of Tim Kourting, and Giuliano Ansaldi, as well as injuring Mildred Moon, and B.K. Glover. The race was plagued by heavy winds, which were partially blamed for contributing to the accident. Celebrations were cancelled immediately following the race, while Devereux would announce his intentions to retire following the event, having witnessed the accident occur just behind him as it happened.

## Race Report

### Lap 171 Crash

*For more detailed analysis, please refer to: Black Sunday 2020*

Approaching lap 171, Tim Kourting was in the process of being lapped by the race leaders, with Devereux passing Kourting coming across the yard of bricks. Porter-Kelley, and Moon were side by side approaching Kourting entering turn 1, with the lead lap cars approximately 14 miles per hour faster than that of Kourting. The combination of 16 mph winds, and the already present damage on Kourting's car, pushed Kourting up off the preferred racing line, at the same time that Moon, attempting to make the situation three wide by forcing Kourting into the middle of the track, had filled the space with the front of her car. Kourting and Moon made contact, with Kourting being sent into a violent barrel roll while Moon spun around multiple times before being hit broadside by B.K. Glover. Multiple cars moved to avoid Kourting as he slid upside down towards the turn 4 access road, until the unaware car of Giuliano Ansaldi struck him at an exact 90 degree angle. The race was immediately red flagged, with all four serious affected cars now containing seriously injured drivers unable to climb out on their own power. Moon and Glover's cars were positioned between turns 1 and 2, with Glover's nose resting on top of the retaining wall facing the grandstands. Glover's feet were exposed from the impact, with the Texan driver suffering multiple leg injuries of varying degrees. Moon, who came to a rest closer to turn 2, suffered a severe concussion, broken ribs, and a punctured lung. Ansaldi and Kourting presented the most grave concerns, as neither responded to the multiple radio calls sent out by their respective teams. Within minutes, the entire area from the exit of turn 2 to nearly halfway down the back straight were covered in emergency vehicles, with helicopters being landed on track for immediate evacuation to nearby trauma centers. Both Ansaldi and Kourting were pronounced dead before the race was race was permitted to restart.