The 2013 IZOD IndyCar Series was the 18th season of the IndyCar Series and the 102nd season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 97th Indianapolis 500 held on Sunday, May 26. The 2013 season was the second to feature the Dallara DW12 chassis. Ryan Hunter-Reay entered the season as the defending drivers' champion. Chevrolet entered as the defending Manufacturers' Cup champion.
The 2013 season has featured four first-time winners, the most since 1965. Also highlighting the season is the introduction of doubleheader races, and the experimentation with standing starts at selected events. Heading into the final race of the season, two-time champion Scott Dixon led Hélio Castroneves by 25 points in a two driver fight for the championship. In a race where only nine drivers finished, Dixon finished fifth while Castroneves finished sixth, and as a result, Dixon won his third series title by 27 points. In the manufacturers' championship, Chevrolet defended their title ahead of Honda.
After Lotus decided to withdraw from the IndyCar Series due to a poor 2012 season, the 2013 season marks the first season since 2002 that the series would feature only two engine manufacturers.
2013 was the final season that Izod—which became the main sponsor in the 2010 IndyCar Series—was the main sponsor of the championship; as Verizon Communications was announced as the new series sponsor for the 2014 season.
This was the last season to feature four-time champion Dario Franchitti as in race two in Houston, Franchitti would be involved in an accident that would ultimately end his career after 12 seasons in IndyCar. This would also be the final season of E. J. Viso's IndyCar career. For 2014 and beyond, Viso would focus more on Sports cars and Stadium Super Trucks.
This was also the last season that the series featured an outside North American International races to date. For 2014 and beyond all IndyCar Series races would be held exclusively in North American sub-continent only. Confirmed entries All chassis are composed of a Dallara DW12 "IndyCar Safety Cell" base chassis, and Dallara aerokit. All teams run Firestone tires. On December 21, 2012, Firestone signed a five-year contract extension with IndyCar. Firestone is the official supplier for IndyCar through 2018.
Team Engine Driver(s) Round(s) A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda 14 Takuma Sato All 41 Conor Daly 5 Andretti Autosport Chevrolet 1 Ryan Hunter-Reay All 25 Marco Andretti All 26 Carlos Muñoz 5 27 James Hinchcliffe AllTeam Venezuela / Andretti Autosport / HVM 5 E. J. Viso 1–18 Carlos Muñoz 19 Barracuda Racing Honda 98 Alex Tagliani 1–13 Luca Filippi 14, 16–18 J. R. Hildebrand 15, 19 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 8 Ryan Briscoe 5 9 Scott Dixon All 10 Dario Franchitti 1–18 Alex Tagliani 19 83 Charlie Kimball All Dale Coyne Racing Honda 18 Ana Beatriz 1–5, 9–10 Mike Conway 6–7, 12–13, 17–18 Pippa Mann 8, 11, 19 James Davison 14–15 Stefan Wilson 16 19 Justin Wilson All 63 Pippa Mann 5 Dragon Racing Chevrolet 6 Sebastián Saavedra All 7 Sébastien Bourdais All Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 20 Ed Carpenter All KV Racing Technology Chevrolet 11 Tony Kanaan All 78 Simona de Silvestro All Lazier Partners Racing Chevrolet 91 Buddy Lazier 5 Panther Racing Chevrolet 4 J. R. Hildebrand 1–5 Ryan Briscoe 6–7, 9, 11–12, 15 Oriol Servià 8, 10, 14, 16–19 Carlos Muñoz 13 60 Townsend Bell 5 Panther Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet 22 Oriol Servià 1–5 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 15 Graham Rahal All 16 James Jakes All 17 Mike Conway 3 Michel Jourdain Jr. 5 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda Josef Newgarden All 97 Lucas Luhr 15 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 55 Tristan Vautier All 81 Katherine Legge 5Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports 77 Simon Pagenaud All Team Penske Chevrolet 2 A. J. Allmendinger 2–3, 5–7, 19 3 Hélio Castroneves All 12 Will Power All
Driver changes A. J. Allmendinger, after being released by Penske Racing's NASCAR team for violating the sports substance abuse policy, returned to the team to take over the No. 2 car vacated by Ryan Briscoe. Allmendinger tested with Team Penske at Sebring on February 18 and 19, 2013. Satisfied with the test results, Allmendinger drove the No. 2 at Barber, Long Beach, Detroit, the Indianapolis 500, and Fontana. Rubens Barrichello left the IndyCar Series to compete in Brazilian stock car racing for the 2013 season after failing to find a sponsor to continue in IndyCar. Graham Rahal moved from Chip Ganassi Racing to Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Simona de Silvestro moved from HVM Racing to KV Racing Technology. Takuma Sato left Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing for A. J. Foyt Enterprises. James Jakes left Dale Coyne Racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. E. J. Viso left KV Racing Technology to join in a 3 team alliance between his own Team Venezuela, Andretti Autosport, and HVM Racing. Andretti continued to run as a three car operation, but supplied Viso's team as a satellite fourth car in conjunction with HVM. After running a partial 2012 season with Andretti Autosport, Sebastián Saavedra joined Dragon Racing for the 2013 season, replacing Katherine Legge.
Mid-season changes On May 30, 2013 Panther Racing announced it was terminating its contract with driver J. R. Hildebrand by mutual consent. On the same day, the team announced Ryan Briscoe would replace Hildebrand for the races at Belle Isle. On July 26, 2013 Barracuda Racing asked Alex Tagliani to relinquish driving the team's entry for the rest of the season. Luca Filippi drove the #98 at Mid-Ohio. J. R. Hildebrand, as well as Filippi, was being considered for the #98 car for the remainder of the season.
Schedule The 2013 IndyCar Series schedule was formally announced on Speed's WindTunnel with Dave Despain, on the evening of September 30, 2012. The schedule consisted of nineteen races, hosted across sixteen venues. Included were three doubleheader events – with one race of the Toronto and Houston doubleheader featuring a standing start (Belle Isle did not utilize a standing start due to the narrowness of the start-finish area). The IndyCar Triple Crown returned for the first time since 1989, featuring the races at Indianapolis, Pocono and Fontana. IndyCar offered a $1,000,000 bonus to a driver who can win all three events, with a $250,000 consolation prize if a driver can win two of the three events.
Icon Legend Oval/Speedway Road course Street circuit BOLD Fuzzy's Ultra Premium Vodka Triple Crown event.
RndDateRace nameTrackLocation1March 24Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Streets of St. PetersburgSt. Petersburg, Florida2April 7Honda Indy Grand Prix of AlabamaSuccessful Barber event is Birmingham's 'Derby' Barber Motorsports ParkBirmingham, Alabama3April 2139th Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach Streets of Long BeachLong Beach, California4May 5Itaipava São Paulo Indy 300 Streets of São PauloSão Paulo, Brazil5May 2697th Indianapolis 500-Mile Race Indianapolis Motor SpeedwaySpeedway, Indiana6June 1Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit Detroit Belle Isle street circuitDetroit, Michigan7June 28June 8Firestone 550 Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, Texas9June 15Milwaukee IndyFest Milwaukee MileWest Allis, Wisconsin10June 23Iowa Corn Indy 250 Iowa SpeedwayNewton, Iowa11July 7Pocono IndyCar 400 Pocono RacewayLong Pond, Pennsylvania12July 13Honda Indy TorontoHonda Indy Toronto extended through 2014 Exhibition PlaceToronto, Ontario13July 1414August 4Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Mid-Ohio Sports Car CourseLexington, Ohio15August 25GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma Sonoma RacewaySonoma, California16September 1Grand Prix of Baltimore Streets of BaltimoreBaltimore, Maryland17October 5Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston Reliant ParkHouston, Texas18October 619October 19MAVTV 500 IndyCar World Championships Auto Club SpeedwayFontana, California
Schedule development The Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix returned to the track layout used from 1998 to 2001. IndyCar went to Pocono Raceway July 7, 2013, for a race. It was the first open-wheel race at Pocono since 1989. A contract had been signed to continue the event through 2015. The Edmonton Indy did not return after the promoter Octane Motorsports made a business decision not to promote the race in 2013. The city announced that they would not seek another promoter. The Grand Prix of Houston at Reliant Park returned to American open-wheel racing as an IndyCar Series event on October 4–6. Mi-Jack Promotions, Reliant Park, and IndyCar have signed a contract for the event through 2017. Shell has signed a 4-year title sponsorship deal for the event with dual branding of their lubricants division. The event was last run as a Champ Car event in 2007.IndyCar's coming to town: Houston race slated for 2013 – Houston Chronicle IndyCar had discussions to add a twentieth round of the championship at a circuit in Europe. Venues put forward as candidates for the event include Monza, Imola, and Mugello. The event failed to materialize, and the series moved its international focus towards the possibility of adding races to the series in 2015 at the earliest.
Results Rd.RacePole positionFastest lapMost laps ledRace WinnerReportDriverTeamManufacturer 1 St. Petersburg Will Power Will Power Hélio Castroneves James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Report 2 Birmingham Ryan Hunter-Reay James Jakes Ryan Hunter-Reay Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Report 3 Long Beach Dario Franchitti E. J. Viso Takuma Sato Takuma Sato A. J. Foyt Enterprises Honda Report 4 São Paulo Ryan Hunter-Reay Tony Kanaan Takuma Sato James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Report 5 Indianapolis Ed Carpenter Justin Wilson Ed Carpenter Tony Kanaan KV Racing Technology Chevrolet Report 6 Detroit 1 Dario Franchitti Mike Conway Mike Conway Mike Conway Dale Coyne Racing HondaReport 7 Detroit 2 Mike Conway Mike Conway Mike Conway Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports Honda 8 Texas Will Power Tony Kanaan Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves Team Penske Chevrolet Report 9 Milwaukee Marco Andretti Ryan Hunter-Reay Takuma Sato Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Report 10 Iowa Hélio Castroneves Ed Carpenter James Hinchcliffe James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Chevrolet Report 11 Pocono Marco Andretti Takuma Sato Marco Andretti Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Report 12 Toronto 1 Dario Franchitti Hélio Castroneves Will Power Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Report 13 Toronto 2 Scott Dixon Dario Franchitti Scott Dixon Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 14 Mid-Ohio Ryan Hunter-Reay Simon Pagenaud Charlie Kimball Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Report 15 Sonoma Dario Franchitti Will Power Scott Dixon Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet Report 16 Baltimore Scott Dixon Sébastien Bourdais Will Power Simon Pagenaud Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports Honda Report 17 Houston 1 Takuma Sato Will Power Scott Dixon Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Report 18 Houston 2 Hélio Castroneves Luca Filippi Will Power Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 19 Fontana Will Power James Hinchcliffe Will Power Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet Report
Race summaries
Round 1: St. Petersburg James Hinchcliffe won the first IndyCar race of his career, taking the lead from Hélio Castroneves on a restart on lap 85 of 110. Hinchcliffe held off Castroneves by 1.09 seconds, with Marco Andretti finishing third, passing Simona de Silvestro for the position on the final lap.
Will Power dominated the early parts of the race, but dropped to 16th at the finish after contact with J. R. Hildebrand. Dario Franchitti finished last after an early crash, and defending series champion Ryan Hunter-Reay dropped out with mechanical problems.
Round 2: Barber