Sonsio Grand Prix – IMS Road Course 2026

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was created in the spring of 1909 as a vision of Carl G. Fisher and his partners James Allison, Arthur Newby, and Frank Wheeler. Originally conceived as a pure oval track for the legendary Indy 500, the complex grew over the decades into one of the most significant motorsport temples in the world, where history and innovation continually intersect.

In addition to the famous oval, which remains the venue for the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 to this day, the speedway once hosted the United States Grand Prix of Formula 1 as well as a motorcycle Grand Prix weekend. For the combined course, which connects portions of the oval with a permanent infield track, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis became a staple of the IndyCar calendar, currently held under the name Sonsio Grand Prix.

The Road Course measures 3.925 kilometers and guides drivers clockwise through 14 turns, five left-handers and nine right-handers, with one section of the oval’s famous banked turns integrated. The layout was revised in 2008 and 2014 to both enable motorcycle racing and improve passing behavior for IndyCar. These modifications created the turn combinations in which drivers today must navigate between infield technical sections and high-speed passages on the oval.

Josef Newgarden holds the track record on the Road Course, setting a benchmark in 2017 with a lap time of 1:09.3888 minutes that stands to this day and remains the reference for all simulations and race engineers. At the most recent running of the Sonsio Grand Prix, Álex Palou claimed victory in 2025 and underscored his role as one of the most consistent drivers in contemporary IndyCar competition on this technically demanding course.

The combination of historical heritage and modern racing makes the Sonsio Grand Prix a season highlight. Where pure oval speed once mattered, on the Road Course today a blend of braking technique, traction, and tactical finesse determines victory and defeat, while the speedway’s iconic stature remains ever present in the background.