IndyCar returns to the St. Louis area this August for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway. The NTT IndyCar Series event is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. CT on Saturday, Aug. 20 and will serve as one of the final rounds of the season before the Grand Prix of Monterey crowns the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series champion on Sunday, Sept. 11.
Race weekend schedule
The Fan Walk begins at 8 a.m. on Friday, Aug. 19 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Enjoy the Vintage Indy Session, Indy Pro 2000 and practice sessions throughout the day as the track prepares to host Coors Light Pole Night. That portion of the event includes USAC Silver Crown Qualifying, Indy Lights Qualifying, NTT IndyCar Series Qualifying. The USAC Silver Crown – Gateway 100 rounds out the festivities with a 100-mile, 80-lap race featuring the Champ Cars.
Gates open at 8 a.m on Sunday with the Indy Pro 2000 Race scheduled for 2:15 p.m. and Indy Lights Race at 3:15 p.m. Once the track is cleared, driver introductions will begin for the NTT IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
History of the race
This is the sixth annual race since World Wide Technology Raceway returned to the IndyCar schedule in 2017. Josef Newgarden won the inaugural Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in 2017, edging Scott Dixon by 0.6850 seconds. It was Newgarden’s fourth IndyCar victory of the season and third in four races. Will Power, who set the IndyCar Single-Lap track record in 2017, came back to win in 2018. Then, Takuma Sato won in 2019, but Newgarden returned to the top winning both the 2020 and 2021 races.
Prior to 2017, Gateway Motorsports Park did host the CART World Series from 1997 to 2000 and the IndyCar Series from 2001 to 2003. Previous IndyCar races were run under the moniker Gateway Indy 250.
Drivers to watch
Newgarden, who we mentioned above, recorded his first victory of the season in a photo finish edging teammate Scott McLaughlin in the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway. The XPEL 375 was the first oval race of the season. He also won the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America and Hy-VeeDeals.com 250. Iowa Speedway, which hosts the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250, is the other short oval on the calendar. McLaughlin also has multiple victories this season, having won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in February and Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio in early July.
Other NTT IndyCar winners this season include familiar faces like Scott Dixon, who has three runner-up finishes at WWT Raceway and 2018 champion Power. Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson and Pato O’Ward, who won the second race at Iowa, are other drivers to watch.
