Open-Wheels 500 practice to begin on Sunday

Open-Wheels 500 practice to begin on Sunday

Finally, after 12 months of waiting the weekend is finally here – Opening Day at the Open-Wheels 500 has arrived! Tomorrow, the stars and cars of the World’s Greatest Sim Race will take to the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval on iRacing to kick off the 2020 Open-Wheels 500 presented by Mitchell Transmissions.

With only 33 spots in the starting field up for grabs, the entry list of 110 drivers will have their work cut out for them as the first week of practice and qualifications unfolds over the next eight days.

Festivities on Opening Day kick off with a private driver’s meeting at 10:00 AM Eastern, followed by the Opening Day press conference at 12:00 PM – live on Open-Wheels.com/TV. That sets the stage for practice – which goes green at 2:00 PM – followed by the first airing of Today at the 500 at 8:00 PM. Both practice and Today at the 500 will also be found at Open-Wheels.com/TV.

Following Opening Day is a full week of action leading into Qualifications Weekend presented by Pit Lane Parley. Practices will be held from 1:00 to 9:00 PM Eastern on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday – all live on Open-Wheels.com/TV – while airings of Today at the 500 will be shown live at 8:00 PM on both Tuesday and Friday.

FULL 2020 OPEN-WHEELS 500 SCHEDULE

On Thursday, RaceSpot TV will produce a live, one-hour Qualifications Draw Special where drivers will learn of their position in the initial qualifications order that kicks off Saturday’s Pole Day runs. That show will begin at 8:00 PM Eastern on RaceSpot TV’s YouTube page.

The first week all builds into Pole Day on Saturday, November 7. The first run of the day will roll off at approximately 6:10 AM Eastern, and qualifications attempts will be made live throughout the day on Open-Wheels.com/TV (until 5:00 PM) as well as RaceSpot TV (from 5:00 to 5:50 PM). The Pit Lane Parley Pole Award winner will be crowned at the end of the day on Saturday while the rest of the field sweats their way through one more day of qualifications.

Sunday, November 8 will bring Bump Day – the final 12 hours of first-come, first-served qualifications which will end with the field of 33 drivers being set. The fastest 33 make the show, and again, final hour coverage of Bump Day will be shown live on RaceSpot TV (beginning at 5:00 PM ET) while the rest of day two qualifications can be found at Open-Wheels.com/TV (6:00 AM to 5:00 PM).

With qualifications out of the day, drivers will practice again from 1:00 to 9:00 PM on Tuesday (November 10) and Thursday (November 12) before hitting the track for the final time on Saturday, November 14 at 12:30 PM on Open-Wheels.com/TV.

Race day for the 2020 Open-Wheels 500 presented by Mitchell Transmissions is Sunday, November 15. The Today at the 500 Pre-Race Show will begin at 9:00 AM Eastern (live on Open-Wheels.com/TV) which will carry all of the traditional ceremonies – such as Taps, the National Anthem, Back Home Again in Indiana, and more! Following the pre-race show is the live, worldwide broadcast of the second annual Open-Wheels 500 on RaceSpot TV – their coverage beginning at 11:30 AM Eastern with a scheduled green flag of 11:45 AM.

Stay tuned to Open-Wheels.com for in-depth coverage of the 2020 Open-Wheels 500 presented by Mitchell Transmissions, as well as our social media channels for the latest news and updates on this year’s ‘500’.

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