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110TH RUNNING OF THE INDIANAPOLIS 500
NTT is very proud to be the Official Technology Partner of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES where NTT plays a key role in driving the digital transformation of North America's premier open-wheel racing championship, that includes the iconic Indianapolis 500 race as one of its premier events.
https://www.indycar.com/Schedule/2026/Indianapolis-500What is the NTT INDYCAR SERIES?
Top speed at 380 km/hour.A speed that is from another dimension
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES features world-class athletes from more than 11 countries. Each year it blends speed, strategy and precision across race event schedule unlike anything else in motorsports.
It’s a dynamic, spectacle, high-speed race series with top speed that can reach 380 km/hour with average speeds that exceeds F1 Formula 1 and most all other forms of motorsports worldwide.
At the heart of the series is the Indianapolis 500. Held each May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the event is known around the world as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing. It stands as one of the most iconic and prestigious races in all of motor sport drawing hundreds of thousands of fans and a global roster of competitors. For drivers and teams, winning the Indy 500 is a career-defining achievement and the centerpiece of every INDYCAR season.
In 2017, racer Takuma Sato became the first Japanese driver in history to win the Indianapolis 500. He also was the winner of the event in 2020.
The History and Tradition of American Motor Sports
The Indianapolis 500 is both a synonym and the pinnacle of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and it has been called one of the three greatest races in the world, next to the Monaco Grand Prix and 24 Hours of Le Mans.
With the first race being held in 1911, the Indianapolis 500 is the oldest among these classic race events.
The race is held annually in the state of Indiana during the month of May, with more than 350,000 people in attendance and millions more around the world watch it on TV.
However, what sets the NTT INDYCAR SERIES apart overall is its variety. Each year’s full season calendar includes a mix of racetrack types that test every element of a driver’s skill.
※English ver. only
NTT INDYCAR SERIES One of the most traditional and prestigious automotive motorsport series in the world with over 100 years of history One of the most traditional and prestigious automotive motorsport series in the world with over 100 years of history
Since 2019, the NTT Group has been the title sponsor of the INDYCAR SERIES.
In conjunction with this, NTT has been innovating the INDYCAR SERIES as the official technology partner
delivering innovation and advancing technology for the races and circuits
Highlights
What is the NTT INDYCAR SERIES?
Racers compete in 18 races over a span of the year on three distinct race course types: oval course, street course, and road course.
It’s known for emphasizing the aspects of race itself such as through the following features: a rolling start, in which the race starts with the cars running in a grid-ordered formation; a push-to-pass (P2P) that allows drivers to discretionarily try to pass opponents by temporarily increasing the horsepower; car bodies are uniform across all teams; and engine difference between teams is smaller compared to F1 due to engine rules. Sustainability is important to the Series in many ways including it’s one of the first forms of motorsport that uses 100% renewable racing fuel in the race cars.
More
Racers compete in 18 races over a span of the year on three distinct race course types: oval course, street course, and road course.
It’s known for emphasizing the aspects of race itself such as through the following features: a rolling start, in which the race starts with the cars running in a grid-ordered formation; a push-to-pass (P2P) that allows drivers to discretionarily try to pass opponents by temporarily increasing the horsepower; car bodies are uniform across all teams; and engine difference between teams is smaller compared to F1 due to engine rules. Sustainability is important to the Series in many ways including it’s one of the first forms of motorsport that uses 100% renewable racing fuel in the race cars.
- Highlight ①
- Even if a particular racer maintains top position from the beginning, it’s not rare to see a comeback due to the full course caution rule (prohibits racers from passing throughout the entire course) that becomes active during an accident such as a crash, which enforces the racers to race slowly via pacing cars that appear in front of the drivers until all the crashed cars and pieces are cleaned up. Since this resets the lead gained by the top drivers, it provides a renewed opportunity to racers who had once fallen back in the field during the race.
- Highlight ②
- All racers strive to pass each other once the race gets restarted, and this bargaining over the reset is one of the joys of watching an INDYCAR race.
- Highlight ③
- Since the ability to quickly conduct a pit stop while the race stalls led by the pace car also determines a driver’s fate, circumstances could become lucky or unlucky for the drivers depending on how the full course caution (prohibits cars from passing throughout the entire course) plays out (depending on the timing, drivers may not be able to make a pit stop due to pit closure).
- Highlight ④
- The push-to-pass (P2P) system is used in the street/road courses of the INDYCAR SERIES. By pushing the P2P button on the steering wheel, drivers can temporarily increase engine performance (about +60 ps), more easily overtake cars in front, and block machines in the back from overtaking. The number of seconds the P2P can be used is limited per circuit, so its timing during the race will affect the turn of events.
The final outcome is truly uncertain in INDYCAR
The decisions of the strategists who strategist while considering these circumstances will greatly impact the outcome. Since anything can happen until the race is over, drivers and teams must be able to accurately respond while facing the gap between expectation and reality.
What is the Indianapolis 500?
- The world’s largest sporting event with more than 350,000 spectators on the final tournament day. This traditional race, which was first held in 1911 and will hold its 110th race this year
- It’s called the Indy 500 because drivers will drive 500 miles (804.672 km) spanning 200 laps (2.5 miles [4.023 km] per lap) on a closed course.
- Held in May every year, the Indianapolis 500 is one of the three largest races known as the motorsports ‘Triple Crown’. The other two are this F1 Monaco Grand Prix and The 24 Hours of Le Mans.
- The INDY500 Indianapolis 500 is a competition between 33 racers in total. If 34 or more machines register, then candidates go through preliminary qualifications until enough racers are bumped out.
- Only the overall winner of the Indy 500 is honored at the end of the race where the celebrations with the winning driver includes the the tradition of drinking milk, instead of champagne,
- Racer Takuma Sato won twice in 2017 and 2020, making him the 20th person in more than 100 years of Indy 500 history to have won several times.
Hideshi Matsuda
Motor-Journalist
December 22, 1954: Born in Kochi prefecture, raised in Osaka.
1994: Passed the qualifying round of INDY500 in 14th place out of 33 cars without having any experience racing on an oval course. He became the second Japanese racer to compete in the final race of INDY500.
1996: Recorded 8th place, the highest rank ever achieved by a Japanese at the time.
1999: Recorded 10th place in the qualifying round and 10th place in the final. At this point, he had competed in a total of four INDY500 races.
He is a graded driver who has competed in over 100 Super GT races.
For many years, he has served as a commentator for GAORA SPORT, which is the only broadcaster that broadcasts the entire NTT INDYCAR SERIES live in Japan.
Developments In Venue Operations & Safety Venue Solutions from NTT - Enhancements for Improved Operations and Safety at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Developments In Venue Operations & Safety Venue Solutions from NTT - Enhancements for Improved Operations and Safety at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The storied Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) is now more than 100 years old, but with cutting-edge venue solutions from NTT’s subsidiary NTT DATA, it’s now one of the more advanced sporting venues in the world. NTT continues to help provide a positive and consistent experience for all attendees at one of the world’s largest sports venues.
NTT DATA is enabling real-time, AI driven analytics to event ticket holders as well as enabling event operations and security teams’ greater ability to respond and optimize their resources by focusing on where event attendees will benefit the most. This is due to faster, more data-driven decision making made possible by predictive insights on crowd congestion, traffic flow, and more being powered by NTT DATA Venue Solutions
Based on a variety of data input, event organizers can optimally allocate staff members, implement safety measures related to venue security operation, safety surveillance, etc. to better provide a safe and convenient experience for all visitors to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Data Insights for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES
By leveraging historical and real-time data to predict future performance, NTT and INDYCAR are turning some of the millions of data points transmitted from cars and trackside during every ‘live’ race event into engaging content for fans using AI and predictive analytics powered by the infrastructure and data engineering capabilities from NTT. This channel specific storytelling and predictive insights is for enhanced fan engagement, especially for first time or casual race viewers.
The newest example of these insights is the INDYCAR ‘Up to Speed’ feature – an AI-powered and fully automated fan-first race recap experience. This generative AI-driven feature transforms complex, real-time race data into clear, engaging summary of all key race moments that is easy to consume for all INDYCAR race fans in real-time or as a recap on what has already happened.
ENTITLEMENT EXTENSION WITH NTT AND NTT DATA
With the official NTT INDYCAR SERIES app provided by NTT Data,
you can watch the race and gather data from the onboard cameras for example without a TV.
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