Will Power wins Race 2 in Detroit
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| The margin at the finish for the top-3 |
| Phillip Abbott/LAT for Chevy |
After getting outsmarted yesterday, Team Penske got their act together and scored a 1-2 finish in the 2nd Detroit GP IndyCar race Sunday on Belle Isle.
It was a dog-fight but Will Power brought his Chevy home first, 0.92 sec. ahead of teammate Simon Pagenaud's Chevy and the Honda of Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon rounded out the top-5 to give Chevy 4 of the top-5 positions.
"The guys did a great job in the pits and got me out in front of the No. 28 (Ryan Hunter-Reay)," said Power.
"Obviously, on that restart that I thought ‘I really got to capitalize here otherwise we are not going to win.’ I went down his (No. 22 Simon Pagenaud, his Team Penske teammate) outside. I’ve got to thank Verizon, thank the fans. I mean Verizon, man; it’s been a long time since the No. 12 has been in Victory Lane. Very happy for the whole Verizon crew."
"I think it just gives the whole crew some confidence. I think we have all kind of been stumbling a little bit, the whole group of us. It’s been a tough start to the year, missed the first race and just had a few mishaps. Now we are there."
Power started today's race eighth after being penalized for qualifying interference in the morning, taking away what would have been a record-setting lap for pole. Instead, Pagenaud collected the Verizon P1 Award for the second time in as many days with a track-record lap of 1 minute, 14.0279 seconds (114.266 mph) and started up front.
Power was running sixth when he made the deciding move of the race on Lap 53 of 70 around the 2.35-mile temporary street course, passing Pagenaud on the outside headed into Turn 3. With the four cars ahead of him destined to make late stops for Sunoco E85R, Power held his ground and inherited the lead when Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi had to pit for fuel on Lap 61.
"The guys did a great job in the pits, got me out in front of the 28 (Ryan Hunter-Reay)," Power said. "Then obviously on the restart, I thought, 'I've really got to capitalize here, otherwise we're not going to win.' I went down outside (to pass Pagenaud)."
"It wasn't a big risk because it was on the outside. Had I tried to go on the inside, it would have been a much bigger risk. I wasn't willing to take that with Simon because he's the championship leader. If I was going to do it, I had to do it on the outside and cleanly. There was a space and I went for it."
Pagenaud's runner-up finish was his third this season to go with the three consecutive wins he put together at Long Beach, Barber Motorsports Park and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The driver of the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet leaves the Belle Isle doubleheader with an 80-point championship lead over Scott Dixon, who finished fifth in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
"(Power) made a great pass and he was very aggressive on the restart," Pagenaud said. "I didn't feel comfortable on cold tires. (I had) a really good car on long runs but I struggled on cold tires. He saw it and took his chance and that's how you win races.
"At that point you've got to be smart and think about the big picture. Congratulations to him. There was no point in colliding and trying too hard."
Hunter-Reay, the 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series champion for Andretti Autosport, finished third in the No. 28 DHL Honda.
"We had good pace, but it wasn't enough to close up and make a run for Simon or Will," Hunter-Reay said. "Tough day, very physical circuit, two very physical races. I'm definitely a bit relieved that it's over at this point."
How the race Unfolded
Lap 1: GREEN. 22-Pagenaud leads the field into Turn 1. 15-Rahal heads to pit lane with an apparent brake issue. YELLOW for multi-car incident in Turn 1. Cars involved are 5-Hinchcliffe, 14-Sato, 8-Chilton and 27-Andretti.
Lap 2: 20-Pigot, 19-Chaves, 15-Rahal, 14-Sato on pit road for four tires and fuel. 15-Rahal is also addressing brake issue, 14-Sato is repairing damage from incident.
Race stewards have sent 27-Andretti and 14-Sato to the rear of the field for taking service in a closed pit. 3-Castroneves must give up one position to 10-Kanaan for avoidable contact with 9-Dixon on the start.
Lap 3: GREEN. 22-Pagenaud leads field into Turn 1.
Lap 5: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 0.3934 of a second. 41-Hawksworth on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 8: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 1.3536 seconds.
Lap 10: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 1.3521seconds. 14-Sato on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 11: 26-Munoz and 98-Rossi on pit road for four tires and fuel. 98-Rossi also changes the nosecone.
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| Power leads Montoya until Montoya crashed out |
| Steve Fecht for Chevy Racing |
Lap 12: 11-Bourdais and 15-Rahal on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 13: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 1.4069 seconds.
Lap 14: 7-Aleshin must give up position to 2-Montoya for blocking 9-Dixon.7
Lap 15: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 1.9710 seconds. 7-Aleshin on pit lane for four tires and fuel.
Lap 17: 10-Kanaan on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 18: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 2.3064 seconds.
Lap 20: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 2.7958 seconds.
Lap 23: 22-Pagenaud leads 28-Hunter-Reay by 5.6846 seconds. 9-Dixon and 2-Montoya on pit road for repairs and service after making contact in Turn 7 on previous lap. 27-Andretti and 18-Daly on pit road
Lap 24: Leaders 22-Pagenaud and 28-Hunter-Reay on pit road for four tires and fuel. Leader on course is 3-Castroneves.
Lap 25: 3-Castroneves and 20-Pigot on pit road for four tires and fuel. Pagenaud maintains the lead.
Lap 26: 22-Pagenaud leads 10-Kanaan by 4.4876 seconds. 41-Hawksworth and 98-Rossi on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 28: 22-Pagenaud leads 10-Kanaan by 2.3232 seconds.
Lap 29: 27-Andretti on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 30: 22-Pagenaud leads 10-Kanaan by 1.5351 seconds. 7-Aleshin on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 32: 14-Sato on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 33: 22-Pagenaud leads 10-Kanaan by 0.5111 of a second. 11-Bourdais, 26-Munoz, 2-Montoya on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 34: 83-Kimball and 15-Rahal on pit road for four tires and fuel. YELLOW. 2-Montoya makes contact with the barrier in Turn 9. Car finally comes to rest with damage in Turn 10. Pits are closed. Leaders under caution are: 22-Pagenaud 10-Kanaan 3-Castroneves 28-Hunter-Reay, 12-Power.
Lap 36: Pits are open. 10-Kanaan on pit lane for four tires and fuel. 27-Andretti and 98-Rossi also on pit road for debris.
Lap 38: GREEN. 22-Pagenaud leads the field into Turn 1.
Lap 40: Lead change: 3-Castroneves takes leads from 22-Pagenaud in Turn 4. It is the fifth race that Castroneves has led this season.
Lap 44: 3-Castroneves leads 22-Pagenaud by 1.9024 seconds.
Lap 47: 3-Castroneves leads 22-Pagenaud by 1.3859 seconds. 18-Daly on pit lane for four tires and fuel.
Lap 48: 41-Hawksworth, 21-Newgarden and 27-Andretti on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 49: 22-Pagenaud, 28-Hunter-Reay, 12-Power, 9-Dixon, 14-Sato and 10-Kanaan on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 50: YELLOW. 41-Hawksworth stopped on the backstretch. Pits are closed. Leaders under caution are: 3, 11, 83, 15 and 7.
Lap 51: Pits are open. Leader, 3-Castroneves, 26-Munoz and 7-Aleshin on pit lane for four tires and fuel. New leader is 11-Bourdais who did not stop.
Lap 52: GREEN. 11-Bourdais leads the field into Turn 1.
Lap 55: 11-Bourdais leads 83-Kimball by 1.2586 seconds.
Lap 58: 11-Bourdais leads 83-Kimball by 4.4274 seconds.
Lap 59: Leader, 11-Bourdais and 83-Kimball, on pit road. New leader is 15-Rahal.
Lap 60: Leader, 15-Rahal, on pit road. New leader is 98-Rossi.
Lap 61: Leader, 98-Rossi, on pit road. New leader is 12-Power.
Lap 63: 12-Power leads 22-Pagenaud by 1.4338 seconds.
Lap 65: 12-Power leads 22-Pagenaud by 1.6185 seconds.
Lap 67: 12-Power leads 22-Pagenaud by 1.6820 seconds.
Lap 69: WHITE: 12-Power leads 22-Pagenaud by 1.2074 seconds.
Lap 70: CHECKERED: 12-Power wins Chevrolet Dual in Detroit Race #2 by 0.9203 of a second.
Quotes
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| Power Celebrates |
| Michael L. Levitt/LAT for Chevy |
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "A silly racing incident ruined our day. The Arrow Electronics car had a reasonable start. Charlie Kimball and Carlos Munoz were going at it and we were just victims of circumstance there. So, there's not a whole lot to say. When you start back there, you open yourself up to stuff like that. In the future, we will focus on making sure we don't start back there: start up front, finish up front like we should and that way we're not back in the mess. It's just an unfortunate missed opportunity because the car was quick all weekend and we've got two races with very little to show for it. I'm gutted for the guys and everyone at Arrow but if we know how to do one thing, it's come back, so we will be back at Texas next week stronger than ever."
MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Honda): "Another disappointing day for us here in Detroit. I think the SMP Racing and DOOM car was good, good enough to fight for the top 10, but we just had some bad luck with my seat belts at the end. We're just going to put this weekend behind us and get ready for Texas."
MAX CHILTON (No. 8 Gallagher Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): "I'm not sure what happened out there at the start but it's a shame our day ended so quickly. We were planning on taking our time at the start and just getting the Gallagher car through cleanly, but that didn't happen. The car remained on the course for the race so we'll have to wait until it gets back to look over the data and see exactly what went wrong."
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): "We just didn't have a good day today finishing fifth with Team Target. Helio (Castroneves) just smashed into us on the start and put us into the wall. We lost a ton of track position after that. I didn't see the replay with the contact with Juan (Pablo Montoya) but I tried to give him room while getting to the corner. That obviously gave us a puncture and dropped us a ways back. But after the hit I took from Helio at the start I could turn right pretty well, but I just couldn't turn left and it's hard to move up in the race obviously like that."
TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): "Today was just another race where a yellow really screwed up our strategy. Right when we were planning on coming in for our second stop of the race, the yellow came out and we weren't able to make it in. We ended up having to come in under yellow which put us toward the back of the field and we had to take the restart in 17th. We did catch a break on the last yellow when we were already in the pits when the yellow came out, but it wasn't enough to cycle us back through to the top. I thought the No. 10 NTT Data Chevrolet definitely had a chance at a podium and would've been up there if our strategy would've played out the way we wanted it, but you never know here in Detroit."
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 11 Team Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing Chevrolet): "I have mixed feelings. We put on quite a show. The Hydroxycut machine was on it. It was a little bit like yesterday when we had to turn it up and in clear air it was about as fantastic as it gets. Unfortunately, what gave us the win yesterday, took it away today. When that yellow came out it was game over. We knew it, but we still soldiered on and put on the best drive that I have had in quite a while. It felt like back in the Champ Car days, to be honest, where the car was so hooked up it was just about my own limit and that is a very cool feeling. But, we only had six gallons left in the car after the restart and that was not enough even though we had the pace and were pulling away, it wasn't enough to recover from the late caution so we cycled back to eighth. From 12th to eighth, we'll take it."
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "The guys did a great job in the pits, got me out in front of the 28 (Ryan Hunter-Reay), then obviously on the restart, I thought, 'I've really got to capitalize here, otherwise, we're not going to win.' I went down outside. But I've got to thank Verizon, thank the fans. It's been a long time since the No. 12 has been in victory lane so I'm very happy for the whole Verizon crew." (On it being a year since going to victory lane); "It just gives the whole crew some confidence. I think we've all kind of been stumbling a little bit, the whole group of us. It's been a tough start to the year. I missed the first race and just had a few mishaps, you know, and now we're there." (On the risk of pushing on the restart); "It wasn't a big risk because it was on the outside. Had I tried to go on the inside, it would have been a much bigger risk. I wasn't willing to take that with Simon (Pagenaud) because he's the championship leader. So, if I was going to do it, I had to do it on the outside and cleanly. There was a space and I went for it."
TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): "Qualifying didn't work out for us this morning. I enjoy the rain but not in qualifying and our group was a tough one. Started mid-pack and at start I got hit from behind. I stalled the engine and lost a wing and a rear tire. Fortunately, we didn't lose a lap and the guys did a good job to replace both on two consecutive stops. We worked our way through the field. The car was competitive but we're missing something because it was inconsistent which was difficult. Glad to get a top 10 after the start but it's frustrating because at one stage we were looking good and the strategy was good but it was a difficult race."
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 United Rentals Honda): "Right away on the first lap off the grid the brake line came loose, so we came in to fix that and I didn't get to take the start, which is frustrating. That was pretty much the tone of our day, a whole bunch of bad luck. Right when we were looking like we were back in contention, it went yellow for (Jack) Hawksworth, which killed us because we were on our in-lap for the pits. It is what it is. That pretty much takes us out of contention for the championship for this year so we might as well go have some fun now."
CONOR DALY (No. 18 Jonathan Byrd's Hospitality Honda): "Again, we charged from the back, it goes to show that we've got a great car and this Honda Joanthan Byrd's/ Cancer Treatment Center of America machine is good for racing, it's just that I hate to be made to start so far back. Makes you think what could've been. All in all, a great weekend just for points, just to get back on the board after the disaster at Indy so a nice bit of momentum going to Texas."
GABBY CHAVES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): "We got a good start but then someone hit us in the rear of the car so we lost a lot of positions on track, fixing our rear wing. After that I don't know if maybe we had some mechanical damage or what went wrong but I didn't feel comfortable in the car all race and I was really struggling for pace. It was a hard race but we'll see what we can learn and go forward."
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]SPENCER PIGOT (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet): "It was another tough race. The guys made some good calls to gain me positions through a good strategy. I made a mistake battling for position and brushed the wall. Some things got bent in the left rear and I had to come in to get that fixed. By the time we did that, we were a few laps down. I made a mistake that cost us a pretty good result, but I think overall we made a lot of improvements throughout the weekend. I'm just really happy to be part of ECR and I'm looking forward to the next one."
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 21 Preferred Freezer/Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet): "It was a good day. I love being here in Detroit and racing at this track, it's a challenging place with all the bumps. It's a lot of fun to wrestle Indy cars here, they're hard to keep off the walls! We had a great car with Preferred Freezer and Fuzzy's Vodka, ECR worked really hard this weekend. I'm happy with what we did, I would have liked to have had a win but you can't get them all."
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet): "I tell you (Will Power) made a great pass and he was very aggressive on the restart. I didn't feel comfortable on cold tires – a really good car on long runs but I struggled on cold tires. He saw it and took his chance and that's how you win races. At that point you've got to be smart and think about the big picture. Congratulations to him. There was no point in colliding and trying too hard. I tried at the end – we had some push-to-pass left. The HP car was really competitive all day but I'll take second. I think it's a really good points day for us. Very happy for Roger (Penske) with a 1-2 finish – they put so much effort into making this event possible, so thanks to the Penske organization and I'm really happy for the whole team."
CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 26 Magneti Marelli Honda): "This was another race where the yellows didn't help us at all with our strategy, and we lost a little bit of pace compared to yesterday so we will have to see what happened. This kind of race was all about strategy. We will move to the next (race) with Texas and hope for a good weekend."
MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 United Fiber & Data/Snapple Honda): "It was a brutal weekend for us in Detroit. That last yellow today helped, but we need to improve our pace. We have to settle for a top 10 and turn that into a Texas win next week."
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "You just have to (maintain focus with so many strategies) and over the years you learn to just keep your head down and keep fighting no matter what. It doesn't matter where you are because your strategy may be the one that pays off in the end so it's a bit of a bummer to come out with a third. But it was nice to have a day where nothing really wrong happens. That's all I've been looking for lately – just let's just have a day where I don't need luck. Just no bad luck. It's nice to be top Honda today but we're here to win. There at the end, had we had a track position, we might have been able to do it. It's a solid finish for sure, we had a pretty decent car today. I was pushing as hard as I could. Congratulations to Team Penske this weekend, they've just been pretty much untouchable. They just had the pace and there's only so much I could do about it. I was getting every last bit out of (the car). It's great to get that No. 28 DHL Honda up to the podium after such a heartbreaking end to the Indy 500 for us."
JACK HAWKSWORTH (No. 41 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Honda): "I was having a lot of fun out there. The pace of the car was really good, I could close in on guys and run decent. I felt I had one of my best races going even though I didn't have the fastest car, but we had good in and out laps, good passes and it was fun. In the end the driveshaft broke but I was having a lot of fun."
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet): "It was a disappointing day for Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Team. The No. 83 Tresiba Chevrolet was definitely better than a 16th-place finish. We got caught out by a yellow on that last stop. It's really unfortunate with the pits closed – you're just kind of racing to the luck of a yellow flag. We just missed it a little bit today. It's disappointing, but we'll come back stronger in Texas. I'm excited about getting back to Texas where we finished seventh last year and had a really good test earlier in the year."
ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Honda): "We had a broken front wing at the start – that didn't help us at all. I think generally the pace was good, we had to make up a lot of time with having to change the front wing. The biggest thing we need to understand is why it takes us so long to come up to speed on cold tires. That's something we need to address. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to racing in Texas next week."
Results
| Pos | No | Name | Laps | Diff | Gap | FTime | Led | ST | FSpeed | Engine |
| 1 | 12 | Will Power | 70 | 0.0000s | 0.0000s | 1:15.401 | 10 | 8 | 112.199 | Chevy |
| 2 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud | 70 | 0.9203 | 0.9203 | 1:15.352 | 40 | 1 | 112.273 | Chevy |
| 3 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 70 | 1.4711 | 0.5508 | 1:15.164 | 2 | 112.554 | Honda | |
| 4 | 21 | Josef Newgarden | 70 | 2.4602 | 0.9891 | 1:14.557 | 17 | 113.471 | Chevy | |
| 5 | 9 | Scott Dixon | 70 | 3.1575 | 0.6973 | 1:14.950 | 4 | 112.876 | Chevy | |
| 6 | 18 | Conor Daly | 70 | 7.1263 | 3.9688 | 1:15.644 | 21 | 111.840 | Honda | |
| 7 | 10 | Tony Kanaan | 70 | 11.3012 | 4.1749 | 1:15.627 | 6 | 111.864 | Chevy | |
| 8 | 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | 70 | 12.9361 | 1.6349 | 1:14.807 | 8 | 12 | 113.091 | Chevy |
| 9 | 27 | Marco Andretti | 70 | 26.4201 | 13.4840 | 1:16.355 | 22 | 110.799 | Honda | |
| 10 | 14 | Takuma Sato | 70 | 27.7105 | 1.2904 | 1:16.034 | 16 | 111.266 | Honda | |
| 11 | 15 | Graham Rahal | 70 | 28.0410 | 0.3305 | 1:15.822 | 1 | 7 | 111.577 | Honda |
| 12 | 98 | Alexander Rossi | 70 | 28.5507 | 0.5097 | 1:15.434 | 1 | 18 | 112.151 | Honda |
| 13 | 19 | Gabby Chaves | 70 | 29.2530 | 0.7023 | 1:16.420 | 15 | 110.704 | Honda | |
| 14 | 3 | Helio Castroneves | 70 | 29.6631 | 0.4101 | 1:15.932 | 10 | 3 | 111.415 | Chevy |
| 15 | 26 | Carlos Munoz | 70 | 30.4879 | 0.8248 | 1:16.346 | 13 | 110.811 | Honda | |
| 16 | 83 | Charlie Kimball | 70 | 30.6922 | 0.2043 | 1:15.886 | 11 | 111.482 | Chevy | |
| 17 | 7 | Mikhail Aleshin | 69 | 69.2341 | 38.7468 | 1:14.889 | 5 | 112.967 | Honda | |
| 18 | 20 | Spencer Pigot | 66 | 3 LAPS | 2 LAPS | 1:16.815 | 20 | 110.135 | Chevy | |
| 19 | 41 | Jack Hawksworth | 48 | 20.0004 | 0.8538 | 1:16.652 | 9 | 110.368 | Honda | |
| 20 | 2 | Juan Pablo Montoya | 33 | 23.1055 | 0.9521 | 1:16.174 | 10 | 111.062 | Chevy | |
| 21 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe | — | 1.4771 | 0.0157 | 2:08.438 | 14 | 65.868 | Honda | |
| 22 | 8 | Max Chilton | — | 2.2121 | 0.3063 | 2:04.413 | 19 | 67.999 | Chevy |
Fastest Lap: Josef Newgarden Lap 69 1m14.557s
Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 96.414
Time of Race: 1:42:22.2672
Margin of victory: 0.9203 of a second
Cautions: 3 for 9 laps
Lead changes: 5 among 6 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Pagenaud 1-40
Castroneves 41-50
Bourdais 51-58
Rahal 59
Rossi 60
Power 61-70
Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Pagenaud 357, Dixon 277, Castroneves 271, Newgarden 259, Rossi 242, Munoz 242, Power 240, Kanaan 240, Montoya 233, Kimball 227.