Castroneves gives Penske clean sweep in Detroit

Helio Castroneves drives to victory

Phillip Abbott/LAT for Chevy Racing

Helio Castroneves had the fastest car on Saturday but the yellows did not fall his way while his teammate Will Power drove to victory. On Sunday Castroneves was not to be denied as he went on to win the 2nd race of the Detroit GP doubleheader by pulling away from Power in the closing laps to give team owner and race promoter Roger Penske a 1-2 finish and a clean sweep of the Verizon IndyCar weekend.

After starting third in the Hitachi sponsored Chevy, Castroneves drove to his 29th IndyCar victory and was back to his fence climbing antics where it all started in CART, right here in Detroit and AutoRacing1.com was there.

AutoRacing1.com was there in 2000 when Castroneves first climbed a fence after winning the CART Detroit GP

"We came out with the Hitachi car spot on," said Castroneves, whose crew joined him on a fence climb after the win.

A week earlier, Castroneves was gutted after falling 0.0600 of a second short of winning his fourth Indianapolis 500 Mile Race.

"It just made us hungry," he said. "Here I am in Victory Circle — where I won my first race — and it's just awesome. I want to win this championship."

Charlie Kimball came home third after a late pass attempt by James Hinchcliffe saw Hinch brush the barriers and fall back to 5th behind Scott Dixon who started dead last and came all through the field to finish 4th.

"A huge credit to the Target team coming from dead last to fourth. That's a huge accomplishment," said Dixon, the reigning series champion. "Overall, a good day and the team did a good job on strategy."

Power came back from an early penalty to finish 2nd.

After aborted an start the race got underway with polesitter Takuma Sato in the lead. But that did not last long. Will Power and Josef Newgarden touched going into turn 3 sending Newgarden into the barriers while collecting Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson. This brought out a full course caution with Sato leading Castroneves and Hinchcliffe.

Power was assessed a drive through penalty for avoidable contact but good pit stop strategy and a fast race car enabled him to drive to the front.

For pole sitter Takuma Sato, Race 2 of the Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix was more of a bumper car race. Twice he was punted from behind as he was making his way through the field. The pole winner took off at the start and was cruising when the race was slowed by two full course yellows – the first coming on lap one and the second on lap 10.

With the second yellow, the team decided to pit Sato to get him off of the softer compound alternate tires which were showing wear early. He lost a several spots due to stopping long in the pit box but the team still got him out in 10.3 seconds.

Due to the full course cautions, several fuel strategies were in play. He worked his way back to third before having to pit on lap 30. The ABC crew serviced him in 7.1 seconds, but he dropped from third to 13th as the different fuel strategies surfaced. On lap 35, he was challenging Sebastien Bourdais for 12th when Ryan Briscoe tried to make it three wide by going up the middle in Turn 3 and punting Sato into a spin. Sato never stalled but he lost six spots and a lot of track position.

Although furious that Briscoe wasn’t penalized for avoidable contact, Sato maintained his composure and soldiered on. He pitted 11 laps later and the ABC crew turned in a 6.79-second stop which allowed Sato to gain a spot on the track and move into 15th as cars began pitting. By lap 49, he was in 12th and again chasing Bourdais. He moved into 11th on lap 59 when Bourdais hit the wall which brought out another full course caution.

Sato set his sights on 10th place Tony Kanaan when the green flag waved but then Marco Andretti punted Sato into the wall in Turn 5 a lap later. Sato was restarted by the safety team and nursed the car for the final six laps to finish a disappointing 18th. Officials issued Andretti a stop and go penalty which dropped him from 11th to 16th.

Next on the schedule is the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday, June 7, 2014.

QUOTES

Castroneves is still climbing fences

F. Peirce Williams/LAT for Chevy Racing

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: “We came out with the Hitachi car. Spot on. I mean yesterday it was a frustration, obviously. Great that (Team Penske) won but a frustration for our side because we knew what car we had and we demonstrated it today. I want to thank Hitachi obviously, Shell, Pennzoil. It was great. Also AAA, SKF, Verizon. Especially Chevy, man. This is the land of Chevy and we made it. Two! That was great. I’m so happy for Team Penske."

YOU CLIMBED THE FENCE HERE 13 YEARS AGO, WHAT’S IT LIKE TO CLIMB IT AGAIN TODAY? “It is just as good as the first one. I will tell you; this crowd is awesome, the car was amazing, and Roger did a fantastic job with the strategy. I want to thank Hitachi, SKF, Chevrolet, Shell-Pennzoil, Meijer, and all our sponsors because this is just absolutely amazing to be here. We have so many friends here and it’s just awesome. The Hitachi Chevrolet was just so fast man. I feel like I missed an opportunity yesterday but it was perfect strategy today and Roger is one of the best at setting strategy for these race."

YOU HAD CHECKED OUT ON THE FIELD BUT WHEN THAT CAUTION CAME OUT, WAS THERE ANY DOUBT YOU COULD DO IT? “I had everything under control. I told Roger and he was telling me the times of the gaps between 2nd and 3rd place and I said, ‘no worries, I’m fine, I’m good and I am just taking it easy’. We got through all the obstacles and saved it all for the end. We had push to pass, we had fresher tires and we had everything. Wow, I am just so pumped."

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: ON THE TEAM PENSKE ONE-TWO FINISH: “Because of Roger (Penske), I definitely wasn’t going to race him hard. Unless (Helio Castroneves) made a mistake, I wasn’t going to go for a move unless I was close. A great day for Chevy, Roger at his home track and Chevy’s backyard. Just fantastic."

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “I knew that I had no overtakes left and he had one overtake left going down the back straight and that was his last best opportunity, so I defended into the inside. When he got alongside me we went into the corner side-by-side. It’s so hard because as much as the Firestones marbled today when you were offline. You really start sliding around. It caught Scott out and I was able to take advantage of that. So I knew if I could put (James Hinchcliffe) offline at the apex then I could get the drive out of the corner and hold onto the line. It was nice I was able to help Hinch enough that Scott would be able to come through and for Chip Ganassi Racing to end up third and fourth."

MIKE CONWAY (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): “Starting on the black tires was a good move today. I was able to get pass several guys early. But, to be honest, Hinch (James Hinchcliffe) had power off the corners even with the red tires. And it took me some time to finally get under him in turn 3. I didn’t want to use up all of my ‘overtakes’ too early in the race. That amount of time trying to get by him cost us at the end of the race. The red tires were pretty good for me. They went off a little but I was pushing hard. The right front tire was locking up and it was getting worse. So I decided to pit early for the fresh black tires or I was going to crash. It is tough to pass here and I made some good ones today. At the end, I was pushing every lap like a qualifying lap. And it was fun and we learned some more for the team. I was happy how the car was hooked up. We just didn’t get the yellows to fall our way today. It was fun to push the car as hard as I did today. Just wish for a better result. Now, it’s on to Houston for me next."

MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Honda): “I think my team did a great job today. We had a great three pit stop strategy, and the car was quite good. I had contact with (Juan Pablo) Montoya at the start of the race, but thankfully it wasn’t substantial enough that we had to stop. My suspension was bent slightly after the contact, but I still had speed. I felt like I could really attack out there on the track. Starting 16th and finishing seventh is a great result on a street circuit like this. It’s been a few races since we’ve had a positive result, so we’ll go home feeling happy tonight."

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Peterson Hamilton Motorsports Honda): “Today was much better than yesterday. We had a fast car. I’m a little bit disappointed, though, because I felt like we had a car that could have won today. And unfortunately the two pit stop strategy didn’t play in our favor. We lost a lot of time behind (Will) Power during the middle stint. We were faster, but I couldn’t get by him. I didn’t want to take any chances and crash again racing him. I think a lot of drivers would be happy finishing sixth, but we’re racing to win when we have a fast car. Overall it wasn’t a bad day for us, though. The team had a great recovery from our disappointing finish yesterday. I was happy to carry the bright orange Oculus Transport car to the end of the race today. Now I’m really looking forward to Texas next weekend."

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 Energizer Chevrolet): “We had a decent Energizer car but we really weren’t in the mix today. We had a great result yesterday in the first of the doubleheaders but today they race just didn’t work out the way we wanted it to. On to Texas."

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 17 KV AFS Racing Chevrolet): “I am very disappointed with this early retirement. We had an amazing start and the changes the KV AFS Racing crew did overnight gave the car a very strong race pace. I made a mistake trying to get around Conway. I just got a little bit too close to him, my air was chopped and I got too close to the wall…..it’s my fault. I’m disappointed with myself as I don’t make these types of mistakes, we have kept the car clean all season so this is unacceptable. Time to work towards Texas, we have a very strong car from now on, which makes me very positive. I am looking forward to starting to bring home the results and getting back into the fight for the championship."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 United Fiber & Data Honda): “We were battling for third down the back straight, and (Charlie) Kimball made his car wide; that’s all there was to it. I had to go to the outside. I had gone to the inside, but he didn’t like that, so I went to the outside. He did a good job out-braking me, and I had to lift a bit on the exit there, and (Scott) Dixon got us. Fourth or fifth, it doesn’t really matter – we’re racing for podiums, we’re racing for wins. I have to watch the race and see how it ended there. It was confusing race with all the different strategies and play, but again, the car was really fast. They United Fiber & Data guys were awesome in the pits. Considering how my past races in Detroit have gone, this is hell of a good weekend — two front-row starts and two top six finishes…we’ll take it."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 25 Snapple Honda): “It was one of the longest races of my career; it was a handful. It was loose all day, and it went from terrible to disgusting when we had the penalty, which was my fault. We’ll move on from this and hopefully have better luck with the Snapple Honda next weekend in Texas."

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda): “For this race I was a little bit frustrated because I think we had more than eighth position; our strategy was not optimal, and we were losing positions in pit lane. I think we had enough to finish in the top four. Maybe we weren’t in the fight for the win because the two first cars were really quick, but we gained good points. This race was really just about surviving, it is a shame. Today brought more experience for me, and I am feeling more comfortable and making less mistakes."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “It was a long weekend for the DHL crew. I’ll try to erase this one from my memory and move on to Texas. What put us out was we lost pressure in the shift actuator, so we couldn’t get out of first gear. We started with a puncture and we had to come in…then we were off strategy. We tried saving fuel, then we had to abandon that because it went green in the middle. Nothing we did worked this weekend. We will just move on from these two races and focus on the future."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “A huge credit to the Target team coming from dead last to fourth. That's a huge accomplishment. We had some brake issues on the second to last restart and that cost us in the end. Overall a good day and the team did a good job on strategy."

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 34 Cinsay AndrettiTV.com HVM Honda): “For this race I was a little bit frustrated because I think we had more than eighth position; our strategy was not optimal, and we were losing positions in pit lane. I think we had enough to finish in the top four. Maybe we weren’t in the fight for the win because the two first cars were really quick, but we gained good points. This race was really just about surviving, it is a shame. Today brought more experience for me, and I am feeling more comfortable and making less mistakes."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): “It was a long weekend for the DHL crew. I’ll try to erase this one from my memory and move on to Texas. What put us out was we lost pressure in the shift actuator, so we couldn’t get out of first gear. We started with a puncture and we had to come in…then we were off strategy. We tried saving fuel, then we had to abandon that because it went green in the middle. Nothing we did worked this weekend. We will just move on from these two races and focus on the future."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “A huge credit to the Target team coming from dead last to fourth. That's a huge accomplishment. We had some brake issues on the second to last restart and that cost us in the end. Overall a good day and the team did a good job on strategy."

JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): “Someone stuffed it in there and was stopped and I just ran into the back of him," said Wilson of the first lap incident. “The car felt bent, and from that point on it was just about trying to get to the finish. For a while there I thought we could get a decent result, but it’s just hard on the restarts when things aren’t tracking straight. It’s a disappointing result today, but we’ll just have to keep working on it. Yesterday we were in the right place at the right time and today we were in the wrong place at the wrong time every single time."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 14 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Honda): "First I'd like to thank the whole team – everyone did a tremendous job. It wasn't an easy weekend to start. We had the misfortune yesterday of a mechanical failure which stopped us from racing but we learned a lot and came back very strong. This morning's qualifying I enjoyed so much. I was able to commit 100% & the car reacted so well. In the race, the start was smooth and all was looking good. On the first stop we lost a couple places. The fuel strategy was split because of the early yellow but I still moved up to effectively the 2nd position & Briscoe hit me under braking in Turn 3. That was our race. We moved up to almost top 10 & Marco hit me & that time I hit the wall. We finished the race but it was a bitter feeling. But the guys did a great job today."

CARLOS HUERTAS (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "Today was a difficult race for me and I feel a bit frustrated with how low we finished. I was running strong in fifth and then as the pit stops cycled through I ended up further back in the field. When you get put back in the field in a race like this it is hard to make up positions. If things would have gone a bit differently, I could have finished in the top ten again today. Now we just have to look to the next race and try to improve next time."

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Hartman Oil/Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): "It's a shame getting booted in Turn 3 at the start there. Not what we needed to have happen on a day like this. We had a strong car, everyone did a great job bouncing back from yesterday and trying to redeem ourselves from my mishap in Race 1 and then we got caught out with something that wasn't our fault. IndyCar racing is tough, it's a difficult series right now, everyone is so close but it's a shame when you get caught up in something that's not your fault and it takes you out on a day like today. Especially having two in a row….Our race was ruined. We couldn't do anything. We did everything we could to get our lap back but nothing really worked. It's too difficult around a place like Detroit…. For us as a group we have to keep pushing. We have a great team, sponsors, supporters, ownership. We just have to keep moving forward and I think we're going to have some good success soon."

RYAN BRISCOE (No. 8 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet): “We had a great starting position for the second dual but the race just didn’t play out the way we needed it to. I think we pit at the right times and made the best calls we could given the way the yellow flags came out, but that’s just the way it works sometimes. The racing was fast and extremely competitive like it always is and that just goes to show you how difficult it is to be up front here in the IndyCar Series right now."

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): “We were really looking forward to a better qualifying effort than that with the No. 2 Verizon Chevy. Will (Power) showed us yesterday that you can win from anywhere in the field, so we have no reason to panic. Just need to have a good game plan going into the race."

Results

Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 93.211
Time of Race: 01:45:53.3410
Margin of victory: 1.6836
Cautions: 4 for 13 laps
Lead changes: 7 among 7 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Sato 1 – 10
Hinchcliffe 11 – 20
Conway 21 -24
Power 25 – 26
Aleshin 27
Castroneves 28 – 33
Hawksworth 34
Castroneves 35 – 70

VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES POINT STANDINGS
1 Will Power 326
2 Helio Castroneves 307
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay 299
4 Simon Pagenaud 247
5 Marco Andretti 227
6 Carlos Munoz (R) 210
7 Juan Pablo Montoya 187
8 Scott Dixon 184
9 Justin Wilson 173
10 Sebastien Bourdais 170

SUNOCO ROOKIE OF THE YEAR STANDINGS
1 Carlos Munoz 210
2 Jack Hawksworth 141
3 Mikhail Aleshin 137
4 Carlos Huertas 132
5 Kurt Busch 80
6 Sage Karam 57
7 James Davison 34
8 Martin Plowman 18