IndyCar: Sunday Morning from Detroit, Rossi tops morning warm-up

Alexander Rossi in his #27 NAPA Honda topped the morning warm up for today’s Detroit GP IndyCar race, the final race on Belle Isle before the race moves downtown in 2023.

Honda-powered cars swept the top-7 times.

Pos	No	Name	Time	Diff	Gap	Speed	Engine	Team
1	27	Alexander Rossi	1:15.5816	0.000s	0.000s	111.932	Honda	Andretti Autosport
2	8	Marcus Ericsson	1:15.9213	0.3397	0.3397	111.431	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
3	9	Scott Dixon	1:15.9755	0.3939	0.0542	111.352	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
4	30	Christian Lundgaard	1:16.1116	0.5300	0.1361	111.153	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
5	10	Alex Palou	1:16.1747	0.5931	0.0631	111.060	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
6	60	Simon Pagenaud	1:16.1838	0.6022	0.0091	111.047	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
7	26	Colton Herta	1:16.3035	0.7219	0.1197	110.873	Honda	Andretti Autosport w/Curb-Agajanian
8	5	Pato O’Ward	1:16.4047	0.8231	0.1012	110.726	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
9	15	Graham Rahal	1:16.7595	1.1779	0.3548	110.214	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
10	7	Felix Rosenqvist	1:16.7702	1.1886	0.0107	110.199	Chevy	Arrow McLaren SP
11	21	Rinus VeeKay	1:16.8460	1.2644	0.0758	110.090	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
12	28	Romain Grosjean	1:16.8628	1.2812	0.0168	110.066	Honda	Andretti Autosport
13	51	Takuma Sato	1:17.2420	1.6604	0.3792	109.526	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing w/RWR
14	06	Helio Castroneves	1:17.3837	1.8021	0.1417	109.325	Honda	Meyer Shank Racing
15	29	Devlin DeFrancesco	1:17.4347	1.8531	0.0510	109.253	Honda	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport
16	20	Conor Daly	1:17.4380	1.8564	0.0033	109.249	Chevy	Ed Carpenter Racing
17	12	Will Power	1:17.4521	1.8705	0.0141	109.229	Chevy	Team Penske
18	18	David Malukas	1:17.5398	1.9582	0.0877	109.105	Honda	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD
19	14	Kyle Kirkwood	1:17.5480	1.9664	0.0082	109.094	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
20	2	Josef Newgarden	1:17.6678	2.0862	0.1198	108.925	Chevy	Team Penske
21	3	Scott McLaughlin	1:17.8730	2.2914	0.2052	108.638	Chevy	Team Penske
22	77	Santino Ferrucci	1:18.5049	2.9233	0.6319	107.764	Chevy	Juncos Hollinger Racing
23	45	Jack Harvey	1:19.1576	3.5760	0.6527	106.875	Honda	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
24	48	Jimmie Johnson	1:19.3103	3.7287	0.1527	106.670	Honda	Chip Ganassi Racing
25	4	Dalton Kellett	1:19.4306	3.8490	0.1203	106.508	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises
26	11	Tatiana Calderon	1:19.6684	4.0868	0.2378	106.190	Chevy	AJ Foyt Enterprises

June 5, 2022

Good morning from the final NTT INDYCAR Series race from Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, after 30 races in this location since 1992. The weather today might be wet for the warm-up at 10:15 am, but not around race time. It has been lightly raining this morning. Temperatures are expected to reach 72 degrees by the scheduled race green flag at 3:45 pm.

The starting grid is a bit shuffled today. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon, 2022 race winner Colton Herta and 2016 Indy 500 winner Alexander Rossi were prevented from their final attempt to advance to the Firestone Fast Six when Romain Grosjean crashed in the final seconds of the second round of qualifying yesterday. All three of these drivers were having good runs, but that session ended with a checkered and red flag which prevented them from posting a faster lap.

Grosjean’s No. 28 Zapata/DHL Andretti Autosport entry clipped the barrier inside Turn 12, breaking a toe link in the suspension and causing the car to spin and make contact with the barrier on the outside of the corner. Grosjean was unhurt, but the car suffered heavy damage. He was cleared to drive by the IndyCar medical staff.

Kyle Kirkwood. Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens

Kyle Kirkwood will start 15th as his eventful weekend continues. He led practice Friday, but his No. 14 ROKiT/AJ FOYT RACING entry nosed into the tire barrier in Turn 7 after side-to-side contact with Malukas during practice Saturday morning.

The shunt into the tire barrier was caused by a mechanical issue and resulted in Kirkwood missing most of the Saturday’s practice session. He sustained a sprain to his right hand but was able to make it out for qualifying four hours later.

Josef Newgarden. Penske Entertainment: Chris Owens

The alternative tires might be an issue for this race. Even though Firestone creates a compound for this 80% concrete track, the red (alternative) tires were not the favorite tire from last year’s races. But the temperatures were also in the 90s last year.

Josef Newgarden, the Team Penske polesitter, told the media his thoughts on the alternative tire usage during the race.

“I think it’s going to be a similar case to last year where we learned it was difficult to understand whether you should take your medicine early or late. Seems like the red tires are more fragile. So it makes it interesting. Do you want durability or do you want a little speed to start the race? I think we will get that equation in a better spot than last year. We got pipped at the very end of the race, but we can do the job.”

It is disappointing to think we will not race again in this beautiful park, which is someplace to explore if you ever visit Detroit. It definitely will surprise you with all the different attractions inside.

Stay tuned to AR1 for race day updates.

Lucille Dust reporting live from Belle Isle in Detroit