Scott Dixon cruises to easy win in 2nd Detroit GP

Scott Dixon

From last to first in 24-hours. Saturday Scott Dixon crashed in Race 1 of the Detroit GP doubleheader and finished last. On Sunday his Ganassi Racing team called a perfect strategy and Scott Dixon drove a perfect race to win the 2nd half of the Detroit GP doubleheader in his Honda.

After a late caution to fetch the crashed car of Felix Rosenqvist, Dixon got a jump on 2nd place Marcus Ericsson and led the rest of the way for the victory going away for his 45th career win.

Ericsson's #7 SPM Honda finished 2nd ahead of Will Power's #12 Penske Chevy.

Andretti Honda teammates Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi rounded out the top-5.

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OH BOY OH BOY OH BOY was THAT fun! Passing, crashing, backmarkers coming to the front… and redemption. Everything a F1 fan could only dream of in an entire season, all in one race here in IndyCar!!!

Unlike yesterday, the Michigan weather was nearly perfect for today's race. Blue skies, fluffy clouds, mid-70's air temps. Track officials spent some time removing the remaining rain water from the tire barriers after the TransAm race (finishing a major rebuild of turn 12 only 5 minutes before the start of the race!) but beyond that… Penske Perfect. Today's attendance was up over last year's second day (the first day suffered due to the rain).

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Lap 1 — yes, if you start a street course race 2-wide, you're gonna see an accident. And of course we did, in turn 3, when the back half of the field stacked up. Tony Kanaan was out of the race, Pato O'Ward went one lap down (ruining an otherwise strong effort) but most importantly of all, Simon Pagenaud's car was stuck in first gear. The team thrashed on the machine, returning 12 laps down — but still finishing ahead of Penske team mate Josef Newgarden who ran into his own troubles (more on that later).

There were several cars that were able to run after the crash though — Will Power, for instance, soldiered on and finished third, the best of the Penskes today in spite of wing damage, toe damage, and the need to reboot the system on lap 5. Felix Rosenqvist ran in the top five until he crashed out later in the race.

Marco Andretti was also involved in the wreck, but was able to motor off. Marco had a strong run — the strongest in a number of races — and finished 6th. "It's still only 6th" he told me — but he was grinning ear to ear as he got out of the car. Greeted by hugs and handshakes and a visit from dad after the race, it's clear that they think they finally have traction, something to build on. "I had the car to do it today" he said, but the team was equally complimentary of Marco's drive.

After the crash, many teams that started on red tires quickly went to the blacks for the rest of race. Restarting the race, Scott Dixon and Spencer Pigot lead the pack (still on their red tires), followed by Will Power, Santino Ferrucci and Graham Rahal on the standard black tires.

A couple of notes about Santino and Graham… Santino started 17th, and finished 10th, but in the middle managed to lead 20 laps. A mistimed caution flag put him back in the field — "We were bringing him in on the next lap" commented team owner Dale Coyne — but he showed some flashes of excellence. Coyne figured that he had a 6th place car today. Graham started shotgun on the field after gear box problems took him out of qualifying, but finished a strong 7th. Certainly the team was happy with the results given the starting position.

Sebastien Bourdais went airbourne when he rammed the back the Spencer Pigot as Pigot struggled to get onto pit lane

The green flag fell on lap 8, but by lap 14 the tires for both Scott Dixon and Spencer Pigot (running 1-2 respectively) were starting to give up. Both overrode their manager's wishes to come in, but Pigot was rear-ended by Sebastian Bourdais as he slowed for pit entrance. Bourdais' car got airborne — "He should get frequent flyer miles" said Dale Coyne — and Pigot's day was over. Pigot finished 21st. Bourdais team managed to repair the damage and keep him on the lead lap, and was in the middle of the mix for the rest of the day, finishing 9th.

Green flew again on lap 20 with Ferrucci and Rahal in the lead. They hadn't pitted yet, and were rolling the dice that they'd get a favorable caution. Josef Newgarden, Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe lead a pack with only 2 less miles on their tires. Scott Dixon, had far fewer miles. Better yet, Dixon had fulfilled his alternative (red) tire obligation, and was good to go. Others still needed to use them, and the evidence was clear that after 10 or so laps the car would become drastically slower. By virtue of good luck, and an alternate pit strategy, Dixon was now in the cat bird's seat.

And it was in the midst of the red tire changes that the next big incident took place. James Hinchcliffe pitted on lap 33, and came out of the pits directly in front of Alexander Rossi and Josef Newgarden who were fighting for position and, it was assumed, the win. They split Hinchcliffe, both got into marbles, and both spun, taking out Hinchcliffe in the process (Hinchcliffe didn't touch either one of them until they hit him!). Hinch and Newgarden were locked in the tire barriers, with Rossi continuing on. Hinchcliffe finished 18th after his battered car gave up the ghost later on in the race. Newgarden came back out to the track to try to gain positions for points and finished 19th. Rossi finished 5th, between team mates Ryan Hunter-Reay and of course Marco Andretti.

The green flag flew with Scott Dixon in the lead, followed by Marcus Ericsson, Takuma Sato, Hunter-Reay and Marco. And so it went until lap 55, when Hinchcliffe's car gave up the ghost on the track. During that time Marcus Ericsson took the lead for 2 laps, the first time he'd lead an IndyCar race.

When 11 to go the green flew again the order was Dixon, Ericsson, Power, RHR, Rossi, and Marco. The green didn't last long as Felix Rosenqvist's otherwise strong run came to a grinding halt in turn 1. TV coverage showed Marcus' steering wheel was crooked all the way down the front stretch prior to that, so he'd obviously hit the wall prior to that. Felix was okay, but finished 16th.

More importantly, IndyCar decided to red flag the race so that the race would finish (hopefully) under green flag conditions. It shouldn't have bothered… Other than Sato losing a few positions, the race finished pretty much the same. Dixon's crew took a swim in the fountain (which only flows due to the efforts of the Penske folks) and talked about redemption after the race.

"Today was all about redemption," said Dixon, adding he felt like "an idiot" for crashing by himself in Saturday's race. "The team nailed the strategy, the car was super-fast. We were able to get the mileage we needed to, which was going to be really tough, with the exception of those last couple cautions.

"I can't believe we ended up here today and it's just fantastic. Fantastic."

"It was amazing, my first podium since 2013 (in GP2), and you just have to thank the whole team at Arrow SPM," Ericsson said. "They work so hard all year and we had so much bad luck, and I've done mistakes when we've been looking really good. So, to finally get a result like this and be on the podium, I think is a great reward for all of the hard work. Now, I think we can build on this."

Newgarden, who won Saturday's race, started on pole Sunday but came together in Turn 3 with James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi in a battle for position on Lap 33. Sustaining damage to the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet that necessitated repairs, Newgarden wound up 21 laps behind the leaders.

Despite the outcome, Newgarden retained the points lead after eight of 17 races. The 2017 series champion is 15 points up on Rossi, who finished fifth Sunday in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS Honda, and 25 points ahead of Pagenaud.

Quotes

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 2 Fitzgerald Team Penske Chevrolet): "(James Hinchcliffe) checked me up and I had to go down a gear and then we were in a bad situation with (Alexander) Rossi behind us. I can't blame anyone. It's my fault, it's ultimately my fault with the way this happened. I thought (Hinchcliffe) didn't have to come straight across the track and I got held up. It's still my fault; I should have made a better decision there. Obviously, it's not the right thing that I did, and that's on me. I feel bad, and it hurts in the moment. I feel sorry for my guys, sorry for my team, sorry to Chevrolet. We had a good day yesterday and thought we were going to have a good day today. I actually thought we were fine and then I picked up too much marbles on the inside, and (that lane) was too slick and as soon as I tried to turn the rear, I lost the rear. I just picked up too much debris. It's a mistake. I should have analyzed that a little better, should have gone left (around Hinchcliffe), not right. It's on me."

MATHEUS LEIST (No. 4 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet): "We had a problem with the car from the beginning and we don't know what it is. We have to go through the data and find out. It's a shame for the team and myself. Look forward to Texas."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "The Detroit weekend for the No. 5 Arrow car had promising pace, but no result to show for it. Yesterday, we kept our nose clean in the rain, but guys that made mistakes caught a lucky yellow, so that one was tough, as well, with some fast racing. Today, we were legitimately running for the win. The Arrow car was solid. We got two guys in the first round of stops, got into the lead on our strategy in the second round of stops, and ultimately, was taken out by a guy with not enough patience. I feel gutted for the guys who were legitimate contenders for the race. The podium was in the cards and we really needed that right now. We needed a good result to boost us up. The pace is up. One of these days, our luck is going to change and we'll find ourselves in the top step."

MARCUS ERICSSON (No. 7 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "It was amazing, my first podium since 2013 and you just have to thank the whole team at Arrow SPM. They work so hard all year and we had so much bad luck, and I've done mistakes when we've been looking really good. So, to finally get a result like this and be on the podium, I think is a great reward for all of the hard work. Now, I think we can build on this."

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "Most of it was just trying to keep track temp, or temp in the tires. It was such a tricky situation, especially on the blacks (Firestone primary tires). When they had a few laps on them, it just felt like they picked up the concrete. I can't thank the PNC Bank crew enough. It was a tough day yesterday. I had a pretty good headache and my wrist was pretty sore after that one (yesterday's crash). I just drove the wheels off it and they did all the strategy, and the strategy is what nailed it. So I can't believe we've ended up here today and it's just fantastic. Fantastic."

FELIX ROSENQVIST (No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "I touched the wall on the exit of (Turn 11) and then I felt something weird in my steering. I was thinking about pitting. I told my guys on the radio that I probably broke the car, and then when I got to the straight before Turn 1, it got worse and when I turned in something broke in the rear and I spun around. Really, really a shame. We had a tough race. We got sandwiched at the start and fell back a bit, but we had a good strategy and the car was really quick. At that point it's on me. I touched the wall (and) broke the car. It's really a shame."

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "I couldn't believe it. It was an amazing day. I've got to thank Chevy and Verizon for giving me a good car. I definitely thought we were done. We were done – I couldn't shift, and then obviously, I tried to reset it and then I stalled. But just a great recovery. We went fast when we needed to in that sequence to get a bunch of spots. I haven't been satisfied with a race since Gateway (2018), and this is the first time I've been satisfied with a race (since)."

TONY KANAAN (No. 14 ABC Supply A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet): "Too bad we got caught up in that first lap accident. I had nowhere to go, got collected, hit other people, so onto Texas."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Fifth Third Bank/United Rentals Honda): "The strategy to start on primary tires played out. The yellow on Lap 15 or 16 kind of hurt those of us who were on that alternate strategy, though. It let the group bunch back up, but starting 22nd, you have to take a flyer (on strategy). We gained 15 positions today and there is no shame in that, we had a great day. I'm awfully proud of these guys and very thankful for the No. 30 car guys that pitched in and made it possible for us to get out there. Everything ran smoothly, so we're pretty happy with that."

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 18 SealMaster Honda): "It's just a real shame – the incident with Spencer (Pigot) – because ultimately, the SealMaster Honda No. 18 was in the mix. I think we had the right strategy. We were going to be in contention. The reds (Firestone alternate tires), as expected, fell off and the guys who tried to make it, didn't. We caught up with them and I don't know what Spencer was thinking. I had a run on the inside and he tried to make it to the pits from the center lane when I was to his right rear. Then he jumped on the brakes. I'm not sure what I was supposed to do. The Dale Coyne Vasser Sullivan guys did a great job fixing the car and we reset and went again. The car was a little hurt, but we were still pretty quick. It was definitely a tough run coming from the back, but there were a lot of incidents which bought us some positions. So, we'll take our top-10 finish and move on to Texas."

SANTINO FERRUCCI (No. 19 Cly-Del Manufacturing Honda): "It ended up being a good thing to start on the prime tire (Firestone blacks). We led the race for a solid stint, but then we got an unlucky caution for us. If not for that we could have stayed up front. Our Cly-Del Manufacturing crew did a great job in pit lane. We also had great fuel mileage with the Honda engine and we were able to bring it home with a top-10 finish and salvage our Detroit weekend."

ED JONES (No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Scuderia Corsa Chevrolet): "It was a frustrating day. We got caught up in the Turn 3 crash on the first lap. I avoided it as best I could with the front of the car, but I got hit from behind. The contact damaged the rear of the car, which caused me not to have second gear for pretty much the whole race. Considering this track has a lot of slow corners, that really caused problems for us the rest of the day. We did the best we could with that we had at the end there. We had really good pace despite everything else. We will come back stronger for my next race at Road America."

SPENCER PIGOT (No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): "We went off strategy, but the car was going to be pretty good. Obviously, (Scott) Dixon and I were both struggling a lot on those tires, getting passed left and right. It was very easy for all other drivers to see and it wasn't going to take much to get by us. Coming out of (Turn) 13, as soon as I could, I got over to the right to signal I was coming into the pit lane. There's obviously public radio as well that (said) we're pitting; everyone can hear that. I just felt a massive hit from behind. It caused a lot of damage, and obviously, with the tires in that state, you have to brake a little early coming to pit lane. I don't know if that's what caught (Sebastien Bourdais) off or what, but it's definitely unfortunate."

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet): "A sensor was damaged after the contact, then I couldn't select the gears, it couldn't restart. The car wasn't too badly damaged. But yeah, that was it, had to wait for the car to come back. The guys did a great job fixing it. We got back in the race and we scored six points, which could be important in the end. We had the fastest lap of the race by half a second, so the car was just honestly really, really good. It was a bit of a shame we didn't get to race because I really think we would have challenged for it today. It could have been a huge day for points, but at the end of the day you also have to remember, I think we got pretty lucky today. Unlucky for Josef (Newgarden), of course, you don't want to see that happen, but (Alexander) Rossi didn't score too much, which for the both of us is a good thing."

ZACH VEACH (No. 26 Gainbridge Honda): "Overall, it was kind of a mess. We wanted to get off the reds (Firestone alternate tires) as quickly as we could. The yellow came out of the first lap – we dodged into pit lane, as everyone else did. I went a little long on my marks, which hurt us, and we had an issue getting the fuel probe in. So, we didn't get any fuel in the car on that first stop and lost about six stops in pit lane. We just had to put our head down and push through that. Our pace was OK. I felt like I could have done a better job, but luckily, we got to pass some cars and stay out of the mayhem. We're taking home another top 10."

ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 27 NAPA Auto Parts Honda): "This weekend was more missed opportunities, but at the end of the day, the NAPA team did a really good job and we capitalized on the two guys in front of us having problems. A win continues to elude us here, but we had a fast race car and that's good enough, I guess."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "Somehow toward the end, we picked up a puncture or leak and were losing pressure on the right rear. Then we had to stop for the red flag, and the more you sit still, the quicker it deflates – it really dumped out on that red and was pretty much dead flat after the race. It was amazing we could salvage that. The DHL team fought hard all day, all weekend. It wasn't the qualifying we hoped for, but I think we salvaged a good weekend all-in-all. It felt good to come home on a flat right rear. Happy with that end, but could have been a bit better, I think."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 30 Mi-Jack/Panasonic Honda): "There were a lot of ups and downs today. We had a difficult qualifying (session) today. We were a second off the pace yesterday and today was 1.2 seconds. Being eighth in our group meant I started 16th, so it was a bummer. We had to experiment with a different concept in terms of setup for the race and we just hoped we would be competitive. Starting the race, I was pretty lucky. There was a huge incident in Turn 3 and I was able to avoid everything, so I went from P16 to ninth immediately, so that was really good. I started from the softer tire which grained heavily so we wanted to change the tire immediately after. All the strategy worked really well, and on the restart I gained another position, and at one stage I moved up to P3. It all looked really positive, but at the end of the day the speed wasn't there, so the cars coming from in front and behind got us. Eventually we had a lot of hard battles and in the end we damaged the car, got a puncture and had to come in and finished 13th. It's a shame that we couldn't have a strong finish again. The team learned a lot and overall his weekend we gapped a little closer to the point leader. Hopefully we have a strong weekend in Texas."

PATRICIO O'WARD (No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet): "I'm proud of our race today and how strong we were able to come back after such a bad start on the first lap that put us at the back of the field a lap down. We were really close to avoiding that first lap incident, but unfortunately, we just had nowhere to go and got caught up in it. The No. 31 Carlin Chevrolet was hit fairly hard and lost the front wing completely, so once we were restarted, we had to come in for a new front wing. The guys did a great job on that wing change and really on all of their stops all race, the strategy was really solid and we were able to get our lap back, and ultimately, move our way into 11th. We were really hoping to move forward from our starting position of eighth and we definitely had the car to do it, but after the way the race started, I'd say we're more than happy with 11th."

MAX CHILTON (No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet): "It was a massively eventful, long race with lots of yellows. During the longest stretch without a yellow, I thought we were looking very good. We were doing very good fuel saving with good pace, I thought, well enough for a top-10 finish for the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet. Just the way it fell meant we ended up coming back out last on the lead lap and it was just yellow after yellow from there. There just wasn't a great deal that we could do. We got a lot of things right today, we just didn't have the pace we needed at the times we needed to overtake."

COLTON HERTA (No. 88 GESS Capstone Honda): "We had really good pace and the car was strong today, but unfortunately, we kept moving back during the race. The No. 88 GESS Capstone Honda guys worked really hard and we didn't get to show it again, but I'm excited to get back to racing next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 98 AutoNation/Curb Honda): "Today was all good considering. I qualified so bad, and that can just make your race miserable and a bigger challenge right from the start. But the AutoNation crew gave me a car that could pass on track. The car was good – everybody did a great job just to hang in there. We salvaged a decent result."

Race 2 Results

Pos	No	Name	Laps	Diff	Gap	Led	ST	Engine	Points	Team
1	9	Scott Dixon	70	0.000s	0.000s	44	6	Honda	264	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
2	7	Marcus Ericsson	70	1.9419	1.9419	2	12	Honda	139	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
3	12	Will Power	70	3.6570	1.7151	3	11	Chevy	232	Team Penske
4	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	70	4.5238	0.8668	0	15	Honda	219	Andretti Autosport
5	27	Alexander Rossi	70	5.1877	0.6639	0	2	Honda	301	Andretti Autosport
6	98	Marco Andretti	70	6.6330	1.4453	0	19	Honda	147	Andretti Herta Autosport w/Curb-Agaj
7	15	Graham Rahal	70	7.1404	0.5074	0	22	Honda	175	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
8	26	Zach Veach	70	8.0411	0.9007	0	3	Honda	131	Andretti Autosport
9	18	Sebastien Bourdais	70	8.7886	0.7475	0	9	Honda	165	Dale Coyne Racing w/Vasser-Sullivan
10	19	Santino Ferrucci	70	9.4809	0.6923	20	17	Honda	161	Dale Coyne Racing
11	31	Patricio O'Ward	70	9.8997	0.4188	0	8	Chevy	102	Carlin
12	88	Colton Herta	70	11.8528	1.9531	0	4	Honda	146	Harding Steinbrenner Racing
13	30	Takuma Sato	70	13.5500	1.6972	0	16	Honda	255	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
14	20	Ed Jones	70	14.6489	1.0989	0	13	Chevy	144	Ed Carpenter Racing
15	59	Max Chilton	70	14.7810	0.1321	0	20	Chevy	87	Carlin
16	10	Felix Rosenqvist	64	11.7469	1.4129	0	7	Honda	163	Chip Ganassi Racing Teams
17	22	Simon Pagenaud	58	12 LAPS	6 LAPS	0	14	Chevy	291	Team Penske
18	5	James Hinchcliffe	52	75.5949	0.8966	0	5	Honda	179	Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports
19	2	Josef Newgarden	49	21 LAPS	3 LAPS	1	1	Chevy	316	Team Penske
20	4	Matheus Leist	23	3 LAPS	2 LAPS	0	21	Chevy	127	AJ Foyt Enterprises
21	21	Spencer Pigot	13	2.5739	0.8401	0	10	Chevy	162	Ed Carpenter Racing
22	14	Tony Kanaan	—	1.8230	0.2375	0	18	Chevy	133	AJ Foyt Enterprises

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