Pagenaud gets first oval win at Phoenix

Simon Pagenaud takes the checkered flag

In front of about 3,000 fans, Simon Pagenaud won his first oval track race Saturday night on the 1.022-mile oval in the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix.

Pagenaud's teammate Will Power was 2nd and JR Hildebrand, driving with a broken hand rounded out the top-3.

Helio Castroneves was 4th giving Chevys a 1-2-3-4 results.

Pagenaud led a race high 116 laps.

When the race started the drivers made it through turn 1 but crashed when they got to turn 2.

Lap 1 crash

The rear end of Mikhail Aleshin’s No. 7 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda stepped out in Turn 1 and he slid up into points leader Sebastien Bourdais.

Max Chilton, Graham Rahal and Marco Andretti were also involved in the ensuing incident, and Ryan Hunter-Reay suffered a puncture.

Fortunately, all of the drivers were able to walk away from the incident and were checked and released from the infield care center.

The race continued under the yellow flag with pole-sitter Helio Castroneves leading the field around the track.

Race Recap

Simon Pagenaud, the 33-year-old Frenchman who won the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Championship, was fortunate with a yellow flag that came out while his strongest rivals were in the pits and scored the first oval track win of his career Saturday night at Phoenix Raceway.

Pagenaud, driver of the No. 1 Menard’s Team Penske Chevrolet, won the Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix in dominant fashion, taking the lead on lap 137 of the 250-lap contest and blazing to win at a record average speed of 144.058 mph — the first time any driver has ever averaged more than 140 mph in a race at the tricky one-mile oval.

The key moment of the race came on lap 138. Pagenaud had been running a close third behind Team Penske teammates Will Power and Helio Castroneves when the lead pair dashed into the pits for fuel and tires. Pagenaud stayed out and inherited the lead when Takuma Sato drifted wide coming out of Turn 4 and made contact with the outside wall.

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]While under caution, Pagenaud was able to pit for service and retain the top position. The lead quartet of Pagenaud, Power, Castroneves and Josef Newgarden ran in close quarters at different times during the final 113 laps, but Pagenaud dodged and weaved to get around traffic and keep his pursuers at bay.

It was the second-consecutive year the defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion drove to Gatorade Victory Lane at Phoenix Raceway; last year Scott Dixon of New Zealand took the win.

Pagenaud gave car owner Roger Penske his 450th win across all motorsports and a record eighth career Indy car win at Phoenix Raceway. With Power finishing second by 9.103 seconds, it was a record fourth 1-2 finish in Indy car races for the most successful IndyCar team in history.

"It was a great respect between teammates," Pagenaud said. "He (Power) gave me plenty of room and that’s what you want to see between teammates.

"I have to tell you, this is just incredible for me. This is my best win. It’s so strategic to win on an oval.
Those were the longest 50 laps of my life. It was the most stressful end of the race I’ve ever lived. The car was just phenomenal."

Saturday’s race was Pagenaud’s second career start at Phoenix Raceway, with his first coming in last year’s Phoenix Grand Prix where he finished in second place. The win is the 10th of Pagenaud’s career, and his first on a configuration that has proven very challenging to Pagenaud throughout his career.

"Having a great result like that is very important after you win a championship," Pagenaud said. "It was just a perfect day. I couldn’t be any happier."

With the win, Pagenaud also became the Verizon IndyCar Championship Series points leader.

QUOTES

SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 1 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet): "I can't explain how excited I am. Ovals are not my specialty. I grew up in Europe racing go-karts. I learned about ovals when I was 26 years old, so I had to learn the skill and the technique that I didn't know. Man, this is incredible. What a win. The car was phenomenal and thanks to the Menards Chevrolet crew. On the pit stops these guys never make any mistakes – I can completely rely on them and the car was just incredible from the beginning to the end. The car was so strong at the beginning of the race; we were able to save fuel in traffic. And it paid off with that lucky yellow but we've had our fair share of bad luck too this year so it doesn't hurt sometimes to have a little break."

Josef Newgarden

JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "Tonight's a tough blow. It's tough when you have a podium car, potentially a winner car if everything goes right, and you finish ninth. We can't be too displeased over ninth, but I don't think we're super happy. I think the Hum by Verizon Chevrolet team is going to truck forward. We think we have fast cars, we've had fast cars all year, so hopefully that bodes well for the month of May and we can try to get some more victories."

HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 REV Group Team Penske Chevrolet): "A lot of battles out there, with teammates even. I'm proud of my REV Group Chevy team. They stayed with it all night. That's what happens when you have three other amazing drivers. Someday it's going to be somebody's day. It was amazing to see. It was a big break for Simon (Pagenaud) on the yellow, but he also was very good. At the end of the day it was a tough battle with some of the guys laps down, which wasn't really necessary to be honest, but that's racing. We have another top five in a race, collecting points. We're going to get our break sooner or later."

CONOR DALY (No. 4 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): "The ABC guys gave me an awesome car. We had it in qualifying, but we just didn't have the information yet to know how much to trim. We put ourselves back there because it's a process and we learned we can be a lot more trimmed for qualifying. We go into the race and we had a great mechanical balance. And the whole stint the car felt great. We were making progress pulling away from people, catching other guys and I really enjoyed that. It's a shame what happened but four races in a row, we had some issues but things will turn our way. I'm really proud of the team because we worked so hard to get it back on track, and as soon as we did, the car was just as good as it was. It was really fun to drive again and I know it was fast and that's the good part."

JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "Certainly not the end result we were hoping for. For us, the race started pretty decently. Obviously, I felt bad to see Mikhail get caught up in a Turn 1 incident. From there we had a decent first stint. During the first round of stops, we realized we weren't on the same program as everyone else. We ended up having to stop a whole lot earlier than the other cars, and we just weren't getting the (fuel) mileage. Even though it got us the track position early on, ultimately having to stop five, six laps earlier than everyone over the course of a race adds up. There was no yellow that kind of came out at the right time to put us on the same page as everyone else, and at the end of the race, we had to come in for a splash and go which cost a couple spots. It's too bad; I think we could have had a solid top-10 finish. The Arrow Electronics car was the strongest that we've had here between last year, the test and now; it was a really good car. Unfortunately, the mileage situation really deterred us today. Big credit to the Arrow boys – we rolled off the truck with a good car again. We'll head into the Month of May and see what we can do."

MIKHAIL ALESHIN (No. 7 SMP Racing Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): "Unfortunately, when we got to Turn 1, I felt the rear of the car went, and I just couldn't do anything. I was full lock, and I just understood that that was it. I feel sorry for the guys that hit as well, but that's racing. Very sorry to my Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team and everyone that works on the No. 7 because I think the guys did a fantastic job. Sometimes situations like this happen, but we'll keep moving forward."

MAX CHILTON (No. 8 Gallagher Honda): "There was just nowhere to go really. I was sort of tensing because I knew four-wide on the start on a short oval wasn't good. It was just one of those things. I hate going out on Lap 1 but I just spun to avoid the accident and got collected. Hopefully we can get a better result with the Gallagher car in Indy next month."

Max Chilton out on lap 1

SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 NTT Data Honda): "Obviously, it was a tough night for the No. 9 NTT Data car, and all the Honda entries I think. Chevy had a leg up on us here and they showed that tonight. We tried to keep our nose clean but just didn't have anything for them tonight. Hopefully we can get some momentum back at the Grand Prix of Indy next month."

TONY KANAAN (No. 10 NTT Data Honda): "We knew coming into this weekend that it was going to be a difficult one for us. Eric (Cowdin) gave me a stellar car, but we just couldn't get it done. We have good cars heading into next month, so we'll just refocus on the month of May and hopefully get the results we've been waiting for."

WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "It was good night considering where we've finished the last few races. I'm happy to finish second and get some points. Unfortunately, there wasn't much of a race to be had after that final yellow because there were so many (lapped) cars in between. I think the Verizon Chevrolet was the strongest car. I would have liked to have got the win, but I'll take the points. This was just what we needed for the championship points. We've been good everywhere."

CARLOS MUNOZ (No. 14 ABC Supply AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet): "It was good to get a top-10 finish. We just kept our nose clean the whole night. It was a really physical race and got more physical as the track gripped up. At the end, I was just trying to hold my line and get to the finish. We still need to improve speed-wise but we are getting better and better with this ABC car."

GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 United Rentals Honda): "I was told by my spotter 'Go low, go low' but Max (Chilton) was spinning in front of me to the bottom so I could not go low. My only choice was to go above him and when he released the brake pedal, his car came back up the banking. Where do you go? There was no way to stop the car on the banking. It's not his fault, that's just the circumstances of racing. Unfortunately, we got pinched between Max and Marco (Andretti). We're all innocent bystanders. I haven't seen the replay yet but I heard Aleshin lost it. With all the smoke, you can't see a thing. There are cars flying everywhere. I was just kind of hanging on. It's a shame because we obviously wanted to get a good finish for United Rentals and all of our sponsors."

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 18 Sonny's BBQ Honda): "It's disappointing. We work so hard and try to do things right. We had a good position at the start, being on the outside, and I could've probably picked up one or two positions because I had a good run going. But then all it takes is someone who takes a little bit too much risk to ruin your day. You can take risks when you're on the outside all alone, but if you're in the middle, in the gearbox of the car in front of you there's a good chance that you'll lose the car. It's disappointing to lose the points lead like this, I knew we would lose it this weekend but we're really missing out on some precious points. Plus, there's a lot of damage to the car and we really didn't need that."

ED JONES (No. 19 Boy Scouts of America Honda): "It was pretty difficult. I struggled a lot in traffic but I managed to avoid all the incidents which we could have easily been caught up in, so it's good to finish the race and finish P11. It's the first oval race for me in an Indy car so it was a lot to learn. I gained a lot of experience and that's always important. I'm looking forward to the next one."

ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet): "Yesterday (qualifying) was kind of a nightmare, so to be able to come back from that with a seventh-place finish was pretty good. And having our other car in the top three and rolling both on the truck, that's a pretty good day. JR (Hildebrand) was super motivated to get back in the car and though he was bummed not to be able to make Barber, it's great for him to get his first podium result here with the team. The whole team did a good job the entire weekend. Now we're going to head to St. Louis for our next test, then it's on to Indianapolis."

JR HILDEBRAND (No. 21 Fuzzy's Vodka Chevrolet): "The car was just awesome all day. It was a little tricky on those first starts and restarts. I couldn't quite get the timing right and the other guys were running a little less downforce than we were. I was having a hard time fighting everyone off when we were jammed together that close. Towards the end of the race, the car was just awesome. I really felt like I had something for Will (Power) there. If we were in a little more traffic for a little longer, I think we could have gotten him. That's where we were at our best at this race, just running in a whole pack of cars. A huge thanks to the Fuzzy's Vodka guys and I'm psyched to be able to come back with a good weekend."

TAKUMA SATO (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda): "Tough race. We were struggling with pace at the beginning and after the second pit stop. The second lap out, the car just wouldn't turn and I got wide in Turn 3. I went into the gray and never came back and brushed the wall. It's disappointing to finish the day like this, but hopefully we'll have a good test next week in Gateway."

MARCO ANDRETTI (No. 27 Oberto/Circle K Honda): "I think we were all just trying to miss Mikhail (Aleshin). He just sort of lost it and I didn't know which way to go. I spun to actually try to miss him, kept it off the wall and then because of my smoke, he couldn't see and then Graham (Rahal) ended up getting into me. It's just a bummer."

RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 28 DHL Honda): "It's very frustrating. I couldn't do anything with the car all day. I love short ovals and it's just really frustrating. The DHL car had a great start. We got by a bunch of guys and then we got a puncture. It's just the way it's been. (Scott) Dixon was coming up behind me there, stuck his nose in. I was afraid I'd turn across, and I should've just turned across. I got out into the gray and two guys got by me. Then I got down into Turn 1 and the car wouldn't turn at all. I don't know. It was a really wild ride in that thing today, it was way too complicated behind the steering wheel."

CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 Tresiba Honda): "Three Chip Ganassi Racing cars in the top 10 is a solid day. We knew coming in after the open test in February that we'd have some challenges for the race weekend. But overall the Honda engine ran great, and we were able to get good mileage when we needed to. It was an interesting race with the way it developed with the long yellow at the start and then the yellow in the middle. I lost a spot or two at that second restart; the tires weren't quite there. Overall I'm really proud of the way the Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing crew rallied this week. We had a few challenges coming into the weekend and we knew dealing with the weather conditions would be tough, especially with just the one practice session. We had great stops by the team in pit lane and really nice calls from the timing stand. I'm happy with the eighth-place result tonight. We'll take those points and move on to the month of May in Indy."

ALEXANDER ROSSI (No. 98 Andretti/Curb Honda) : "Everything was fine, I came out of the pits on new tires, and everything was status quo until the weight went out on the wheel and the front grip went away. I brushed the wall and we came back into the pits to see what was going on and unfortunately couldn't fix it. We don't really know what happened. We were having a decent race until then, we were running consistently in the top 10, staying with the Ganassi cars. I don't really know what to say, I'm just not really sure what happened."

Results

Pos	No	Name	Laps	Diff	Gap	Pits	FL	FTime	Led	ST	Engine
1	1	Simon Pagenaud	250	0.0000s	0.000s	3	26	19.812	116	5	Chevy
2	12	Will Power	250	9.1028	9.1028	3	208	19.745	59	2	Chevy
3	21	JR Hildebrand	250	9.3417	0.2389	3	211	19.880	0	3	Chevy
4	3	Helio Castroneves	250	16.5864	7.2447	3	157	19.841	73	1	Chevy
5	9	Scott Dixon	249	1 LAPS	1 LAPS	3	27	20.261	0	8	Honda
6	10	Tony Kanaan	249	1 LAPS	1.2812	3	26	19.944	0	6	Honda
7	20	Ed Carpenter	248	2 LAPS	15.9536	5	88	20.284	0	21	Chevy
8	83	Charlie Kimball	248	2 LAPS	1.8298	3	203	20.000	0	14	Honda
9	2	Josef Newgarden	248	2 LAPS	1.1240	6	160	19.809	2	4	Chevy
10	14	Carlos Munoz	247	3 LAPS	12.9046	4	78	20.329	0	19	Chevy
11	19	Ed Jones	247	3 LAPS	4.8216	4	81	20.387	0	16	Honda
12	5	James Hinchcliffe	246	4 LAPS	11.5924	4	242	20.291	0	11	Honda
13	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	220	3 LAPS	7.9077	5	77	20.278	0	12	Honda
14	4	Conor Daly	180	70 LAPS	40 LAPS	7	30	20.294	0	20	Chevy
15	98	Alexander Rossi	141	16 LAPS	14 LAPS	4	78	20.247	0	15	Honda
16	26	Takuma Sato	135	2 LAPS	0.7384	2	81	20.220	0	18	Honda
17	7	Mikhail Aleshin	—	0.7068	0.1491		—	No Time	0	7	Honda
18	27	Marco Andretti	—	1.0637	0.3014		—	No Time	0	9	Honda
19	18	Sebastien Bourdais	—	1.1481	0.0844		—	30.233	0	10	Honda
20	8	Max Chilton	—	1.4728	0.2497		—	28.757	0	13	Honda
21	15	Graham Rahal	—	2.9443	0.5054		—	25.637	0	17	Honda

Race Statistics:
Winner's average speed: 144.058
Time of Race: 1:46:24.9473
Margin of victory: 9.1028 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 32 laps
Lead changes: 4 among 4 drivers

Lap Leaders:
Castroneves 1-73
Newgarden 74-75
Pagenaud 76-77
Power 78-136
Pagenaud 137-250

Verizon IndyCar Series point standings: Pagenaud 159, Dixon 141, Newgarden 133, Bourdais