Rounds 7 and 8. The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, June 2-4, 2017.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Rounds 7 and 8. The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, June 2-4, 2017.

Just as the dust is settling, after the 101st running of the Indy 500, the season moves on to rounds 7 and 8 at Detroit

Back in 2014, Detroit was the first of three double headers on the IndyCar calendar. Now, The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit is the only double header left on the IndyCar calendar.

Detroit was originally the venue for the F1 Detroit Grand Prix, held from 1982-1988. It was dropped from the F1 calendar after 1988, when F1's governing body FISA declared the temporary pit area sub standard and because of the drivers dislike of the event due to track disintegration, which was particularly bad that year.

It was planned to move the F1 event to Belle Isle in 1989 but with no agreement finalised, F1 went to Phoenix and Detroit became a CART event, with the race held on a slightly modified version of the F1 track.

In 1992, the event finally moved to Belle Isle, where it was held up to and including 2001. In 1998 the track was extended from 2.1 mi (3.4 km), to 2.36 mi (3.80 km). The race was revived from 2007-2008, as part of the IRL's IndyCar Series, using the original CART layout but with Turn 8 tightened. However, it was cancelled from 2009-2011 due to the downturn in Detroit's automotive industry and the city's economic problems. The race was revived again in 2012 and since 2013 the track has reverted to the 1998-2001 CART layout, with changes to Turn 3 and 7 and The Strand.

Last year Simon Pagenaud took pole for both Race 1 and Race 2, with qualifying for Race 2 taking place on the morning of the race. Will Power broke the track record set by Pagenaud, on the previous day's qualifying session, with a time of 1:13.8335. However, Power's fastest two laps were disallowed, as race control deemed he had interfered with Marco Andretti's qualifying attempt; Pagenaud inherited pole. However, he won neither race.

Race 1 was won by Sébastien Bourdais. On lap 42 Hinchcliffe went into the tyre barrier bringing out the yellow and causing a split in strategy. Some drivers including Dixon, Montoya and Bourdais stayed out. Others including Pagenaud and Power chose to pit. Power was first out but his right rear tyre wasn't secured, forcing him to retire, giving Montoya the lead until he pitted on lap 52. Dixon took the lead, pitting on lap 55 but retired a lap later with a gearbox issue, giving Bourdais the lead. On lap 57, Bourdais pitted from the lead and had a big enough gap to maintain it, winning his 35th career IndyCar victory.

Race 2 was won by Will Power. At the start there was a multi-car accident on Turn 1. Kimball moved left to avoid Hawksworth, forcing Muñoz to also move left, putting Hinchcliffe into the wall. Sato made contact with Rossi, trying to avoid Hinchcliffe, sending him into a spin and putting Chilton into the wall. With a third caution on lap 50 most of the leaders had pitted. Castroneves hadn't and was forced to pit under yellow and dropped to 15th. Bourdais took the lead needing another stop to finish. However, Pagenaud and Power, fifth and sixth respectively, didn't. Power got the better of Pagenaud on the restart and took the lead on Turn 3 and went on to win.

Some Trivia:
Hélio Castroneves got his first CART win at Detroit in 2000, driving a Reynard 2Ki-Honda HR-0 V8t, for Marlboro Team Penske. He has won the Detroit Grand Prix the most times: 2000, 2001 and 2014.

The team with the most wins, 7. Team Penske: 1991, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2014, Race 1 and 2.

1982-1988 F1 track layout:



1992-1997 Original CART track layout:


1998-2001 CART track layout:


Current track layout:


Length: 2.35 Mile (3.78 km)
Turns: 14

Lap record:
Simon Pagenaud, 5 Jun 2016. 1:14.0379, 114.266 mph (183.893 km/h). Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V8, Verizon IndyCar Series.

Race 1
Pole:
Simon Pagenaud. 1:14.91, 112.926 Mph (181.736 kmh)

Last year's winner:
Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH Racing. Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.

Laps: 70
Distance: 164.5 Miles (264.737 km)
Race Time: 1:40:52
Average Speed: 97.857 mph (157.485 km)
Caution periods: 2
Caution Laps: 8

Race 2
Pole:
Simon Pagenaud. 1:14.03, 114.266 Mph (183.893 km/h)

Last year's winner:
Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.

Laps: 70
Distance: 164.5 Miles (264.737 km)
Race Time: 1:42.22
Average Speed: 96.414 mph (155.163 km)
Caution periods: 3
Caution Laps: 9

Race broadcast:
ABC.
Race 1 June 4, 3:30pm ET
Race 2 June 5, 3:30pm ET

[bjohnsonsmith]

It's been rumoured Gutierrez maybe driving for Dale Coyne. That has been confirmed, he will make his IndyCar debut this weekend.

http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129885

[D.R.T.]

Rahal and Helio quickest on day 1 at Belle Isle.

Qualifying live and free through indycar.com, YouTube, Facebook etc

[Jonerz]

Helio's having his pole lap taken away because he didn't "reduce speed 15% in yellow zone". Helio is furious.

Sounds like added motivation for H3. I've been impressed with his pace this year, particularly on the twisties, where I thought he'd lost a step. But I'm now officially rooting for him to win a title, that would truly tick all the boxes on his excellent career!

Chris

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying results, Race 1

Graham Rahal inherits pole and the track record but not without some controversy, as Helio Castroneves had his pole-winning and track-record lap erased, for not adhering to a local yellow flag on track and slowing down by at least 15%, during his qualifying session. Last year Will Power had his pole lap and track record erased.

Otherwise a very strong performance from Honda, with 5 cars in the top 6.

1 Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m13.9681s
2 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.0414s
3 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.0428s
4 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.0875s
5 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.1801s
6 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.2855s
7 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.3150s
8 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.9991s
9 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.3805s
10 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.0664s
11 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.6312s
12 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.0991s
13 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.6719s
14 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.2060s
15 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.2668s
16 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.2228s
17 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.6261s
18 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.2334s
19 Esteban Gutierrez, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.6276s
20 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.2430s
21 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.8343s
22 Oriol Servia, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.2758s

[bjohnsonsmith]

A very clean start but Hinchcliffe loses it on Turn 2. First FCY as he rejoins the back of the field.

[bjohnsonsmith]

2nd FCY. Looks like Daly and Kimball had a moment.

[divxx]

I don't understand Helio and Sato giving away 2nd and 3rd with their strategy. it would make sense for Power or RHR since they were a bit behind after qualifying, but why do the much riskier strategy when you're at the front?

[Marcus666]

Best race by Rahal in his career?
That looked like a 1999 Montoya dominating the whole race!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Graham Rahal, a very solid performance. He's looked good all weekend. I wonder if he can pull it off tomorrow? I think the last driver to win a back to back Scott Dixon in 2013, at Toronto. Talking about Scott Dixon, that was an excellent drive,especially with that dodgy left ankle.

[JHamilton]

Originally Posted by Marcus666

Best race by Rahal in his career?
That looked like a 1999 Montoya dominating the whole race!

I was thinking the same thing. Great job.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race 1 result.

Not the most exciting race but the different strategies kept the interest alive. Honda seem to have found their early season form again, with 3 drivers on the podium. Can they keep that up tomorrow?

ABC's coverage was much better than the IndyCar Grand Prix. They decided to show some of the battles further down the field.

1 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1h35m48.7028s
2 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 6.1474s
3 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 9.1688s
4 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 10.0930s
5 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 25.5556s
6 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 31.3644s
7 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 33.1052s
8 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 47.4696s
9 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 53.6531s
10 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 54.0726s
11 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 55.2547s
12 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 58.3402s
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 59.1348s
14 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m00.7310s
15 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m01.9596s
16 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m02.1492s
17 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m06.0717s
18 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
19 Esteban Gutierrez, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
20 Oriol Servia, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
21 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
22 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. Mechanical

[RWill2073]

I mean, I guess when abc was on they showed more battles. But they came back from commercial on lap 7, went to commercial on lap 9, back from commercial on lap 11, back to commercial on lap 15 and so it went.... Impossible to get immersed in the race with that nonsense.

And again with the non-stop Indy 500 stuff. At one point, it was said sato would be able to dig deeper and have more to inside of him because he was now the Indy 500 champ. Just utter nonsense.

Race was alright. Happy for rahal. Points standings look interesting with sato, ed Jones both in top 7. Penske was nowhere (comparitively) today. Gutierrez was pretty much dead last of all the cars running.

What happened between Daly and Kimball? Don't think they ever showed a replay (it was at commercial when the incident happened, of course).

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying for Race 2 is underway.

http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying, Race 2.

Sato seems to be on a bit of a roll as do Honda, with 5 cars in the top 6.

1 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m13.6732s
2 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.2833s
3 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m13.8105s
4 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.5279s
5 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m13.8264s
6 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.0371s
7 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m13.9449s
8 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.1727s
9 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.0339s
10 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.1732s
11 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.0765s
12 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.1800s
13 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.1814s
14 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.2884s
15 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.3287s
16 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.5150s
17 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m14.7786s
18 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m18.6272s
19 Esteban Gutierrez, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.0055s
20 Oriol Servia, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m21.4485s
21 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.8491s
22 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. - crash.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Sato was a bit out of formation but a very clean start.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That's unfortunate, a good dice with RH-R and Castroneves gets a puncture as his left rear gets clipped by RH-R.

[bjohnsonsmith]

FCY as Hinchcliffe stop on the track with electrical problems and now Pigots engine blows up spectacularly.

It's been Red flagged, with 3 laps to go.

[bjohnsonsmith]

They cleaned Rahal's helmet-cam, finally.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Graham Rahal, he did it, winning the Dual. The first double-header winner since Scott Dixon at Toronto in 2013. Bad luck for Sato, they just mistimed his stop. A solid drive from Newgarden, finishing second and Penske can be reasonably happy with Power finishing on the podium. Honda win in Chevy's turf.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race 2 result.

1 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1h33m36.3769s
2 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1.1772s
3 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 2.6228s
4 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 3.8535s
5 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 4.0810s
6 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 4.6005s
7 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 6.1978s
8 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 6.6823s
9 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 6.8439s
10 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 7.7201s
11 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 8.1160s
12 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 8.7847s
13 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 9.6103s
14 Esteban Gutierrez, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 13.1325s
15 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
16 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
17 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
18 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1 Lap
19 Oriol Servia, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1 Lap
20 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. Mechanical
21 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. Mechanical
22 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. Mechanical

[Jonerz]

When Rahal said he had the type of car to dominate if he qualified up front, I thought it was a little bit wishful on his part. I'm surprised that he got some stick from the veterans in the series for running his mouth like that, but he was right. RLL found something that made the combination of that car and that driver, on that circuit the best across two complete race distances. Very impressive. Hopefully this turns into a solid run of form and Graham gets back into title contention.

Chris

[D.R.T.]

Great, clean racing which was enjoyable allowing for both 2 and 3 stop approaches play out nicely with no one being disadvantaged.

[JHamilton]

Another perfect race by Rahal and great strategy call for him. Not the most memorable weekend for the series, but I enjoyed it quite a bit!

[fieldodreams79]

I really love this track; it's a little crazy, very fast and bumpy as hell. Promotes good passing in a few locations and generally puts on a decent show. Such was this weekend. Good stuff.

Didn't completely agree with the Red flag at the end of race 2, but ABC needed to fill the time with more commercials. Honestly, the infomercial was ruined by racing. Just an absolute joke. If anyone can post ad time verses race time that would be great. It's an embarrassment that they pass this off as covering an event.

All jokes aside, the red flag wasn't necessary. It would have been a shame for something to happen to Rahal and I didn't see much passing afterwards (in hindsight), but just didn't seem needed.