Rounds 7 and 8. The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, 3rd-5th June, 2016.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Rounds 7 and 8. The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, 3rd-5th June, 2016.

No sooner has the Chequered flag dropped and the dust is still settling on the 100th running of the Indy 500, the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit is suddenly upon us.

In 2014, Detroit was the first of three double headers. However, Like last season, The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit will be the only double header this year.

Both races last year, were marred by bad weather. There was a pile up on lap 2 of Race 1 and after heavy rain and lightning strikes in the area, the race was called after 47 laps out of 70. Carlos Munoz won his first IndyCar race heading a Andretti Autosport 1, 2.

During qualifying for Race 2, the Red flag came out 4 laps into group 2's session. The grid order was therefore set according to the overall season's points standings. During the race there was a succession of Full Course Yellows, from lap 35 onwards plus a pile up on lap 55. The Red flag eventually came out on lap 64 after an incident, with Penske team mates Power and Castroneves. After the restart, only 4 minutes and 30 seconds remained before it became a timed race, which was called eventually on lap 68.

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 no agreement was finalised and 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 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 was cancelled from 2009-2011 due the downturn in the Detroit automotive industry and the city's economic problems. The race was revived again in 2012 and since 2014 the track has reverted to the 1998-2001 CART layout, with a slightly modified Strand Turn 7.

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 and 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: 2.36 Mile (3.80 km)
Turns: 14

Lap record:
Scott Dixon, 2 Jun 2012. 1:10.3162, 105.978 mph (170,555 kmh). Target Chip Ganassi, Dallara DW12-Honda, Verizon IndyCar Series.

Race 1
Last year's winner:
Carlos Munoz.
Andretti Autosport,
Dallara DW12-Honda HI14RTT.

Laps: 47*
Distance: 110.45 mi (177.752 km)
Race Time: 1:27:46
Average Speed: 75.51 mph (121.52 km)
* Race called due to lightning strikes in the area.

Race 2
Last year's winner:
Sebastien Bourdais,
KV Racing Technology,
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.

Laps: 68*
Distance: 159.8 (257.173 km)
Race Time: 2:00:38
Average Speed: 79.47 mph (127.89 km)
* Declared a timed race on lap 68.

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

[Rob29]

Great post-never realised that circuit had been changed that many times!
UK coverage on BT sport.

[canamman]

I am really looking forward to this weekend.
Last year was a great show. I like seeing who can
improve from Sat. to Sun. along with the regular
amount of heartbreak. Thanks for the intro.

[Purist]

It's a good intro. (It's a pain in the butt to dig the rest of this stuff up, but the iterations of the Detroit GP course are even more convoluted than what you show.)

1982: Downtown street circuit for F1 with an extension to a hairpin on Jefferson outside of where Turn 5 as shown on the map. Length- 2.590 miles.

1983-88: The downtown circuit for F1 shown in the first diagram of the intro post. Length- 2.500 miles.

1989-91: Downtown course for CART. Same as 1983-88, but no Turn 18-20 chicane. Length- 2.493 miles.

1992-97: Belle Isle short course. Length- 2.100 miles.

1998-01: Belle Isle long course. Length- 2.360 miles.

2007-08, '12: Belle Isle short course with tightened Turn 8. Length- 2.125 miles.

2013-14: Belle Isle long course with tightened Turns 3 and 7. Length- 2.385 miles.

2015-Present: Revised Belle Isle long course, now with the sweeper before Turn 7 eased. Length- 2.350 miles.

Hope that helps.

[Yannick]

The current layout is a nice track with 3 distinct overtaking opportunities in braking zones (Turns 1, 3 and 7) spread out over the whole lap. I guess it's the raciest layout htey have ever had in Detroit. However, many people seem to be still stuck in the past and thus dislike the circuit. I don't get that. The place has produced some memorable races since reunification, including the final win of a Newman/Haas car (at the hands of Justin Wilson) and the surprise victory of (then) one-off starter Mike Conway for Dale Coyne Racing. Only one of IndyCar's appearances at the place was really dreadful, and that was when the race had to be halted a few years back when the track broke apart during the race with Scott Dixon being declared the winner.

I don't like double-headers (and neither do the promoters of Toronto) but as long as it's a success, why not keep both rounds at Detroit?

Here's wishing you a weekend of good and safe racing at Belle Isle.

[BudLightJaguar]

A great introduction again. It's nice to watch the race again from the stream at home (I came back from US at noon) without any hassle.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Will Power leads practice with a time of 1m15.0197s.

[Purist]

They're no quicker than practice, so far, through Round 1 of Qualifying.

On another, positive note, it sure looks like they've taken out that extra bit of curbing on the inside of Turn 3 that used to really pinch things down, especially on corner exit when guys were still side-by-side. So that's good to see, because it's been opened up that little bit, and the corner is still plenty slow for a serious braking zone to set up overtaking.

[Purist]

Well, actually, that curbing at Turn 3 was just for 2013, and then they realigned where the inside edge of the road is; it's still better than it was in 2013 though.

Another nice touch is, it seems like, in a few more places, they're getting to where there is at least a small amount of grass on either side of the track, rather than it just being paved from wall to wall.

Pagenaud is on pole; Helio set the fastest time overall in Round 2, and is on the outside of Row 1.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying for Race 1:

Now the 500 is over, it looks like the Pagenaud juggernaut has resumed course.

1 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.9166s
2 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m14.9285s 0.0119s
3 Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.5659s 0.6493s
4 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.7708s 0.8542s
5 Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.3897s 1.4731s
6 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.4613s 1.5447s
7 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.5508s -
8 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.6712s
9 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m15.7142s
10 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 1m15.7172s
11 Takuma Sato, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.0998s
12 Mikhail Aleshin, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.2665s
13 Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.1087s
14 Josef Newgarden, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.3154s
15 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.2643s
16 Conor Daly, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.6370s
17 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.4512s
18 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m16.7138s
19 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.4965s
20 Gabby Chaves, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 1m16.9140s
21 Spencer Pigot, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 1m17.6894s
22 Jack Hawksworth, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Honda 1m18.3918s

[Purist]

And now, in the morning practice, Newgarden has gone quicker than anyone went in Qualifying.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Purist

And now, in the morning practice, Newgarden has gone quicker than anyone went in Qualifying.

He set a time of 1 minute, 14.6464 seconds (113.334 mph), faster than the track record set yesterday by Helio Castroneves in qualifying for today’s race of 1 minute, 14.6899 seconds.

I see Chevy have made a modification to the front wing, with extended end-plates.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Looks like a good crowd but it's overcast and rain is threatening.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was a clean start and first lap.

[canamman]

Great opening lap. Man that track is mx bumpy.
#22 Simon should be tough to beat.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The first FCY of the day. Did I hear Chilton use the F word? Not much he could have done about that.

[canamman]

Yeah ya did. Short day for him.

Simon and Helio still on Reds. Hmmmmm.

[D.R.T.]

Andretti doing Bourdais zero favours here

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Bourdais. I thought Penske had this in the bag but no.

[BudLightJaguar]

Congratulations, Seabass!

[D.R.T.]

Not sure what his strategy would have played out but think Power would have fairly frustrated considering going from 9th to 1st mid race.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I'd laugh if he won again tomorrow.

[Armco Bender]

Dixon had a terrible day.

[Paradise City]

Page's livery gave me flashbacks of Tracy and Franchitti at Team Green back in the day.

Congrats to Bourdais.

[RWill2073]

Happy for bourdais. Was a pretty good race. Wish the broadcast had followed along a little better. Didn't hear about pagenaud dropping back until 15 minutes after the race was over. Side by side is nice, but having it to to commercial every 4 laps is insufferable. Rivals the worst of imsa broadcasts. Just brutal broadcasts on abc.