Round 7. Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, June 3-5.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 7. Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, June 3-5.

On November 3, 2021, Detroit City Council and Penske Entertainment reached an agreement to move the Detroit Grand Prix back to downtown Detroit and the streets around The Renaissance Center, making this year's event the last time IndyCar will race at Belle Isle and ending a 30 year association with AOWR, which began with CART in 1992. The race will also be a single race event, ending the series of double headers,
which had been held since 2013.

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 driver's dislike of the event due to track disintegration, which was particularly bad that year. It was planned to move the F1 Grand Prix to Belle Isle in 1989 but no agreement was finalised and F1 went to Phoenix from 1989-1991 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 became a perennial fixture on the CART calendar, up to and including 2001, during which time the track was extended from 2.1 mi (3.4 km), to 2.36 mi (3.80 km) in 1998.

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 reverted to the 1998-2001 CART layout, with changes to Turn 3 and 7 and The Strand. In 2020 the Detroit Grand Prix was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, returning to the IndyCar calendar last year.

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

Driver with the most wins, 3
Hélio Castroneves 2000, 2001, 2014.
Scott Dixon 2012, 2018, 2019

The team with the most wins, 9.
Team Penske: 1991, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2014 Race 1 and 2, 2016, 2018, 2019.

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Track:
Length: 2.35 Mile (3.78 km)
Turns: 14

Lap record:
Takuma Sato, 4 Jun 2017.
1:13.6732, 114.831 mph (184.802 kmh).
Andretti Autosport,
Dallara DW12- Honda HI17TT Indy V-6,
Verizon IndyCar Series.

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1982-1988 F1 track layout:



1992-1997 Original CART track layout:



1998-2001 CART track layout:



Current track layout:


Last Year's Races:

Race 1
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...obbed/6562640/

Pole:
Pato O'Ward, 1:15.5776, 111.938 Mph (180.1467487 km/h).
Arrow McLaren SP.
Dallara IR18-Chevy IndyCar V6.

Winner:
Marcus Ericsson,
Chip Ganassi Racing
Dallara IR18-Honda HI21R Indy-V-6.

Laps: 70
Distance: 164.5 Miles (162.624 km)
Race Time: 1:15:30.5932
Average Speed: 99.285 mph (264.737 kmh)
Fastest lap: Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Lap 56. 76.5266 sec, 110.381mph (177.641 km/h)

Caution periods: 2
Laps: 24 - 30, 65 - 66.

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Race 2
https://www.motorsport.com/indycar/n...arden/6565608/

Pole:
Josef Newgarden, 1:14.1094, 114.156 mph (183.716 km/h)
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevy IndyCar V6

Winner:
Pato O'Ward,
Arrow McLaren SP.
Dallara IR18-Chevy IndyCar V6

Laps: 70
Distance: 164.5 Miles (264.737 km)
Race Time: 1:41:30.8814
Average Speed: 97.227 mph (156.472 km/h)
Fastest lap: Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian. Lap 50, 76.3434 sec, 110.815 mph (178.339 km/h)

Caution periods: 3
Laps: 1 - 3, 54 - 57, 59 - 62

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Practice and Qualifications
Friday, Jun 3 - Practice 1, 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM ET

Saturday, Jun 4 - Practice 2, 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM ET

Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1, 12:35 PM - 12:45 PM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2, 12:55 PM - 1:05 PM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 2, 1:15 PM - 1:25 PM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6, 1:35 PM - 1:50 PM ET

Race broadcast:
Sunday, Jun 5. USA, 3:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM UTC
Sky Sports F1, 8:00 PM BST

[broadrun96]

Kirkwood appears to be the king of Detroit. Tops in GTD table and then rolls out for Indy practice and tops there as well at 1:16.1345 late in the session.

The guy who's seat he is taking was just behind him and that guy's new teammate in 3rd.

[tux]

They showed the layout of the new track next year. Why? Its shockingly bad compared to the current circuit. Just long straights & 90 degree corners

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by tux

They showed the layout of the new track next year. Why? Its shockingly bad compared to the current circuit. Just long straights & 90 degree corners

According to this Autosport article, Josef Newgarden says: “I think it’s going to be fantastic for racing''


https://www.autosport.com/indycar/ne...acing/6815426/

[broadrun96]

Sweet, well let's see who is easiest on their brakes come the end of the race. Bets on how many take the escape roads late in the race might be better action than winner for Vegas

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying result:


Josef Newgarden takes Pole. The winners of last year's Race 1 and 2, Marcus Ericsson and Pato O'ward, are 8th and 5th. Previous three time winners at Detroit, Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon are 4th and 9th and reigning driver's champion Alex Palou is down the field in 18th.

[joeb]

Interesting top six with Sato and the MSR cars along with Malukas. We'll see what the strategy will be tomorrow with whatever cautions come our way.

[NaBUru38]

30 minutes to start

[joeb]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

30 minutes to start

I gotta kick the wife off the tv, that should go well!

[bjohnsonsmith]

A clean start.

[joeb]

Wow those red tires hit their limits quickly! Looks like the blacks are the tire to have.

[joeb]

Slight rain, yikes!!!!

[bjohnsonsmith]

I've spent the last 35 minutes trying to get a decent feed. Finally.

[tux]

Townsend Bell is so desperate for Rossi to win, they’ve shown little respect to Power who’s driven a ridiculously good stint.

[broadrun96]

One lap longer, one lap long enough on the reds

[fieldodreams79]

Power! Another lap and Rossi would've had him it seems!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Will Power on his win and Chevrolet on their hundredth win.


I'm going to have to watch the highlights as I missed so much of that.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by tux

Townsend Bell is so desperate for Rossi to win, they’ve shown little respect to Power who’s driven a ridiculously good stint.

Sounds more like they were pushing for the intrigue of the chase than hating on anyone. And that's from a guy who hates Will Power with a passion. Selling the story, as they're paid to do.

[joeb]

That was quite the enjoyable race, I like when teams have to choose their strategy and don't get bailed out by a yellow flag to even things out. Best race by an andretti car this year but a spectacular run by power for the win. All of the championship contenders were in the top 10, so I feel like the rest of the season a new driver will lead the standings after every race!

[broadrun96]

And both races on the tight walled track ran green flag to flag, quality driving from both series

[joeb]

Originally Posted by broadrun96

And both races on the tight walled track ran green flag to flag, quality driving from both series

That is pretty amazing, especially since a few indycar drivers tagged the wall.

[champcarman]

Originally Posted by joeb

That was quite the enjoyable race, I like when teams have to choose their strategy and don't get bailed out by a yellow flag to even things out. Best race by an andretti car this year but a spectacular run by power for the win. All of the championship contenders were in the top 10, so I feel like the rest of the season a new driver will lead the standings after every race!

So McLauchlin is not s Championship contender ?

[broadrun96]

He's barely in the top 10 so if you're going by points and Top 10 of the race, no, he and Colton not so much lately

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race result:

Will Power's win tied him with the other three-time winners at Belle Isle, Helio Catronoves and Scott Dixon. It also puts him at the top of the driver's table with 255 points. Marcus Ericsson is second with 253 points, followed by Pato O'ward on 243 and reigning driver's champion Alex Palou is fourth on 241.

Overall it was a good race and the series now has it's sixth different winner in seven races. So after 30 years, it is farewell to Belle Isle and let's hope the downtown circuit can deliver.

[joeb]

Here are the updated season standings, you can really see how consistent (outside Indy) Power has been.

RANK	DRIVER	STP	TEX	LB	BAR	GPI	IND	BEL	TOTAL
1	Will Power	36	33	33	32	36	32	53	255
2	Marcus Ericsson	22	36	8	18	33	109	26	252
3	Pato O'Ward	18	15	30	51	12	87	30	243
4	Alex Palou	41	26	36	41	12	56	29	241
5	Josef Newgarden	14	51	53	17	5	34	34	208
6	Scott Dixon	25	30	28	30	20	33	36	202
7	Alexander Rossi	11	5	24	22	19	60	40	181
8	Simon Pagenaud	15	24	11	19	40	48	22	179
9	Felix Rosenqvist	13	10	19	14	29	69	20	174
10	Scott McLaughlin	54	43	16	28	11	10	11	173
11	Colton Herta	32	18	9	20	53	10	24	166