Roger Penske is a happy man. The Captain tasted success three times this weekend, at a place that is very special to him. Helio Castroneves won Race 2 in the Detroit GP on Sunday, a day after winning the pole for Saturday’s race. That race was won by Helio’s teammate, Will Power. With the win, Castroneves tied Rick Mears for 11th on the all-time wins list. Power followed up yesterday’s win with a second-place finish on Sunday. Charlie Kimball joined them on the podium, and Scott Dixon and James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top five.
After dodging several penalties early in the season, Power was finally assessed one for dive-bombing several cars on the first lap of the race. While he was given a drive through penalty, he quickly made his way back to the front. He had two shots at Helio on restarts, but he wasn’t able to keep pace with the determined veteran. The good news for him though is that he is the new championship points leader heading into next weekend.
It was a fantastic run for Scott Dixon. The Iceman started last in Sunday’s race, and rebounded to finish fourth. He was battling for second in the closing laps, but overheated his brakes, losing a couple of spots. Ryan Hunter-Reay started next to him, but he wasn’t so lucky on Sunday. It was a rough couple of days for the ‘500’ champ, after hitting the wall in both days of qualifying, and finishing 16th and 19th in the two races this weekend.
Click here for the full results from Race 2 of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit
While many of yesterday’s top finishers had similar success in Race 2 on Sunday, there were a couple that did not. Runner-up finisher Graham Rahal was part of the pile-up on lap 1, then smacked the concrete wall on lap 50. Justin Wilson, who finished fourth in Race 1, was also collected in the lap 1 incident in which Power was penalized.
After winning the Pole on Sunday morning, Takuma Sato’s day went downhill. He started strong, but got kicked to the curb twice. He got spun initially when Ryan Briscoe tried to go three-wide, then got put into the tires after light contact with Marco Andretti late in the race.
The first double-header of the season is in the books, with Power and Castroneves coming away as the victors. The series now heads to Texas Motor Speedway, where they will race under the lights on June 7 in the Firestone 600. Practice and Qualifications will take place on Friday. Race coverage begins at 8 PM ET on Saturday.