A second place finish yesterday left Ryan Hunter-Reay thirsty for more on Sunday. The series champion and Indy 500 winner quenched that thirst today, winning Race 2 of the Detroit Grand Prix. Hunter-Reay ended a 42-race winless drought, scoring his first victory since the 2015 race at Pocono. The win and runner-up finishes this weekend vaulted Hunter-Reay into fourth place in the championship standings.
Ryan’s Andretti teammate Alexander Rossi looked poised to win the race, after earning pole position earlier this morning in the rain. Rossi led 46 of the 70 laps at Belle Isle today, but saw his seven-second lead over second place evaporate in the closing laps. With seven laps remaining, Rossi locked up his tires and slid into the runoff in Turn 3, as Hunter-Reay slipped by to grab the lead. To his credit, Hunter-Reay was putting down some of the fastest laps of the race, and was clearly the fastest car on the circuit. It is the 17th career win for the American driver.
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Race 2 Box Score
One week after the high point of his career, Will Power was back to his usual self and was able to finish in second place on Sunday. Ed Jones joined them on the podium, in what was a fantastic weekend for Chip Ganassi Racing. Scott Dixon followed up his win yesterday with a 4th place finish today. Jones finished 6th yesterday and was on the podium today. Graham Rahal rounded out the top five on Sunday, a nice bounceback after his vicious hit in yesterday’s race.
Robert Wickens started on the front row today, and had another solid race to finish in 6th place. Tony Kanaan had a much better race today than yesterday, and finished in 7th for AJ Foyt Racing. Charlie Kimball also had a much improved day on Sunday, and scored a top ten finish for Carlin Racing. Marco Andretti followed up his 4th place result yesterday with a 9th place finish today. Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top ten.
Rossi’s tires couldn’t hold up after the lock up, and he was forced to pit. He finished in 12th today, and was very disappointed after knowing another win was in the bag. Despite the result, it was still a tremendous weekend for Andretti Autosport. They were fastest in Friday’s practice, earned two poles, three podium finishes, led 93 total laps, and the win today. Following his win today, Hunter-Reay kept his promise from yesterday and jumped in the fountain in victory lane.
Sebastien Bourdais had a rough weekend, finishing 13th yesterday, and 21st today after a bent left rear toe link. He climbed through the field today and was on his way to a top five finish, but the damage to the car ended those chances. James Hinchcliffe also had a weekend to forget. After missing out on the biggest race in the world a week ago, he returned to the track this weekend and finished 11th and 16th, respectively.
Josef Newgarden finished in 9th place yesterday, and today came home in 15th position. Heading into the Indianapolis 500, Newgarden was leading the championship. Following today’s race, he is now in 5th place in the standings. The defending series champion will have some work to do in the next few races to catch those ahead of him. Power now leads Dixon by 5 points, and Rossi sits in third.
After the Month of May activities, and this weekend’s double header event, the series now heads to the Lonestar State, for the first night race of the season. The fan favorite Texas Motor Speedway oval will host its 30th IndyCar race on Saturday night. Qualifying will take place at 4 PM ET on June 8, with the race on June 9. Coverage for the DXC Technology 600 at Texas begins at 8 PM ET on NBC Sports Network.
Photos courtesy of IndyCar
Driver Quotes
Josef Newgarden: “It was a rough day. We did what we could and we fought hard, but just didn’t come up with much from a results standpoint. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but sometimes you have days like this. It was fun having Hitachi here this weekend. They are super supportive of our race team, so I’m disappointed we couldn’t do a little better for them and especially for Team Chevy too. We will go to the next one.”
Matheus Lesit: “We probably had the pace to be in the top 10. We got a great start, but it just was not our day today. I’m learning a little bit more every time (on saving fuel), but it’s time to start running at the front, not the back. Hopefully, we’ll have a good race next weekend.”
James Hinchcliffe: “A really disappointing day for us. The Arrow Electronics car changed a lot from yesterday, which we weren’t expecting… Ultimately, our day was dealt a blow when we pitted after a car spun on track thinking it was going to be a yellow, and the yellow just didn’t come out; it just really compromised our strategy. We lost a ton of track position, lost a lot of time behind guys on the two-stop strategy. It was one of those days where if it could go wrong, it did. Unfortunate way to end the weekend because the cars genuinely had pace. We’ll put our heads down and be stronger in Texas.”
Robert Wickens: “Mixed emotions today. When you start on the front row, you hope to be fighting for a podium. Unfortunately, we just couldn’t find the balance to increase the tire longevity to compete. We committed to the three-stop strategy pretty early on and we took the lead for a little bit in the second stint, and I honestly thought things were looking pretty good. We had to pit a bit early, which is how we lost out to (Ryan) Hunter-Reay and then we just kept losing track position not coming out in clean air. Coming home in the Lucas Oil car P6 – we can’t really complain… We qualified third on Saturday, second today, so you hope to at least finish in the top five both days. I think we are a little disappointed, but a good points weekend.”
Scott Dixon: “That was a job well done there by the whole PNC Bank team. I’m just not sure what happened to the red (Firestone alternate) tires there as they just really fell off and went away on us. We didn’t really change anything on the car from yesterday other than a few little things to stabilize the rear end. It was a good day overall for us and we got some good points.”
Ed Jones: “It was a fantastic day for the NTT DATA team. The guys really did a good job with the car this weekend. We started off a bit slow, but the important thing is that we improved every session and earned our way here today. Today’s podium was another step in the right direction for the No. 10 NTT DATA team and I’m looking forward to getting back after it at Texas in a few short days.”Will Power: “I feel like this was about as good as we could get, given how fast (Ryan) Hunter-Reay was. There was just no way anyone was going to beat him. We just seemed to struggle a little bit on full tanks and cold tires, but very happy with the result. You know, I feel like with what we had, that’s the most that we could have got out of that race, so very happy.”
Tony Kanaan: “Great day for us. I had to redeem myself for this morning. The good part about it, what is awesome is when your boss (A.J. Foyt) is behind you regardless what happens. I was really down after qualifying today because I made a mistake. It looked like he was trying to find the reason that I crashed so that it wasn’t my fault. I said, ‘A.J. it was my fault.’ So that gives me a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation just to go and do it. And the guys did a great job in the pits. We had a fast car. I had a lot of fun. I’m exhausted, but it’s our best result of the season so far at one of the most difficult tracks and with one of our worst qualifiers. So pretty happy.”Graham Rahal: “I’m definitely proud of the performance and the effort that everyone on the United Rentals team put in. The guys did an amazing job last night. We had to switch to a backup and they were here until 12:30 in the morning. Luckily it was a bit of a late start today, but the guys got very little rest, but again, they put a car on the track that had no mechanical issues, no problems whatsoever. It was a decent points day. We should have put it all together yesterday, but that’s on me. I’m obviously still a little upset with myself from yesterday, but overall it was a good rebound today.”
Sebastien Bourdais: “It’s a shame. We struggled all weekend and then finally hit on something for the race. The SealMaster Honda No. 18 car was really good, and for the first time this weekend, I was finally able to race with people. It looked like we were going to have a top-five finish, then I barely touched the wall in Turn 7 and bent the left rear toe link. It collapsed in Turn 1, sent me into a massive spin and that was that. I feel bad for the guys. They worked hard all weekend and did a good job in the pits. We just have to move on and see what we can do in Texas.”
Santino Ferrucci: “I can’t thank the guys on the No. 19 Paysafe crew at Dale Coyne Racing enough. From the engineering team to the mechanics, they gave me an absolute stellar race car. I’m just upset, being a rookie, that I made a rookie mistake coming out of the pits and spinning the car. Despite that, we showed incredible pace throughout the race. These guys really deserve a good finish. I’m very happy that I was able to come out and participate this weekend in Detroit and I hope to be back.”Jordan King: “It was a long, long race. The only thing keeping me motivated was my lap time delta. I was just trying to beat my lap time delta every lap. Our speed was all right – we maybe could have had a top 10, but the first stint did not allow for that. We struggled a bit with the reds (Firestone alternate tires) and probably stayed out a bit long. By the time the pit sequence was through, we were a big chunk of time behind people. After that, on the blacks (Firestone primary tires), we were all right. Pace seemed pretty good, but I had no one behind and no one in front – it was just a long race.”
Spencer Pigot: “It wasn’t just a spin, I got hit from behind by (Santino Ferrucci). First, we banged wheels, then he just kind of punted me in Turn 5. It is very disappointing to end the race this way. The Fuzzy’s Vodka was strong yesterday and we were hoping to move forward in today’s race. It’s unfortunate when drivers come into the series and do silly things like that because they don’t respect that all of us are out here racing every weekend for the championship.”
Simon Pagenaud: “Today was defiantly better than yesterday. We made big progress on the car. Still not enough though. We rallied as a team. It was a much more decent showing. We need to continue to progress and evolve. Street courses are definitely our weakest area at the moment. We are going to be on the superspeedway next week and we have been strong on those. We are going to try and get a hat and cowboy boots, especially with DXC being the title sponsor of the event. Overall, tough weekend and a lot of adversity, but the team did a great job.”Charlie Kimball: “I’m really proud of the resiliency of this Carlin team. We didn’t get the job done all that well this morning in qualifying, but we had a nice clean race, good solid pit stops, and a really good strategy. It felt like I raced pretty cleanly and we had good pace in clean air, which helped us get good mileage when we needed to. I’m just so happy for the No. 23 car guys for getting a top-eight finish today. With Max (Chilton) coming home in the top 11 today, hopefully, we can get both of us into the top 10 in Texas next weekend.”
Zach Veach: “I felt like it was a much better race for the Relay team today even though the results didn’t show it. We got caught up in the beginning with our Reds (Firestone alternate tires) falling off, so we had to switch from a two-stop to a three-stop strategy – which was something we were hoping we wouldn’t have to do. I feel like that cost us and placed us back in the 10th to 15th range. Everybody did an incredible job from my Relay crew to my engineer, Garrett. I’m just thankful we were able to walk away with two average finishes. That’s what this rookie year is all about – learning from each race and I can honestly say we’ve learned a lot so far.”
Alexander Rossi: “It was a pretty disappointing day considering we led the most laps and started on pole. For sure we didn’t have the pace for Ryan (Hunter-Reay) – he was just on another level. So hats off to him and the DHL team, they certainly deserved to win. But the Ruoff Home Mortgage car definitely had a second-place finish in it. Unfortunately, with less than 10 laps to go, our luck changed. We’re not really sure what happened, we’re going to investigate to see if something went wrong because it was a very abnormal issue to have when we hadn’t experienced anything remotely similar all weekend.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay: “You know, after I took that second set of blacks, the Firestone primary tires, I started to get in sync with the car and the balance started coming to me. I was really worried in the beginning because we were really loose, and then as I got into a rhythm, the car was doing everything I needed it to – everything. When we started that last stint, (Alexander) Rossi was more than a straightaway ahead of us. I couldn’t even see him. I just put my head down and this thing was flying. It was such a great car. I’m so happy for this No. 28 DHL Honda team. I wish my wife and the boys were here with me because they’re the best, and this has been a bit of a long time coming. That was going to be a heck of a fight at the end, but good thing we pressured him (Rossi) into it and we’re here in victory lane. It’s awesome – this car deserves to be where it is right now. That was a heck of a car, heck of a strategy, great in the pit lane and I drove my rear end off.”
Takuma Sato: “It was a tough day. I think everything was against us; the strategy, timing and when we caught the traffic. At one stage, we were competitive, but it was not so long. Once we caught the tail of the group, it was so difficult to overtake. I tried really hard. It’s a shame there were no yellows, so today was really tough to have that aggressive strategy work.”Max Chilton: “It was a solid day, but a long day. It was basically a green race apart from the start. We had more pace today than we had yesterday and the team had really great stops every time we came in. I think I did the best mileage that I’ve done in my entire career by them telling me the fuel number and me sticking to it. Unfortunately, Charlie (Kimball) got me in the last stint and then I was in the marbles and was passed by a few others. We then had their pace and got one back, but it dropped us just out of the top 10. This has been a positive afternoon for the team as a whole, though, and we’ll concentrate, moving forwards, on getting both cars in the top 10.”
Gabby Chaves: “Definitely a trying weekend for us in Detroit, especially Race 2 today. I thought we had the right strategy, but one of the cars spun coming out of pit lane and I picked up some debris. This caused us to think the tire was going flat, so we came to the pits, which cost us a lot of time. After that we just wanted to make it cleanly to the finish because we didn’t really have anything to gain at that point. Now we look to Texas next weekend. We finished fifth last year, so I’m hoping we can manage a finish like that again.”Marco Andretti: “The AutoNation car was great this weekend. Unfortunately, today we got caught out in a three-stop strategy and kept getting caught in traffic. The car had the pace, I had the pace, we just couldn’t take advantage of it. We passed a lot of cars today and it was a lot of fun out there, it just wasn’t the result we wanted.”
Fastest 33 