Will Power and Team Penske got their first Verizon IndyCar Series victory Sunday when the #12 Verizon sponsored hot-rod took the checkered flag in the second Dual race at Chevrolet Grand Prix in Detroit. Will Power has had a rough start to the 2016 season, getting caught up in wrecks, being haunted by mechanical issues and even losing a wheel during Saturday’s Dual 1 Race at this same venue.
All of this happened after he missed the first race of the season in St. Petersburg, Fla., after starting the season by being diagnosed with a mild concussion that turned out to be an inner ear infection. Power’s victory was his 26th in IndyCar and Roger Penske’s sixth at the Detroit Grand Prix.
“I’m very happy for the Verizon team,” said Will Power, who almost tangled with teammate Juan Pablo Montoya in Dual 1, prompting Montoya to say Power was “desperate” to win and driving “crazy. Great to get the win,” said Power, who started eighth in the race after having his pole-setting time disallowed earlier in the day for hindering Andretti Autosport’s Marco Andretti during qualifying.
Will Power’s teammate Simon Pagenaud had another stellar performance on Sunday. The #22 Hewett Packard Enterprise sponsored machine has found victory lane on three different occasions in 2016 and was out in front with 18 circuits remaining. Pagenaud led a race high 40 laps of the 70 turned but was passed by Will Power with 18 to go and finished in second. The race’s pole sitter was humble about the way the contest unfolded.
“Will made a great pass,” said Pagenaud, the series points’ leader. “It was a great pass. He got me. He had a lot of pace. But it was a great championship points day for us. I’m very happy, very happy with the race.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay and his #28 DHL/AutoNation car raced his way to the third place prize for the Chevrolet Grand Prix in Detroit. The Andretti Autosport stand-out has been fast of late, showing considerable speed in the Indianapolis 500 and again this weekend at Belle Isle Park.
This was Hunter-Reay’s second podium appearance of the 2016 Verizon indyCar Series and moved him into the 13th position in the points standings. The speedster’s post race comments reflect some of the other drivers concerns about the track conditions for the two races.
“It’s unreal how bumpy this place (Belle Isle) is,” Hunter-Reay said. “But it makes for a great race. There at the end, had we had track position, we might have been able to do it. But it’s a solid finish so congratulations to Team Penske, they were the class of the field this weekend. It was great to get Honda on the podium but we are here to win.”
The start of the race began with a four car wreck when Charlie Kimball from Chip Ganassi Racing pinched Carlos Munoz from Andretti Autosports into the Indianapolis pole position winner James Hinchcliffe from Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.
James Hinchcliffe, who hit the wall, and Max Chilton, who got caught up in the mess, sustained enough damage to put the two competitors out of the race before it even really got underway. Also caught up in the debacle was, Takuma Sato from A.J. Foyt Racing, who received damage from the incident but pitted for repairs and returned to the track. Sato finished in the 10th position.
Verizon IndyCar Series stand-out Juan Pablo Montoya had a roller-coaster weekend at Belle Isle Park during the Dual races in Detroit. He finished third in the #2 Verizon sponsored Chevrolet in the first race on Saturday when his race strategy proved to be his demise, as his team waited for rain that ever came. Montoya’s car was clearly a favorite to take the checkered flag if the cards were dealt in his favor.
Sunday was a different story when it went terribly wrong for the Colombian. Juan Pablo Montoya braked hard for Turn nine and the car snapped right and crashed into the concrete wall with brute force. Montoya’s car finally came to rest with heavy damage in Turn seven. Juan Pablo Montoya ended up finishing in 20th, making it a day the former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series star just wanted to forget. Montoya also tangled with Scott Dixon on Lap 22, causing the two veteran stand-outs to once again have to pit for repairs.
The Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit #2 took one hour and 42 minutes to complete and the average speed of the field was 96.414 miles per hour. There were three costly cautions that resulted in nine circuits under yellow and collected three of Verizon IndyCar’s top talent. There were five lead changes among five different drivers and the margin of victory was .920 seconds.
Final Results for the Chevrolet Indy Dual #2 at Belle Isle Park in Detroit:
1. (8) Will Power, Chevrolet, 70, Running
2. (1) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 70, Running
3. (2) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 70, Running
4. (17) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 70, Running
5. (4) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 70, Running
6. (21) Conor Daly, Honda, 70, Running
7. (6) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 70, Running
8. (12) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 70, Running
9. (22) Marco Andretti, Honda, 70, Running
10. (16) Takuma Sato, Honda, 70, Running
11. (7) Graham Rahal, Honda, 70, Running
12. (18) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 70, Running
13. (15) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 70, Running
14. (3) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 70, Running
15. (13) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 70, Running
16. (11) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 70, Running
17. (5) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 70, Running
18. (20) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 67, Running
19. (9) Jack Hawksworth, Jack, Honda, 48, Mechanical
20. (10) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 33, Contact
21. (14) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 0, Contact
22. (19) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 0, Contact
