Simon Pagenaud passed second place finisher Graham Rahal in the late stages of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and drove off to claim his second Veizon IndyCar Series victory in a row. Rahal took the lead from the eventual race winner at lap 82 when contact was made between the two speedsters. The hit pushed Simon Pagenaud briefly off of the Alabama road course but the #22 Roger Penske-owned machine would recover and return the favor four laps later.
After passing Rahal with a swift inside move on the snaking turns with a little over four laps to go, it was apparent that there would be no catching Pagenaud. The victory was the PPG Automotive Refinish-sponsored driver’s second trip to victory lane in as many weeks.
“In the end, Graham really caught up and he gave me a good piece of driving that was amazing from him,” Simon Pagenaud said. “I put my hat off to him for that. He got me really excited … after I went off track. I said, ‘Yeah, I’m going to get that one back no matter what.’ We had so much pace in the car that I could get back to him, and then it was about being aggressive.”
“We are just on a roll,” Simon Pagenaud said. “The car is amazing and I am so comfortable driving that PPG car. We made it exciting at the end for the fans, which is great. I am happy there was some action.”
Runner-up racer Graham Rahal managed to lead six revolutions throughout the Honda Indy Gran Prix of Alabama and did all he could to put himself in position to win the event. Simon Pagenaud just carried to much speed for the #15 Penn Grade Motor Oil hot-rod to keep up in the final circuits. Rahal blamed himself for the loss on Sunday.
“I thought I was the best on the long run all day, and quite simply we just let this one slip today,” Graham Rahal said. “This one I feel like should have been ours. I let the guys down. I definitely felt like at the end we had the car to beat and just kind of took my eye off the ball there for a second when Jack was in front of us and I looked down, pressed push-to-pass and by the time I looked up and got my reaction, it was a little too late. … Just had a brain lapse there for a second and I got into the back of Jack.”
Josef Newgarden finished strong in the third position. The #21 Fuzzy’s Vodka/ Direct Supply Chevrolet started the race in the same position and had enough speed to hold of the rest of the field behind him for a satisfying podium spot.
The two Verizon-sponsored Chevrolets of Roger Penske Racing rounded out the top five, finishing fourth and fifth. Will Power had just enough handling to keep teammate Juan Pablo Montoya at bay. It should be noted the Montoya started dead last in the 21st spot and finished an impressive fifth, considering the work he had to put in passing the talented drivers ahead of him.
“At the start of the race, if you would have told me I would have finished fifth, I wouldn’t have believed it. I’m pretty happy where we finished and now we look ahead to Indy,” said Montoya, the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner.
Scott Dixon, the 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series champion in the #9 Coca-Cola Chevrolet-sponsored machine from Chip Ganassi Racing, was spun around on lap three by Sebastien Bourdais in the #11 Team Europa/KVSH Racing Chevrolet and fell to 20th position. Dixon recovered and finished 10th. Dixon did set a single race lap record of 1 minute and 8.45 seconds.
Helio Castroneves in the last of the Roger Penske=owned Chevrolets came in seventh, ahead of Charlie Kimble and his #83 Tresiba sponsored race car. Canadian racer James Hinchcliffe refused to let the field pass him on the final few revolutions and held on for a sturdy sixth place finish.
The Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was completed in 1:48 minutes and there was only one caution that occurred during the very first lap of the contest. The average speed of the competing cars was 114.254 miles per hour and there were a total of only four lead changes throughout the afternoon.
Simon Pagenaud has collected 188 points in the first quarter of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season and holds a 48 point advantage over last years champion Scott Dixon. The series heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the historic month of May that includes the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 14, followed by the 100th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
Final Results for the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama:
1. (1) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
2. (6) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.
3. (3) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
4. (2) Will Power, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
5. (21) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
6. (8) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.
7. (7) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
8. (9) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
9. (10) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
10. (4) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevrolet, 90, Running.
11. (18) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.
12. (19) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.
13. (16) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.
14. (15) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.
15. (20) Alexander Rossi, Dallara-Honda, 90, Running.
16. (5) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running.
17. (13) Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda, 89, Running.
18. (12) Luca Filippi, Dallara-Honda, 89, Running.
19. (14) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 89, Running.
20. (17) Conor Daly, Dallara-Honda, 89, Running.
21. (11) Max Chilton, Dallara-Chevrolet, 89, Running.
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