In Saturday’s first race of the Verizon IndyCar Series’ doubleheader at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park, Helio Castroneves’ bid for victory was undone by a pit strategy that didn’t work out.
But in today’s 70-lapper on the unforgiving street circuit, Castroneves followed through on his strong pace throughout the weekend and withstood a couple of late restarts to claim his third career victory (CART – 2000, 2001) on the island in the Detroit River.
His triumph completed a Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit sweep for Team Penske, whose namesake, Roger Penske, was a driving force in bringing IndyCar racing back to Belle Isle starting in 2012. Penske teammate and Dual 1 winner Will Power overcame an early drive-through penalty for avoidable contact to finish second today.
“Yesterday, it was the frustration – it was great that Will won but it was frustration for our side because we knew what car we had,” an exuberant Castroneves told ESPN. “But we demonstrated that today.”
Last weekend, Castroneves suffered a narrow defeat at the Indianapolis 500 to Ryan Hunter-Reay, who denied him the chance to earn his fourth win in the world’s greatest race.
But according to the Brazilian, that loss proved motivational for himself and his Penske comrades.
“The Indy 500 – it just [made something click],” he said. “It made us hungry. And here I am, in Victory Circle. I wanted it so bad, and more than anything, I want this championship.
“It’s great to be back here in Victory Circle, especially in the place where I won my first race…I just can’t believe it. This is an awesome day! Whoo-hoo!”
Power and Castroneves both leap-frogged Hunter-Reay in the championship, with the Aussie now holding a 19-point edge going into the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway (Next Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN and NBC Sports Live Extra).
Hunter-Reay, the Indy winner, suffered a second disastrous result in as many days, when he bowed out after 61 laps with an electrical failure. He’s now 27 points behind Power.
As the second half of the race wore on, it appeared Castroneves would have a proper Sunday cruise to the champagne. But his 9.4-second lead over Power was erased when Sebastien Bourdais found the tire barriers in Turn 5 to bring out a race-changing caution with 12 laps to go.
Castroneves was able to get a perfect restart with seven laps left, but shortly after, Marco Andretti knocked Takuma Sato into those same Turn 5 tires to trigger another yellow and bunch up the field again.
That set the stage for one more restart with three to go, but Power didn’t get near Castroneves as the field headed for the green flag. Castroneves promptly pulled away and beat Power to the checkered flag by 1.7 seconds.
After the race, Power admitted that he decided to hang back late.
““Because of Roger, I definitely wasn’t going to race him hard,” he said. “Unless [Castroneves] made a mistake, I wasn’t going to go for a move unless I was close. But, it was a great day for Chevy, Roger at his home track and Chevy’s backyard. It’s just fantastic.”
Power was penalized for a bold move on Lap 1, when he attempted to get past Josef Newgarden on the inside at Turn 3. Instead, he hit Newgarden, who went into the tires and collected Graham Rahal and Justin Wilson with him.
Newgarden, Rahal, and Wilson all continued on, but Power didn’t escape the wrath of Race Control and was tagged for avoidable contact. However, as Power’s aggressive driving in the remainder of the race proved, the penalty did not chasten him one iota.
“I went up the inside and I don’t think Josef saw me,” Power said about the incident. “It wasn’t a very hard hit and I have to see the replay to kind of comment on what the call was.”
Behind the two Penske pilots were two from their arch-rivals at Chip Ganassi Racing. Charlie Kimball and Scott Dixon both roared from the back of the grid to finish third and fourth, respectively; for Kimball, it’s his first IndyCar podium since winning last year at Mid-Ohio.
Both men were able to get past Andretti Autosport’s James Hinchcliffe in the final three-lap dash, causing him to settle for fifth at the track he considers as sort of a second home due to his homeland of Canada being nearby.
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES – CHEVROLET INDY DUAL IN DETROIT, RACE 2
Belle Isle Park
Unofficial Results in order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, team-engine, and reason out (if any):
1. (3) Helio Castroneves, Penske-Chevy
2. (8) Will Power, Penske-Chevy
3. (20) Charlie Kimball, Ganassi-Chevy
4. (22) Scott Dixon, Ganassi-Chevy
5. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Andretti-Honda
6. (7) Simon Pagenaud, SPM-Honda
7. (16) Mikhail Aleshin, SPM-Honda
8. (6) Carlos Munoz, Andretti-Honda
9. (17) Tony Kanaan, Ganassi-Chevy
10. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Ganassi-Chevy
11. (4) Mike Conway, Carpenter-Chevy
12. (13) Justin Wilson, Coyne-Honda
13. (15) Juan Pablo Montoya, Penske-Chevy
14. (19) Jack Hawksworth, Herta-Honda
15. (12) Carlos Huertas, Coyne-Honda
16. (18) Marco Andretti, Andretti-Honda
17. (10) Josef Newgarden, SFHR-Honda, -1 lap
18. (1) Takuma Sato, Foyt-Honda, -1 lap
19. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti-Honda, Lap 61 – Electrical
20. (11) Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH-Chevy, Lap 58 – Contact
21. (14) Graham Rahal, RLL-Honda, Lap 43 – Contact
22. (9) Sebastian Saavedra, KV/AFS-Chevy, Lap 9 – Contact
Race Statistics: Winner’s average speed: 93.211 mph; Time of race: One hour, 45 minutes, 53.3410 seconds; Margin of victory: 1.6836 seconds; Cautions: 4 for 13 laps; Lead changes: 7 among 7 drivers.
Lap Leaders: Sato, 1-10; Hinchcliffe, 11-20; Conway, 21-24; Power, 25-26; Aleshin, 27; Castroneves, 28-33; Hawksworth, 34; Castroneves, 35-70.
Point Standings: Power 326, Castroneves 307, Hunter-Reay 299, Pagenaud 247, Andretti 227, Munoz 210, Montoya 187, Dixon 184, Wilson 173, Bourdais 170.