Castroneves tops tow, non-tow charts Tuesday at IMS on a tough day for Honda

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Helio Castroneves led both the overall and non-tow speed charts during Tuesday’s practice session for the 99th Indianapolis 500.

The driver of the No. 3 Verizon/Shell Team Penske Chevrolet posted a 227.514 mph to lead the overall speed charts, and along with teammate Simon Pagenaud (227.382), the two were the first into the 227 mph bracket this month.

Right near the end of the six-hour session, Castroneves popped off the fastest lap without a tow to this point, at  225.315 mph. Sage Karam had been the fastest without a tow prior to that, at 224.035 mph.

Scott Dixon was third overall, followed by Justin Wilson and Townsend Bell.

Wilson’s day ended early and capped off a tough day for Honda-powered cars at the Speedway.

Near the end of the session, the popular Englishman pulled off entering Turn 1 with plumes of smoke out the back of his No. 25 Andretti Autosport Honda.

It was the third mechanical related issue of the day for Honda. James Jakes also had smoke out the rear of his No. 7 Mediatech Advertising Honda (see below) and, most dramatically, a fuel leak caused an inferno for Andretti’s fifth driver this month, Simona de Silvestro in the No. 29 TE Connectivity Honda.

Per Indianapolis Star reporter Curt Cavin, Wilson’s was nearing a change while Jakes’ was relatively new.

A total of 34 driver/car combinations took time, with the only driver not to go out the 1996 Indianapolis 500 champion Buddy Lazier, who is expected to be on a short engine program (reduced mileage) in his No. 91 Lazier Racing Partners Chevrolet.

Of the 34, Marco Andretti ran in both his No. 27 Snapple Honda and Carlos Munoz’s No. 26 Cinsay/AndrettiTV.com Honda (the latter for four laps), while Dale Coyne Racing’s No. 19 Honda got its first running of the month with James Davison.

Davison is not confirmed yet for the remainder of the month, but is the likeliest candidate to continue behind the wheel even despite a conflict next weekend in Canada where he will be unable to qualify the No. 19 Honda. He’ll be racing in the Pirelli World Challenge races in the No. 33 AE Nissan GT Academy Nissan GT-R NISMO GT3 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Alex Tagliani, in the No. 48 A.J. Foyt Enterprises Honda, went out for an installation lap while teammate Jack Hawksworth in the No. 41 ABC Supply Co. Honda turned his first flying laps of the week after not running on Monday.

Speeds are below. Best overall speeds are the first column (227 and change) with best non-tow speeds to the right (225 on down).

source:

IndyCar results, points after Detroit Grand Prix

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DETROIT — Alex Palou topped the results of an NTT IndyCar Series race for the second time this season, extending his championship points lead with his victory in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver, who also won the GMR Grand Prix (and the Indy 500 pole position) last month, holds a 51-point lead over teammate Marcus Ericsson (ninth at Detroit) through seven of 17 races this season.

Ganassi, which placed all four of its drivers in the top 10 at Detroit, has three of the top four in the championship standings with Scott Dixon ranked fourth after a fourth at Detroit.

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Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden is third in the standings after taking a 10th at Detroit. Pato O’Ward slipped to fifth in the points after crashing and finishing 26th

Here are the IndyCar results and points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:


RESULTS

Click here for the official box score from the 100-lap race on a nine-turn, 1.645-mile street course in downtown Detroit.

Lap leader summary

Full lap chart

Best section times

Full section data

Event summary

Pit stop summary

Here is the finishing order in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (1) Alex Palou, Honda, 100, Running
2. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 100, Running
3. (9) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 100, Running
4. (4) Scott Dixon, Honda, 100, Running
5. (13) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 100, Running
6. (12) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 100, Running
7. (2) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 100, Running
8. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 100, Running
9. (6) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 100, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 100, Running
11. (24) Colton Herta, Honda, 100, Running
12. (17) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 100, Running
13. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 100, Running
14. (20) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 100, Running
15. (15) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 100, Running
16. (18) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 100, Running
17. (25) Jack Harvey, Honda, 100, Running
18. (14) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 100, Running
19. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 100, Running
20. (19) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 97, Running
21. (22) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 97, Running
22. (26) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 97, Running
23. (21) David Malukas, Honda, 85, Contact
24. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 80, Contact
25. (27) Graham Rahal, Honda, 50, Contact
26. (10) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 41, Contact
27. (16) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 1, Contact

Winner’s average speed: 80.922 mph; Time of Race: 02:01:58.1171; Margin of victory: 1.1843 seconds; Cautions: 7 for 32 laps; Lead changes: 10 among seven drivers. Lap Leaders: Palou 1-28; Power 29-33; O’Ward 34; Palou 35-55; Power 56-64; Palou 65; Rossi 66; Newgarden 67-68; Kirkwood 69; Ericsson 70-76; Palou 77-100.


POINTS

Click here for the points tally in the race.

Here are the points standings after the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix:

Drivers

Entrants

Engine manufacturers

Pit stop performance

Top 10 in points: Palou 273, Ericsson 222, Newgarden 203, Dixon 194, O’Ward 191, Rossi 176, McLaughlin 175, Power 172, Herta 149, Rosenqvist 148.

Rest of the standings: Grosjean 145, Kirkwood 142, Lundgaard 136, Ilott 116, VeeKay 108, Ferrucci 105, Armstrong 101, Rahal 99, Malukas 91, Daly 88, DeFrancesco 81, Castroneves 80, Harvey 78, Canapino 77, Pagenaud 72, Pedersen 61, Robb 55, Takuma Sato 37, Ed Carpenter 27, Ryan Hunter-Reay 20, Tony Kanaan 18, Marco Andretti 13, RC Enerson 5, Katherine Legge 5.

Next race: IndyCar will head to Road America for the Sonsio Grand Prix, which will take place June 18 with coverage starting at 1 p.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.