Race 1
Bourdais moves up all-time wins chart with Chevrolet Dual in Detroit victory
Sebastien Bourdais compared the first race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans to a game of Texas hold ’em. The KVSH Racing driver had the winning hand today, making history in the process.
Bourdais, the four-time Indy car season champion, won by 2.0401 seconds over Conor Daly in the 70-lap race on the 2.35-mile temporary street course at Belle Isle Park. It was the 37-year-old Frenchman’s 35th career victory, tying him with Bobby Unser for sixth on the all-time list.
“It’s like playing poker,” Bourdais said. “You know what hand you have right now at the moment, but every bet you make is going to work or not work based on what’s going to happen later on. You just have to make decisions and today we just got the lucky hand. The guys in the pits made the right call. Thankfully I didn’t make any mistakes, ran pretty well and pretty strong.”
Starting 13th in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing Chevrolet, Bourdais fell as low as 19th after pitting early to change to the black-sidewall Firestone primary tires most drivers preferred in the race. He charged to fourth by Lap 32 but didn’t take the race lead until Lap 55 when reigning Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon made his final pit stop.
Bourdais stopped for fuel only two laps later, and when Daly needed to pit for a splash of Sunoco E85R ethanol on Lap 61, Bourdais regained the lead and took it to the checkered flag. On the heels of winning the second race of the 2015 Dual in Detroit, Bourdais has now won two consecutive Belle Isle races.
This year’s second Chevrolet Dual in Detroit, also scheduled for 70 laps, is Sunday (3 p.m. ET on the Advance Auto Parts INDYCAR Radio Network and 3:30 p.m. on ABC). It leaves Bourdais little time to savor the company he joined among Indy car racing’s all-time greats, three-time Indy 500 winner Unser, who also won 35 races.
“Every time you move up the ranks like this, you feel like you belong even more in a very elite group, a very small group of extremely talented drivers, some obviously who are legends,” Bourdais said. “I don’t know that I want to compare myself to any of those.”
Daly, meanwhile, was elated with second place, his best finish in 13 career Verizon IndyCar Series races.
“I am a happy human,” the 24-year-old American and Verizon IndyCar Series rookie said. “I have to continue to remember this is my first year, right? Everything has been all over the place up until this. To be on the podium my first year, it’s a really rewarding experience. I just hope I can do more, obviously.”
Team Penske’s quartet of drivers dominated the race early, with championship leader Simon Pagenaud, 2014 series champion Will Power and 1999 Indy car champion Juan Pablo Montoya leading the first 53 laps. But Pagenaud ran out of fuel on the final lap, finishing 13th, and Power’s day ended when a wheel nut on his car came loose on Lap 45, forcing him to pull off course.
Montoya finished third in the No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, his best result since winning the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in March.
“We were trying to play the rain,” Montoya said. “When we restarted, we never really pushed. We were trying to make sure we could make it to the rain and the rain never came. We tried to run a smart race, but it didn’t happen. We got a decent podium out of it, so I’m pretty happy about that.”
Graham Rahal finished fourth in the No. 15 United Rentals Honda, just ahead of Helio Castroneves in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Dixon finished 19th after suffering electrical issues in his No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, but not before setting a track record lap of 1 minute, 14.6675 seconds (113.302 mph) on Lap 30.
Pagenaud retains the championship lead after seven of 16 races with 313 points. Castroneves is second heading into Sunday’s second race with 254 points, ahead of Dixon (247), Carlos Munoz (227), Josef Newgarden (227), Montoya (223) and Alexander Rossi (223), who finished 10th, six days after winning the 100th Indianapolis 500.
Race 2
Power finds way back to Victory Lane in second Chevrolet Dual in Detroit
Will Power’s day didn’t start well, but the Team Penske driver made up for it by winning the second race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans.
Power took the checkered flag 0.9203 of a second ahead of teammate Simon Pagenaud today to collect his 26th career Indy car win, moving the Australian into a tie for 14th on the all-time victory list with Rodger Ward. It was Power’s first win in more than a year, 19 starts ago at the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May 2015.
“It’s been a long time,” a relieved Power radioed to his crew on the cooldown lap from his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.
“It just gives the whole crew some confidence,” said Power, who missed the 2016 season opener at St. Petersburg with an inner-ear infection after winning the pole position for the race. “I think we’ve all kind of been stumbling a little bit, the whole group of us. It’s been a tough start to the year. I missed the first race and just had a few mishaps, and now we’re there.”
Power started today’s race eighth after being penalized for qualifying interference in the morning, taking away what would have been a record-setting lap for pole. Instead, Pagenaud collected the Verizon P1 Award for the second time in as many days with a track-record lap of 1 minute, 14.0279 seconds (114.266 mph) and started up front.
Power was running sixth when he made the deciding move of the race on Lap 53 of 70 around the 2.35-mile temporary street course, passing Pagenaud on the outside headed into Turn 3. With the four cars ahead of him destined to make late stops for Sunoco E85R, Power held his ground and inherited the lead when Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi had to pit for fuel on Lap 61.
“The guys did a great job in the pits, got me out in front of the 28 (Ryan Hunter-Reay),” Power said. “Then obviously on the restart, I thought, ‘I’ve really got to capitalize here, otherwise we’re not going to win.’ I went down outside (to pass Pagenaud).”
“It wasn’t a big risk because it was on the outside. Had I tried to go on the inside, it would have been a much bigger risk. I wasn’t willing to take that with Simon because he’s the championship leader. If I was going to do it, I had to do it on the outside and cleanly. There was a space and I went for it.”
Pagenaud’s runner-up finish was his third this season to go with the three consecutive wins he put together at Long Beach, Barber Motorsports Park and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The driver of the No. 22 Hewlett Packard Enterprise Chevrolet leaves the Belle Isle doubleheader with an 80-point championship lead over Scott Dixon, who finished fifth in the No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.
“(Power) made a great pass and he was very aggressive on the restart,” Pagenaud said. “I didn’t feel comfortable on cold tires. (I had) a really good car on long runs but I struggled on cold tires. He saw it and took his chance and that’s how you win races.
“At that point you’ve got to be smart and think about the big picture. Congratulations to him. There was no point in colliding and trying too hard.”
Hunter-Reay, the 2012 Verizon IndyCar Series champion for Andretti Autosport, finished third in the No. 28 DHL Honda.
“We had good pace, but it wasn’t enough to close up and make a run for Simon or Will,” Hunter-Reay said. “Tough day, very physical circuit, two very physical races. I’m definitely a bit relieved that it’s over at this point.”
Josef Newgarden finished fourth in the No. 21 Preferred Freezer/Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet, with Dixon fifth. Sebastien Bourdais, who won Saturday’s first race of the only doubleheader weekend on the 2016 schedule, led late today but had to stop for fuel and finished eighth in the No. 11 Team Hydroxycut – KVSH Racing Chevy.
The Verizon IndyCar Series returns to oval racing for the Firestone 600 at Texas Motor Speedway on June 10-11, with NBCSN picking up television coverage. Qualifying airs on a tape-delay basis at 6 p.m. ET Friday with the live race telecast beginning at 8 p.m. ET Saturday.
Verizon IndyCar Series point standings:
Pagenaud 357, Dixon 277, Castroneves 271, Newgarden 259, Rossi 242, Munoz 242, Power 240, Kanaan 240, Montoya 233, Kimball 227.
Race 1
1. (13) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 70, Running
2. (16) Conor Daly, Honda, 70, Running
3. (3) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 70, Running
4. (10) Graham Rahal, Honda, 70, Running
5. (2) Helio Castroneves, Chevrolet, 70, Running
6. (5) Carlos Munoz, Honda, 70, Running
7. (15) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 70, Running
8. (8) Charlie Kimball, Chevrolet, 70, Running
9. (7) Tony Kanaan, Chevrolet, 70, Running
10. (17) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 70, Running
11. (11) Takuma Sato, Honda, 70, Running
12. (20) Gabby Chaves, Honda, 70, Running
13. (1) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 70, Running
14. (14) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 70, Running
15. (12) Mikhail Aleshin, Honda, 70, Running
16. (19) Marco Andretti, Honda, 69, Running
17. (21) Spencer Pigot, Chevrolet, 69, Running
18. (4) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 65, Running
19. (6) Scott Dixon, Chevrolet, 56, Electrical
20. (9) Will Power, Chevrolet, 44, Mechanical
21. (18) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 8, Contact
22. (22) Jack Hawksworth, Honda, 0, Mechanical
Race 2
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, 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
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