For the second consecutive year, the streets of Detroit delivered action, in a race that saw Scott Dixon win the Detroit GP. Honda engines made a remarkable comeback post Indy 500, a new driver celebrated his first podium finish, and numerous yellow flags added to the excitement.
Detroit, MI – during the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of Detroit. (Photo by Joe Skibinski | IMS Photo)
Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing claimed his second street circuit victory of the year, showcasing his exceptional fuel-saving skills to secure the top spot on the podium in Detroit. Joining Dixon on the podium was his former teammate, Marcus Ericsson and his current teammate, rookie Marcus Armstrong, who celebrated his first career podium finish.
The chaos begins
The field of 27 cars face the green flag in the streets of Detroit. Only for a near 2 turns. In turn 3, the hair pin, a passive pile up occurs. Will Power and Theò Pourchaire make contact.
Christian Lundgaard lunges to the inside of the hairpin that then forces Power, Pourchaire, Rossi, Harvey, O’Ward, Lundqvist and Ferrucci to pile up on the outside of turn 3. This is the first of many full course cautions.
The drivers see the green flag for the restart on lap 4. Lundgaard overtakes Dixon on the 45’s alternate tires. Palou then drops to 7th position by lap 11 and pits for new tires on lap 12. The drivers begin complaining about graining on the alternate green Firestone tires.
On lap 16, Ferrucci hits the 66 car of temporary stand in driver, Helio Castorneves, spinning his car to stop at the apex of turn 5. Kyffin Simpson, with no place to go, contacts the number 66 car. Ferrucci receives a slam dunk drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
After the full course yellow is flown, most of the grid opens a large pit cycle on lap 18.
Lap 22, the drivers restart and Scott McLaughlin overtakes Kyle Kirkwood.
Precipitation problems
By lap 24, Christian Rasmussen’s engine starts smoking and heads for the pits.
Lap 28, light sprinkles and rain begins to land on the streets.
Lap 35, Scott McLaughlin locks up on turn 8 and contacts the wall.
Josef Newgarden then heads to pit lane and encounters a rare slow pit stop. The fuel hose was having issues depositing fuel, causing a long stop.
By lap 36, cars are beginning to lose traction due to the rain. Teams are then forced to decide to stay on slicks or pit for rain tires.
Lundgaard leads the pack behind the pace car, opting to stay on slicks. Kirkwood following closely in second, also opting to stay on current slick tires. The full course caution stays yellow for abnormally long, favouring those who have stuck with the slick tires. The yellow caution has been flying for so long, the rain begins to stop.
By lap 39, the rain has stopped completely, and the streets are beginning to dry, yet the pace car still leads the drivers. Race control was having a hard time establishing an order.
Finally green
Just when the pace car thought it was getting a break, Rinus Veekay gets turned around in the infamous hairpin.
Lap 41, the drivers finally see green. Kirkwood overtakes Lundgaard on the restart.
Lap 42, the field is under caution, yet again.
Lap 43, Newgarden and Lundgaard both face issues in the pit lane. Lundgaard comes in wide and hits the fresh tire next to his front right tire changer. Newgarden tries to exit his pit box before the front right wheel gun was finished tightening the lug nut.
Later in the race, Newgarden was given a drive-through penalty for a pit box infraction.
On lap 45, another restart is thrown, just to have the caution come out again. This time for pole sitter, Colton Herta.
Herta tried to overtake on the inside of turn 5. The 26 car locked up due to cold tire temperature and ran straight into the short turn-off. The full course caution was waving at lap 47.
Hardly halfway
By the time the drivers see another restart, Lundgaard, Grosjean, Armstrong and Lundqvist get caught in a pile up on turn 3.
On Lap 60, Pourchaire and Felix Rosenqvist make slight contact also on the turn 3 hairpin, thankfully no caution required.
Three laps later, Sting Ray Robb contacts the wall due to McLaughlin making a move on the inside and forcing Robb wide.
In addition to the caution, race control begins giving out penalties. Castroneves received a penalty for not listening to race director rules. Grosjean receives a drive through for receiving full service in a closed pit lane, and Pourchaire is ordered to give up three spots due to contract with Rosenqvist on restart.
Home Stretch
By lap 65, a massive line of cars enter the pit lane under caution for the final cycle. Dixon remains on course, cycling to the top behind the busy pace car.
The field sees another green flag restart.
Shortly after seeing green, Newgarden gets turned around on the hairpin and blocks Alex Palou. The 2 car made slight contact with Kirkwood and spun himself around, forcing Palou with nowhere to go.
On Lap 74, we see the field’s final restart until the chequered flag drops.
The top three cars on the restart includes Dixon, Armstrong, and Kirkwood.
Dixon and Armstrong are forced to fuel save, while Kirkwood and Ericsson behind are pushing until the end.
With 12 laps to go, Ericsson overtakes Kirkwood and begins his hunt for second.
With 2 laps to go, Ericsson overtakes the young Kiwi in the turn 3 hairpin, placing himself behind Dixon.
The chequered flag finally drops nearly two hours after the field of 27 saw the green flag for the first time that afternoon.
Some things never change
The absolute chaos that was the Detroit Grand Prix will be talked about for years to come. The mixed reviews of the bumpy Michigan street circuit sparked major conversations about the future of the 100 lap race.
Despite two Kiwis standing on the podium together, one for the first time in his NTT INDYCAR Series career, some things will never change: Scott Dixon and his ability to sneak out a win when the field least expects it.