IndyCar Category

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Spencer Pigot came into Sunday’s second dual of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle Park with confidence after scoring his first top-10 of the season Saturday. That all changed after the opening lap. Pigot was hit from behind by Santino Ferrucci in Turn 5 shortly after the green flag flew, sending the third-year veteran into the wall. The other Verizon IndyCar Series competitors were able to dodge Pigot’s helpless No. 21 Fuzzy’s Vodka Chevrolet, but the accident brought out the only full-course cautionRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT – The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix was a Honda-dominated affair. Hondas took both Verizon IndyCar Series poles, won both races and led the majority of the laps in-between, leaving the Bowtie’s biggest “highlight” to be a crashed Corvette pace car in the parade laps before Sunday’s race. It was a difficult weekend for Chevrolet, just down the road from their Detroit corporate offices in Belle Isle. But Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power helped the manufacturer salvage something good out of the doubleheader. Power deliveredRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT — It all happened so fast. One moment Alexander Rossi found himself in the lead, poised to go three-for-three in wins following poles in his young Verizon IndyCar Series career, fending off Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay and holding onto the series points lead in the process. The next moment he was in the Turn 3 runoff area, his race ruined. “Honestly I have no idea,” Rossi said when asked what happened. Rossi led a race-high 46 laps in the 70-lap Race 2 of the Chevrolet DetroitRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT – In Saturday’s first Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, Ryan Hunter-Reay fell just shy of claiming his first victory in three seasons. On Sunday he wouldn’t be denied. Hunter-Reay overcame a 10th-place starting position with a three-stop strategy and pressured Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi into a late mistake to secure Sunday’s Race 2 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. The victory was the Floridian’s 15th-career triumph, and his first since Pocono Raceway in August 2015. While Hunter-Reay ended up in victory lane at day’s end, early onRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT — The traditional Belle Isle attrition started before the green flag on the final day of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. Mark Reuss, General Motors executive vice president of global product development, purchasing and supply chain, was piloting the Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car through the 2.35-mile Belle Isle Park circuit when he lost control of the machine, careening into the left-side wall and forcing heavy damage to the car. WOW THE PACE CAR WRECKED! A big hit too! #detroitgp #indycar A GM employeeRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT – Alexander Rossi will lead the Verizon IndyCar Series field to the green in Race 2 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix after laying down the fastest lap in a wet morning qualifying session. Rossi’s quick time of 1:33.3143 served as the top circuit in Group 2, elevating the Californian to his third-career IndyCar pole. Andretti Autosport swept the weekend’s two qualifying sessions, with Marco Andretti securing the pole for Saturday’s first IndyCar race. Following Rossi in Group 2 were Indianapolis 500 champion Will Power, Saturday winner ScottRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer DETROIT –Ryan Hunter-Reay only finished 1.8249 seconds behind Chevrolet Dual in Detroit race one winner Scott Dixon, but he wasn’t entirely pleased with his Saturday effort on the streets of Belle Isle. “Today we got hosed on qualifying,” said Hunter-Reay. “The officials completely checked out on the whole deal and that would’ve given us two extra spots on the grid, maybe that was enough to make the difference. “You just can’t give up anything in this series; you can’t give up two feet, you can’t giveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer The first race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle Park in Detroit was unkind to both Graham Rahal and Verizon IndyCar Series debutant Santino Ferrucci, ending their Saturday afternoons on the hook after separate crashes with less than 25 laps to go. Rahal was running a two-stop strategy as the only driver to have started the race on the black primary Firestone tires. Eventually, he pitted for the softer reds on Lap 26, but struggled adapting on those alternate rubber. As theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Prior to Belle Isle the sophomore slump had plagued Chip Ganassi Racing driver Ed Jones. In the first six races of the Verizon IndyCar Series season, the former Dale Coyne Racing shoe failed to finish three races, including last Sunday’s Indianapolis 500 – where he was transported to the hospital after a Turn 1 crash. Jones soldiered onto Detroit to turn his season around. In the end the United Arab Emirates native did just that – providing a quiet, consistent run. Last year’s Verizon IndyCarRead More

By Aaron Bearden, Open Wheel Editor DETROIT — Marco Andretti delivered his best finish of 2018 at Belle Isle Park, finishing fourth in Saturday’s Race 1 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. It was a good result. But Andretti felt it could have been much more. “I guess you’ve gotta be happy, right?,” Andretti told Motorsports Tribune after the race. “But the frustrating thing is that we went backwards, and our teammates beat us again. “It’s really getting frustrating.” Andretti stole the show early on in the first of twoRead More