THE LINE
Monday, June 4, 2012 at 11:01AM June 6, 2012
(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Scott Dixon (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished 1.9628 seconds ahead of Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti (No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Unilever Honda) to win the Chevrolet Indy Grand Prix on Belle Isle in Detroit. Dixon, the pole sitter, led all 60 laps in the race shortened from 90 laps because of a two-hour red flag for crews to repair three sections of patched asphalt and concrete on the 14-turn course. Dixon earned his 28th Indy car victory, passing Johnny Rutherford for 11th on the all-time list. Rick Mears (29) is next up.
(Dan R. Boyd - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Dario Franchitti, who was under the weather most of the weekend with flu-like symptoms, followed-up his Indy 500 win with an impressive charge up to second place. "I thought in the first couple of laps I had a chance, but I couldn't, he was too quick," Franchitti said. And with our car breaking the front wing early on, the more the run went on, the more under steer it got. But that's not to take anything away from the job Dixie did, and a 1-2 for Team Target after his brilliant qualifying and my abysmal one, we'll take it."
(Phillip G. Abbott - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
Simon Pagenaud (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda) delivered another impressive drive finishing third on Belle Isle and giving Honda a clean sweep of the podium at Chevrolet's "home" race. "Tremendous day for Honda," Pagenaud said. "The guys have done such a great job providing us with a super good power plant, today is just the testament to all the work. Also I've got to thank my team, Sam Schmidt Hamilton Racing, and it's amazing to be a one-car team and fighting against Penske and Ganassi, I've found like it's living the dream. So we're very happy today. What else can I say, really? It was just a fantastic day for us."
(Dan R. Boyd - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
IZOD IndyCar Series points leader Will Power (No. 12 Team Penske Verizon Chevrolet) salvaged a fourth-place finish in what proved to be another tough day for Team Penske. "A tough day all around for the No. 12 Verizon car," Power commented. We wanted to win this for Roger and Chevrolet and unfortunately we weren't able to go the distance. There is plenty to learn from today to come back better next week. We are still leading the Championship and I'm looking forward to getting back on the ovals."
(Michael L. Levitt - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
"I am super happy for the team - a 1-2 finish for the Target boys for the second week in a row," Dixon said. "Hats off to the fans who stuck around through something that was totally unexpected. I'd like to give a lot of credit to everyone at INDYCAR and the Detroit staff for getting the track back in shape so we could race. The final 15-lap shootout was exciting for me, so I sure hope the fans liked it. It is great to be back in Detroit and I hope we are here for many years to come - great fans, volunteers and staff. In the end, it was a good week for everyone." With his first win of the season Dixon passed Helio Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe to move to second in the championship standings, closing to within 26 of Power.
(Michael L. Levitt - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
A delay of 1 hour, 59 minutes, 46 seconds to repair the track surface that was breaking-up marred the race. The red flag was displayed at 4:53 p.m. (ET) - about 68 minutes after the start of the race - as IndyCar Race Director Beaux Barfield called the cars onto pit lane following the first full-course yellow flag of the race on Lap 40 when James Hinchcliffe's No. 27 GoDaddy.com car struck a slice of asphalt that sent him into the tire barrier in Turn 7. Almost simultaneously, the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing car of Takuma Sato slid into the Turn 12 wall. Though it was unforeseen, it put a definite damper on the proceedings no matter how much Detroit race officials tried to spin it. Next up for the IZOD IndyCar Series is the Firestone 550K on June 9 at Texas Motor Speedway. The race will be televised by NBC Sports Network at 8 p.m. (ET) and broadcast by the IMS Radio Network on SiriusXM (XM 94 and Sirius 212).
(Michael L. Levitt - INDYCAR/LAT Photo USA 2012)
21-year-old Colombian Gustavo Yacaman (No. 2 TMR-Tuvacol-Xtreme Coil Drilling) started sixth on the 2.07-mile Detroit Belle Isle street course and went on to the win in the Firestone Indy Lights Series. The race, scheduled for 45 laps, was switched to a timed event because of extended barrier repair from a Lap 14 incident involving the No. 15 Younessi Racing car driven by Peter Dempsey. Forty laps were completed. Carlos Munoz (No. 26 Andretti Autosport Team Dialy-Ser) finished 0.1638 of a second behind Yacaman. It was the second-closest road/street course finish in the series. Oliver Webb finished third in the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car to match his best result in Firestone Indy Lights.
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out this cool video from Nissan covering the Le Mans test day this past Sunday. See the fabulous DeltaWing and more! - PMD
(Mark Weber/SCCA)
Johnny O’Connell, of Flowery Branch, Ga., swept both races Saturday and Sunday in the Pirelli World Challenge Cadillac V-Series Challenge at Belle Isle. O’Connell took his No. 3 Cadillac Racing Cadillac CTS-V to the overall win in the GT class during Sunday's 27-lap Round Seven race, which was shortened to a 50-minute timed event after being slowed twice for 12 laps for full course cautions. The race finished behind the safety car, with the Cadillac averaging a pathetic 66.719 mph in the 56.16-mile race. Lawson Aschenbach (No. 1 Privacy Star/Entrust Porsche 911 GT3) finished second and Alex Figge (No. 9 K-Pax Racing Volvo S60) was third.
(Mark Weber/SCCA)
Joao Barbosa and Darren Law (No. 9 Action Express Racing Corvette DP) won Saturday's Chevrolet GRAND-AM Detroit 200 at Belle Isle. David Donohue was second in the No. 5 Action Express Racing Corvette DP he co-drove with Terry Borcheller, just .440 seconds behind at the finish. Scott Pruett, who led for two of the 72 laps in the first half of the race, finished third in the No. 01 TELMEX BMW/Riley co-driven by Memo Rojas.
Jordan Taylor – co-driving the No. 88 Autohaus Motorsports Camaro GT.R with Paul Edwards - won in the Grand Touring (GT) class. Jonathan Bomarito/Sylvain Tremblay were second in the No. 70 Mazdaspeed/ModSpace/Castrol Mazda RX-8 and the Robin Liddell/John Edwards No. 57 Stevenson Auto Group Chevrolet Camaro GT.R. was third.
Editor-in-Chief's Note: Check out Michelin's racing website - "Michelin Alley" - and get in on all of the behind-the-scenes buzz. Go here. - PMD
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