Round 6 - Detroit
"Dual in Detroit" - Robin Panton
"Dual in Detroit" - Robin Panton
Coming off an exciting and popular Indy 500 last weekend, the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle had a lot to live up to. In my opinion, it did not disappoint.
After a poor start to the season and another DNF at Indy, JR Hildebrand was removed from his seat at Panther Racing this week. Whilst not a huge surprise, it was a disappointment to many fans to see a young American leave the series. Ryan Briscoe was drafted in for this weekend, with Oriol Servia widely touted to take the ride once he formalises his release from, the now budgetless, Panther Dryer and Reinbold Racing.
Elsewhere, Ana Beatriz was out at Dale Coyne and Mike Conway a surprise late addition. Conway raced this year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan at Long Beach as a one off entry, where he was quick all weekend before retiring with electrical issues.
Since last year's surface "Debacle in Detroit", Roger Penske has spent over $2million alone on the track surface/repaving. There were also changes to the circuit layout with a different route leading to a new turn 3, adding a 1/2 mile straight out of turn 2, reverting to an old CART layout that was last ran around 2000. This meant adding a major opportunity to pass and ensured some fantastic racing over the weekend.
Qualifying:
The heavens opened 15 minutes before qualifying and this ensured changeable conditions throughout the qualifying sessions. Dario Franchitti negotiated his way to the fast 6 shootout and took a much needed pole position for Team Target. This was the 31st of his career, his first at Belle Isle and was his 3rd front row qualifying spot at this track. It was all the more remarkable after he crashed after only 6 laps early on in the only 75 minute practice session that morning.
The fast 6 was completed by EJ Viso 2nd, Conway 3rd, James Jakes a fantastic 4th, Ryan Hunter-Reay 5th and Tagliani 6th. Due to Indy engine penalties Franchitti would incur a 10 place grid penalty and start 11th.
Coming into the weekend Macro Andretti led the championship points for first time in his Indycar career. A poor qualifying performance meant he stated a lowly 18th.
With the changeable wet conditions, some were caught out by accidents, red flags, a drying track or burning out their tyres too early, the field was certainly jumbled. A few notable performances: Briscoe now in the 4, qualified way back in 22nd (started 21st), EJ took 2nd (starts 1st), Conway cruised to 3rd (starts 2nd), Power 10th (starts 9th) and Scott Dixon down in 16th (starts 15th). After his big win last week, TK hit the ground with a big bump, qualifying down in 20th.
Race:
After an enthusiastic command from a marketing officer from Quicken Loans, the title sponsor, the race had began. As the cars approached the green they lined up relatively well. Conway got a great start jumping EJ and led by the exit of turn 2. Mid pack, both Power and Dario got by 3 apex of turn 3.
As the leaders exited turn 4, AJ Allmendinger wrecked going in to the turn. Views on the incident will be mixed. Dixon and Wilson went onto the brakes, came slightly closer together to prepare for the turn and just a few feet behind AJ was caught unaware and was partly launched over both cars, destroying the rear wing of the 9 car, into the tyres. This ended a very short race for Allmendinger. This looked a big hit but he thankfully walked away okay.
Was he slightly pinched in the breaking zone from each side, personally I think maybe he shouldn't have put his car in that spot and he simply wasn't paying attention. The field were 4 wide across the track coming into turn 4 and there was not really a gap for him to go into.
After a poor start to the season and another DNF at Indy, JR Hildebrand was removed from his seat at Panther Racing this week. Whilst not a huge surprise, it was a disappointment to many fans to see a young American leave the series. Ryan Briscoe was drafted in for this weekend, with Oriol Servia widely touted to take the ride once he formalises his release from, the now budgetless, Panther Dryer and Reinbold Racing.
Elsewhere, Ana Beatriz was out at Dale Coyne and Mike Conway a surprise late addition. Conway raced this year for Rahal Letterman Lanigan at Long Beach as a one off entry, where he was quick all weekend before retiring with electrical issues.
Since last year's surface "Debacle in Detroit", Roger Penske has spent over $2million alone on the track surface/repaving. There were also changes to the circuit layout with a different route leading to a new turn 3, adding a 1/2 mile straight out of turn 2, reverting to an old CART layout that was last ran around 2000. This meant adding a major opportunity to pass and ensured some fantastic racing over the weekend.
Qualifying:
The heavens opened 15 minutes before qualifying and this ensured changeable conditions throughout the qualifying sessions. Dario Franchitti negotiated his way to the fast 6 shootout and took a much needed pole position for Team Target. This was the 31st of his career, his first at Belle Isle and was his 3rd front row qualifying spot at this track. It was all the more remarkable after he crashed after only 6 laps early on in the only 75 minute practice session that morning.
The fast 6 was completed by EJ Viso 2nd, Conway 3rd, James Jakes a fantastic 4th, Ryan Hunter-Reay 5th and Tagliani 6th. Due to Indy engine penalties Franchitti would incur a 10 place grid penalty and start 11th.
Coming into the weekend Macro Andretti led the championship points for first time in his Indycar career. A poor qualifying performance meant he stated a lowly 18th.
With the changeable wet conditions, some were caught out by accidents, red flags, a drying track or burning out their tyres too early, the field was certainly jumbled. A few notable performances: Briscoe now in the 4, qualified way back in 22nd (started 21st), EJ took 2nd (starts 1st), Conway cruised to 3rd (starts 2nd), Power 10th (starts 9th) and Scott Dixon down in 16th (starts 15th). After his big win last week, TK hit the ground with a big bump, qualifying down in 20th.
Race:
After an enthusiastic command from a marketing officer from Quicken Loans, the title sponsor, the race had began. As the cars approached the green they lined up relatively well. Conway got a great start jumping EJ and led by the exit of turn 2. Mid pack, both Power and Dario got by 3 apex of turn 3.
As the leaders exited turn 4, AJ Allmendinger wrecked going in to the turn. Views on the incident will be mixed. Dixon and Wilson went onto the brakes, came slightly closer together to prepare for the turn and just a few feet behind AJ was caught unaware and was partly launched over both cars, destroying the rear wing of the 9 car, into the tyres. This ended a very short race for Allmendinger. This looked a big hit but he thankfully walked away okay.
Was he slightly pinched in the breaking zone from each side, personally I think maybe he shouldn't have put his car in that spot and he simply wasn't paying attention. The field were 4 wide across the track coming into turn 4 and there was not really a gap for him to go into.
As always Kanaan was fast starting, he got Marco out of turn 2 into 3, then, with crash developing ahead, he got another 4 spots. Awesome start and opportunist driving.
After the clean up, back to the green on Lap 4 and Power had another great restart and gets 2 places on the green. He dive bombs into turn 1, bit like Greg Moore at Portland, but without wrecking half the field. He caught a few drivers napping and was on his way. Later in the lap he took EJ for 4th.
By lap 7, Franchitti had underlined his qualifying speed and moved up to 5th. Conway by this point was gone and had checked out from the field. Ryan Hunter Ray would sit a few seconds back.
EJ developed a boost problem around lap 10, and with 2 large straights, he began dropping like a fly. Big, big queues formed through the tighter end of the lap as his car struggled to get out of the corners. His team would keep him out hoping for a yellow to avoid going a lap down.
After the clean up, back to the green on Lap 4 and Power had another great restart and gets 2 places on the green. He dive bombs into turn 1, bit like Greg Moore at Portland, but without wrecking half the field. He caught a few drivers napping and was on his way. Later in the lap he took EJ for 4th.
By lap 7, Franchitti had underlined his qualifying speed and moved up to 5th. Conway by this point was gone and had checked out from the field. Ryan Hunter Ray would sit a few seconds back.
EJ developed a boost problem around lap 10, and with 2 large straights, he began dropping like a fly. Big, big queues formed through the tighter end of the lap as his car struggled to get out of the corners. His team would keep him out hoping for a yellow to avoid going a lap down.
Lap 11, Bryan Hunter Ray made an appearance on the track, he was also closing in on Conway. Conway by this point was 23 seconds clear of Wilson in 10th after only about 6 laps of green. No sign of Bryan Briscoe, though he would also appear later in the race! (Thanks Marty)
The red tyres started to go off as early as lap 13 for most of the hard chargers and Sebastien Bourdais was using this to his advantage, make some moves of his own while he was on the stronger blacks.
Lap 16 and Dixon got by Macro on the back straight as he recovered from his lap 1 assault by Allmendingers Penske. He got a better exit out of turn 6 and moved to dirty right hand side of the back straight as it arced right. Dust and debris spat up and it looked pretty spectacular. He held the ouside line through the left kink and passed on the inside into 7.
By this point, drivers on the reds were thinking of pitting as the tyres struggled on a fairly green track.
I did notice that Ed Carpenter was only 2 or 3 car lengths behind the Dixon, Macro, Briscoe battle as pit stops commenced. He was comfortably staying with them. He has made great strides in his road course ability over the last 18 months and hanging with these guys is no mean feat.
Things settled down and the field was now quite strung out. Bourdais retired on lap 19 with what appeared to be an engine issue whilst running well up the field.
Up front, despite being on Reds, Franchitti was now closing fast on Power.
At the end of lap 23 Conway pitted from the lead. Tagliani messed up his braking into 3 and got into the run off but couldn’t spin it around. He is forced to get turned round by the safety crew on the jack.
Then on lap 25, trying to stretch the fuel by 1 more lap, Sato runs dry between 3 and 4, not even close to making it. Green flag stops were ongoing and pits were left were open by race control to allow others to pit under yellow. Hunter-Reay would assume the lead from Conway.
Bizzare accident of the weekend went to Tags, as he went into the turn 3 tyres under yellow, he would later confirm a major steering problem meant the car went all but straight on. TV pictures showed major marbles on left front, I did wonder if this was maybe a driver error getting offline.
The red tyres started to go off as early as lap 13 for most of the hard chargers and Sebastien Bourdais was using this to his advantage, make some moves of his own while he was on the stronger blacks.
Lap 16 and Dixon got by Macro on the back straight as he recovered from his lap 1 assault by Allmendingers Penske. He got a better exit out of turn 6 and moved to dirty right hand side of the back straight as it arced right. Dust and debris spat up and it looked pretty spectacular. He held the ouside line through the left kink and passed on the inside into 7.
By this point, drivers on the reds were thinking of pitting as the tyres struggled on a fairly green track.
I did notice that Ed Carpenter was only 2 or 3 car lengths behind the Dixon, Macro, Briscoe battle as pit stops commenced. He was comfortably staying with them. He has made great strides in his road course ability over the last 18 months and hanging with these guys is no mean feat.
Things settled down and the field was now quite strung out. Bourdais retired on lap 19 with what appeared to be an engine issue whilst running well up the field.
Up front, despite being on Reds, Franchitti was now closing fast on Power.
At the end of lap 23 Conway pitted from the lead. Tagliani messed up his braking into 3 and got into the run off but couldn’t spin it around. He is forced to get turned round by the safety crew on the jack.
Then on lap 25, trying to stretch the fuel by 1 more lap, Sato runs dry between 3 and 4, not even close to making it. Green flag stops were ongoing and pits were left were open by race control to allow others to pit under yellow. Hunter-Reay would assume the lead from Conway.
Bizzare accident of the weekend went to Tags, as he went into the turn 3 tyres under yellow, he would later confirm a major steering problem meant the car went all but straight on. TV pictures showed major marbles on left front, I did wonder if this was maybe a driver error getting offline.
Lap 31 restart and DF passes Power into turn 1; he dive bombs Power on the inside, who doesn’t know he's on the apex and, as Power turns in, they bang wheels.
Jakes also gets around Power exiting turn 2 into turn 3. Ryan Hunter Ray manages to hold onto the lead. Dixon's mission from the back is gathering momentum, he's up to 9th.
Saavedra ensured Jay Penske remained the only team in the series without a top 10, with a little help from former teammate Marco Andretti. A little love tap in the rear and into the wall he went. Earlier in the lap, Franchitti had taken a little too much kerb and clipped, and dislodged, the apex marker tyre at turn 3, without damage or incident.
Once the cars circled around, Saavedra left us in no doubt about his feelings, flipping Marco the double bird.
Jakes also gets around Power exiting turn 2 into turn 3. Ryan Hunter Ray manages to hold onto the lead. Dixon's mission from the back is gathering momentum, he's up to 9th.
Saavedra ensured Jay Penske remained the only team in the series without a top 10, with a little help from former teammate Marco Andretti. A little love tap in the rear and into the wall he went. Earlier in the lap, Franchitti had taken a little too much kerb and clipped, and dislodged, the apex marker tyre at turn 3, without damage or incident.
Once the cars circled around, Saavedra left us in no doubt about his feelings, flipping Marco the double bird.
Lap 39 restart saw both Power and TK getting by Franchitti in Turn 1 and 2, Dixon was now up to 7th. The following lap, Hinchcliffe took out the other apex marker tyre at turn 3 and he lodges it to the right side floor of his 27 Go Daddy car. He was forced to pit to have it removed.
The fast restarting Kanaan lacked pace at this point in the race, a big queue formed behind him. Wilson had recovered from the lap 1 incident with Allmendiger and was all over Power whilst Mike Conway was closing and harassing Hunter-Reay.
Conway made the move which would ultimately be the race winning pass, for the lead, on lap 44. Good exit of turn 2 and taking the lead on the entry to turn 3.
It was clear that the reds were going off very early, after only 10 laps for some, anybody on them were sitting ducks on the long run.
Both Dixon and Dario passed TK on successive laps (45/46) as the train of cars began to get round him.
Wilson finally got by Power on the track as Green flag stops began for around lap 47.
Power was again falling into the clutches of Franchitti as Macro clashed with Kimball. Kimball down the inside into 3, just as he pulled out on the brakes, Marco slowed and had Kimball run over his right rear. Marco had damage to his suspension. Although his crew would carry out repairs under green, the incident would effectively end a disappointing day for the points leader.
Power and Franchitti pitted together, nose to tail, with the Penske crew at least a few seconds quicker.
Conway and Hunter Ray were running away from the field until the latter pitted from second place. Yet again, Franchitti closed on Power and they were having a ding dong battle for position.
Conway pitted from the lead on lap 53, to be followed by Dixon and Castroneves, both jumping Franchitti and Power in the pit shuffle.
Somewhere between lap 53 and 56 Franchitti passed Power then gapped him by over 3 seconds. (Thanks ESPN for not showing that one or even mentioning it)
Josef Newgarden had a very quiet but strong race from the back of the field. He passed Power for 7th and would remain there until the end of the race.
Lap 62 and Conway's car by this point was exceptional, he was 16seconds clear of Hunter-Reay in second place. As the long green run continued there was not much passing going on as cars were strung out and those close together had little or no push to pass. With the red tyre going off very quickly the marbles off line were pretty bad in some places.
Over the next 2 laps Franchitti closed quickly on Castroneves and Dixon closed quickly on Wilson. The two battles would come together. The quartet would circulate nose to tail for the remainder of the race but nobody could advance their position. They would ultimately finish in that order (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th) with a spread of 1.25 seconds covering all 4.
Bryan Briscoe lost the rear of the car exiting the fountain section with 3 laps left. A good call from Race Control allowed the race remained green until the end with local waved yellows.
Hunter-Reay would slowly gain on Conway over the closing laps but would come up 12 seconds short at the finish, a solid 2nd place on the podium for the series champion. Ultimately, this was Conway's race, he was simply untouchable all day.
Points:
Helio leads the points going into Duel 2, followed by Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti.
My Thoughts:
Thankfully, race control went with local yellows only. This was Conway's race, leading 47 laps, and any other winner today would have been a grave injustice, he was the class of the field. An action packed race with something for everybody. Loved it. Love this product, love this car. As I tweeted post race; can the borefests at Sonoma and Mid Ohio be turned by the 2013 spect DW12?
I have hardly mentioned both Conway and RHR throughout the review (and I went into this trying to be as objective as possible), but they were both so much quicker than anybody else. They were both on TV but just cruising away from the pack, except for pit stops and restarts. Most of the action centred around Power, Franchitti, Wilson and Dixon coming through the pack, lots of clean hard passing from the veterans.
Conway, was a class to himself and it was great to see, for both him and Dale Coyne. He got some stick last year for his decision, which I saw as very brave. Respect for coming back, albeit on a street course, and winning. Looks like he will be in at Toronto now as well, can’t wait to see him run there with Justin and Dale.
Notable finishers: Josef Newgarden with a quiet but effective race to finish in 7th, ahead of Power. Another strong showing from Newgarden who is still only 22 years old, if he can find some regular consistency, he will be a real asset to a bigger team.
Poor TK had a miserable post 500 race with a 13th place finish, only really showing pace on the short runs/restarts. You win some you lose some, he’ll be back.
AJ Allmendinger - during his mid race interview (post crash) I was pretty struck by just how down he was. He's really struggling, low on confidence and not in a good place. Ultimately, his struggles can only be good for Indycar’s creditability. Now, before you storm off I really hope he turns it around, he is massively talented and I want him to do well! Both he and Rubens have came in and struggled in this series. This is a sport billed by Indycar as a major series with world-class drivers, even if it, and they, do not get the respect they deserve. Not being able to walk up and win straight away is good for series credibility.
TV:
I thought the ABC pre race Indy 500 recap/montage was really good and somewhat moving. The voice over was brilliant and very fitting to the race.
The commentary team were so so as usual, Bryan Hunter-Reay and Bryan Briscoe both made several appearances on track (thanks Marty), drivers misidentified in wrong cars, just the usual. Leigh Diffey – can’t wait to have him back.
ESPN UK, tape delayed highlights, really? You despair me. I noticed on a few occasions there were several laps of green just missing, although most of the yellows were skipped, as were every second US commercial break. Can’t you show the races live on one of your other UK channels?
The fast restarting Kanaan lacked pace at this point in the race, a big queue formed behind him. Wilson had recovered from the lap 1 incident with Allmendiger and was all over Power whilst Mike Conway was closing and harassing Hunter-Reay.
Conway made the move which would ultimately be the race winning pass, for the lead, on lap 44. Good exit of turn 2 and taking the lead on the entry to turn 3.
It was clear that the reds were going off very early, after only 10 laps for some, anybody on them were sitting ducks on the long run.
Both Dixon and Dario passed TK on successive laps (45/46) as the train of cars began to get round him.
Wilson finally got by Power on the track as Green flag stops began for around lap 47.
Power was again falling into the clutches of Franchitti as Macro clashed with Kimball. Kimball down the inside into 3, just as he pulled out on the brakes, Marco slowed and had Kimball run over his right rear. Marco had damage to his suspension. Although his crew would carry out repairs under green, the incident would effectively end a disappointing day for the points leader.
Power and Franchitti pitted together, nose to tail, with the Penske crew at least a few seconds quicker.
Conway and Hunter Ray were running away from the field until the latter pitted from second place. Yet again, Franchitti closed on Power and they were having a ding dong battle for position.
Conway pitted from the lead on lap 53, to be followed by Dixon and Castroneves, both jumping Franchitti and Power in the pit shuffle.
Somewhere between lap 53 and 56 Franchitti passed Power then gapped him by over 3 seconds. (Thanks ESPN for not showing that one or even mentioning it)
Josef Newgarden had a very quiet but strong race from the back of the field. He passed Power for 7th and would remain there until the end of the race.
Lap 62 and Conway's car by this point was exceptional, he was 16seconds clear of Hunter-Reay in second place. As the long green run continued there was not much passing going on as cars were strung out and those close together had little or no push to pass. With the red tyre going off very quickly the marbles off line were pretty bad in some places.
Over the next 2 laps Franchitti closed quickly on Castroneves and Dixon closed quickly on Wilson. The two battles would come together. The quartet would circulate nose to tail for the remainder of the race but nobody could advance their position. They would ultimately finish in that order (3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th) with a spread of 1.25 seconds covering all 4.
Bryan Briscoe lost the rear of the car exiting the fountain section with 3 laps left. A good call from Race Control allowed the race remained green until the end with local waved yellows.
Hunter-Reay would slowly gain on Conway over the closing laps but would come up 12 seconds short at the finish, a solid 2nd place on the podium for the series champion. Ultimately, this was Conway's race, he was simply untouchable all day.
Points:
Helio leads the points going into Duel 2, followed by Hunter-Reay and Marco Andretti.
My Thoughts:
Thankfully, race control went with local yellows only. This was Conway's race, leading 47 laps, and any other winner today would have been a grave injustice, he was the class of the field. An action packed race with something for everybody. Loved it. Love this product, love this car. As I tweeted post race; can the borefests at Sonoma and Mid Ohio be turned by the 2013 spect DW12?
I have hardly mentioned both Conway and RHR throughout the review (and I went into this trying to be as objective as possible), but they were both so much quicker than anybody else. They were both on TV but just cruising away from the pack, except for pit stops and restarts. Most of the action centred around Power, Franchitti, Wilson and Dixon coming through the pack, lots of clean hard passing from the veterans.
Conway, was a class to himself and it was great to see, for both him and Dale Coyne. He got some stick last year for his decision, which I saw as very brave. Respect for coming back, albeit on a street course, and winning. Looks like he will be in at Toronto now as well, can’t wait to see him run there with Justin and Dale.
Notable finishers: Josef Newgarden with a quiet but effective race to finish in 7th, ahead of Power. Another strong showing from Newgarden who is still only 22 years old, if he can find some regular consistency, he will be a real asset to a bigger team.
Poor TK had a miserable post 500 race with a 13th place finish, only really showing pace on the short runs/restarts. You win some you lose some, he’ll be back.
AJ Allmendinger - during his mid race interview (post crash) I was pretty struck by just how down he was. He's really struggling, low on confidence and not in a good place. Ultimately, his struggles can only be good for Indycar’s creditability. Now, before you storm off I really hope he turns it around, he is massively talented and I want him to do well! Both he and Rubens have came in and struggled in this series. This is a sport billed by Indycar as a major series with world-class drivers, even if it, and they, do not get the respect they deserve. Not being able to walk up and win straight away is good for series credibility.
TV:
I thought the ABC pre race Indy 500 recap/montage was really good and somewhat moving. The voice over was brilliant and very fitting to the race.
The commentary team were so so as usual, Bryan Hunter-Reay and Bryan Briscoe both made several appearances on track (thanks Marty), drivers misidentified in wrong cars, just the usual. Leigh Diffey – can’t wait to have him back.
ESPN UK, tape delayed highlights, really? You despair me. I noticed on a few occasions there were several laps of green just missing, although most of the yellows were skipped, as were every second US commercial break. Can’t you show the races live on one of your other UK channels?