The Detroit doubleheader saw two action-packed races with very different outcomes for the main title protagonists in each. Championship leader Josef Newgarden took the win in Race 1 before crashing out of Race 2 while reigning champion did the same thing, just the other way around – taking his first win of the season in Race 2.
Race 1 turned out to only be 43 laps long after it was cut to a 75-minute timed race following weather-induced delays. Race 2 ran to the scheduled 70 laps, but both were equally as dramatic.
Newgarden’s win in Race 1 was never a certainty but the decisive moment for him came under the second caution, caused by Ed Jones sliding out of the race. The #2 was in the pits as the caution came out, perfectly placing him in the lead of the race when it resumed. From there, all he had to do was fend off a sustained attack from Indy 500 runner-up Alexander Rossi… something that’s easier said than done! Even so, Newgarden held firm to take his second win of the season and his first on the streets of Detroit.
If everything went Newgarden’s way in Race 1, the second race was to be a different story entirely. This time he qualified on pole but only led for one lap as the early caution that came out for the Turn 3 wreck meant all but six drivers pitted. After that, Newgarden was fighting with Rossi again, with the #27 playing a part in the end of the Penske driver’s race.
James Hinchcliffe exited the pits just ahead of Newgarden and Rossi with the trio fighting for what was effectively the net lead of the race. Three into one at Turn 3 was always going to end in tears, and indeed it did with Newgarden and Hinchcliffe ending in the wall while Rossi managed to continue relatively unscathed. Newgarden was frustrated but accepted his part in the accident, and his championship lead remains intact at 15 points over Rossi.
Dixon’s weekend was the reverse of Newgarden’s with an uncharacteristic mistake ending his first race. The #9 clipped the barriers and was sent into the wall midway through the first race, marking his first DNF since his Texas 2017 crash with Takuma Sato and shocking the paddock.
He recovered in Race 2 in the only way Dixon knows how… winning, in rather dominant fashion. Like Newgarden, the timing of the second caution, this time caused by Spencer Pigot, significantly helped his cause, with Dixon eventually cycling up to a lead he would not relinquish from there on.
Rossi’s weekend was more consistent than that of Newgarden or Dixon’s however, he missed out on the one thing he came to Detroit for: a win to make up for his Indy 500 disappointment. The Andretti driver came agonisingly close to the victory in Race 1 before again missing out in Race 2, finishing fifth, though he was lucky to finish at all after the Newgarden/Hinchcliffe incident.
Another lucky driver turned out to be Will Power, which is surprising after the season he’s had! Race 1 was the same old same old with Power’s race ruined by a pit stop error that saw him released with only three wheels on his wagon. Race 2 started in much the same vein with Power stopping on track during the first caution however, this time it was not a disaster and the #12 fought back to a rather miraculous third-place finish.
Holding off Power at the end of Race 2 was rookie Marcus Ericsson who, after an average Race 1, took his first IndyCar podium in the second race. He recovered what would’ve been a dreadful race for the Schmidt Peterson Motorsports team after Hinchcliffe’s elimination to take his first podium in over five and a half years!
Indy 500 champion Simon Pagenaud was significantly less fortunate at Detroit with the Penske driver doing well in Race 1 but then having a pretty disastrous Race 2. He, along with six other drivers, was caught up in the Turn 3 wreck, initiated by contact between Patricio O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist, which all but ended the Frenchman’s race.
Next up on the IndyCar calendar is Texas Motor Speedway in just a few days time to cap off the most intense section of the season.
Race 1 Results:
- Josef Newgarden
- Alexander Rossi
- Takuma Sato
- Felix Rosenqvist (R)
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Simon Pagenaud
- Graham Rahal
- Zach Veach
- James Hinchcliffe
- Spencer Pigot
- Sebastien Bourdais
- Colton Herta (R)
- Marcus Ericsson (R)
- Patricio O’Ward (R)
- Tony Kanaan
- Marco Andretti
- Max Chilton
- Will Power
- Santino Ferrucci (R)
- Ed Jones
- Matheus Leist
- Scott Dixon
Race 2 Results:
- Scott Dixon
- Marcus Ericsson (R)
- Will Power
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Alexander Rossi
- Marco Andretti
- Graham Rahal
- Zach Veach
- Sebastien Bourdais
- Santino Ferrucci (R)
- Patricio O’Ward (R)
- Colton Herta (R)
- Takuma Sato
- Ed Jones
- Max Chilton
- Felix Rosenqvist (R)
- Simon Pagenaud
- James Hinchcliffe
- Josef Newgarden
- Matheus Leist
- Spencer Pigot
- Tony Kanaan
Championship Top 5:
- Josef Newgarden
- Alexander Rossi
- Simon Pagenaud
- Scott Dixon
- Takuma Sato
Featured Image Credit: Chris Owens/IndyCar