Despite his unhappiness about the penalty, the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series champion drove an impeccable race to earn his first victory in more than a year, leading Simon Pagenaud in a 1-2 finish for Team Penske that made up for the team’s disappointing results in the Saturday race.
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Bourdais won for the second time at Belle Isle.
Dixon had plenty to overcome the course of Sunday’s rugged race. Pagenaud won the pole while Power started eighth, but Power prevailed in the end for his 26th career victory and first since the Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May 2015.
What we did see in Race 1 with showers threatening was a variety of pit strategies. “I knew we were going to have bad weekends, because you can’t have a ideal weekend every day”.
DEJA VU: Penske also swept the top three spots in qualifying for last year’s first race at Belle Isle. He remains atop the series standings, 59 points ahead of Helio Castroneves, who finished fifth Saturday.
But the temporary track using some of the streets on Belle Isle, an uneven mix of pavement and concrete, made the cars a handful for drivers like Connor Daly, who came in second on Saturday. We had really fast cars, definitely could not have done a better job of preparing the cars from ECR. I take full responsibility, take it in, it’s what I want to do. Congratulations to him. There was no point in colliding and trying too hard.
The MotorCity Casino Hotel Entertainment Stage will feature live music, headlined by Detroit’w own The Romantics on Saturday evening and Morris Day and the Time on Sunday afternoon. You have to look at who is your competition.
Simon Pagenaud was second on the podium, with Ryan Hunter-Reay third.
Bourdais and his KVSH Racing Chevrolet triumphed in Race 1 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit in an unpredictable contest in which Team Penske’s four entries ran 1-2-3-4 at the halfway point. “I just hope I can do more obviously”.
The Power is back on.
Daly had never finished higher than sixth in his career, and the rookie was pleased with his performance.
Will Power celebrates his victory Sunday.
“Matt has lost all his bottom teeth so there is a bit of a rebuilding process in getting him back to normal”, Morris said.
“It just gives the whole crew some confidence”, he said.
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“I think [the strategy] would have worked even better had we not pitted with everyone else”.
