Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Race 1: Newgarden wins rain delayed Detroit GP

Josef Newgarden has won the Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle, after the start of the race was delayed due to heavy rain and the risk of further lightning. 

Newgarden received the perfect strategy from his Team Penske crew, and the American was able to hold off Alexander Rossi in the closing stages of the race. Rossi went on to finish in second, with Takuma Sato following close behind in third position.

Due to the rain delay, the race was switched to a timed event and was declared a 75-minute event which coincidentally began 75 minutes after it was supposed to. The race was started in single file due to the standing water off the racing line, and due to it being a wet race the teams did not have to use both sets of slick tyres.

Zach Veach span off from his eighth place during the final lap of the three warm-up laps, in an incident where he was lucky to not sustain any damage and just drop to the back of the field. During this caution, ex-Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson reported gearbox problems, but any concerns were put to bed with a system restart.

Once the green flag was waved, Marco Andretti was the first to pit for slick tyres on lap 12 and came worryingly close to hitting the barriers on numerous occasions as he struggled for grip. 

Will Power was on a charge after a disappointing qualifying, but his weekend went from bad to worse when he came in for his first pitstop. The car was lowered before the right-front wheel was properly attached, forcing the Australian to limp around the street circuit on three wheels.

Scott Dixon was one of the main stories from the race however, as he made an uncharacteristic error in judgement and clipped the inside barrier at turn 6 and carried on straight into the wall. This was the cause of the next caution, and was Dixon's first retirement in two years.

The next caution came on lap 28, after Matheus Leist put his A.J. Foyt Enterprises car into the barriers at turn 7.

Felix Rosenqvist couldn't quite move past Takuma Sato in the final 10 minutes of the wet/dry race, but did hold off Ryan Hunter-Reay and Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud for fourth place. Graham Rahal had a relatively quiet race to finish in seventh, just ahead of Zach Veach after a good recovery drive for Andretti Autosport.

James Hinchcliffe was ninth for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, and it was Spencer Pigot that rounded out the top 10 for Ed Carpenter Racing.