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

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

Published on 02 Jun 2019 00:22

By: Harry Mattocks

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.

undefined Pos	undefined Driver	undefined Team	undefined Gap
undefined 1	undefined Josef Newgarden	undefined Team Penske	undefined -
undefined 2	undefined Alexander Rossi	undefined Andretti Autosport	undefined + 0.8237
undefined 3	undefined Takuma Sato	undefined Rahal Letterman Lanigan	undefined + 11.4760
undefined 4	undefined Felix Rosenqvist	undefined Chip Ganassi Racing	undefined + 11.8833
undefined 5	undefined Ryan Hunter-Reay	undefined Andretti Autosport	undefined + 12.2263
undefined 6	undefined Simon Pagenaud	undefined Team Penske	undefined + 12.5127
undefined 7	undefined Graham Rahal	undefined Rahal Letterman Lanigan	undefined + 13.1515
undefined 8	undefined Zach Veach	undefined Andretti Autosport	undefined + 14.0022
undefined 9	undefined James Hinchcliffe	undefined Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	undefined + 15.2409
undefined 10	undefined Spencer Pigot	undefined Ed Carpenter Racing	undefined + 16.1462
undefined 11	undefined Sebastien Bourdais	undefined Dayle Coyne Racing	undefined + 16.9309
undefined 12	undefined Colton Herta	undefined Harding Racing	undefined + 17.2807
undefined 13	undefined Marcus Ericsson	undefined Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	undefined + 17.9085
undefined 14	undefined Patricio O'Ward	undefined Carlin	undefined + 24.0822
undefined 15	undefined Tony Kanaan	undefined A.J. Foyt Enterprises	undefined + 25.6122
undefined 16	undefined Marco Andretti	undefined Andretti Autosport	undefined + 26.0652
undefined 17	undefined Max Chilton	undefined Carlin	undefined + 26.4759
undefined 18	undefined Will Power	undefined Team Penske	undefined + 33.0561
undefined 19	undefined Santino Ferucci	undefined Dayle Coyne Racing	undefined + 43.1639
undefined 20	undefined Ed Jones	undefined Ed Carpenter Racing	undefined + 1 lap
undefined 21	undefined Matheus Leist	undefined A.J. Foyt Enterprises	undefined + 13 laps
undefined 22	undefined Scott Dixon	undefined Chip Ganassi Racing	undefined + 20 laps