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<strong>Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Race 1:</strong> 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
1
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.

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