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2017 IndyCar Series: Indianapolis Grand Prix talking points

You don't race with Will Power. You strap yourself in and feel the Gs. (SarahStierch / Wikimedia Commons)
Roar Guru
14th May, 2017
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The now-traditional start to the fabled Month of May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the Grand Prix race on the road course that incorporates elements of the famous speedway and the infield circuit built for the arrival of Formula One and MotoGP at Indy.

Here are the key talking points from the Saturday afternoon race, a gateway to the best month of racing there is.

Power surge
Finally, Australia’s Will Power has a win in the 2017 IndyCar Series season. A disastrous start to the season gave way to a second-place finish for the native of Toowoomba last race out, and now Power stands on the top step of the podium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, winning his second Grand Prix event after becoming the inaugural winner five years ago.

And it was a dominating win, leading 61 of 85 laps in a caution-free event, and showing serious speed in his Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet.

Saturday marked Power’s thirtieth IndyCar Series victory, good enough for eleventh on the all-time list, and it’s a win that’ll give the rapid Queenslander all sorts of momentum heading into practice and qualifying for the Indianapolis 500.

Here’s hoping that 2017 is the year that the Aussie, who’s been on the pace at Indy all his career, finally gets to drink the milk in victory lane.

Points race
It’s a familiar car out front, the bright can’t-miss yellow Menards livery of Simon Pagenaud. The defending series champion has one victory – his first on an oval, two weeks ago under lights at Phoenix – and another four top-five finishes to lead the IndyCar Series points championship with 191 points.

Queensland-born New Zealander Scott Dixon is ten markers back with 181 points and Pagenaud’s Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden is in third, with a total of 152.

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The 101st Indianapolis 500 will be a double points race and has the potential to really shake up the championship chase.

Graham Rahal
The Ohioan has a knack for slicing through the field at the Indianapolis Grand Prix, and did so again on Saturday, improving from a dismal twentieth starting position to finish an impressive fourth. Keep in mind that the son of Indianapolis 500 champion Bobby is saddled with an uncompetitive Honda engine in a one-car team and that the road course is fairly hard to pass on, and you have some idea of what an amazing afternoon Rahal had.

In a race that didn’t provide much in the way of passing up front, watching Rahal scythe his way through the pack was a definite highlight. The best result of Rahal’s season thus far comes after a difficult week, during which he lost his grandfather.

Looking ahead to the Indianapolis 500, there are persistent whispers that Honda will be bringing a much-improved package for its teams in a bid to win the Memorial Day classic two years in a row, and with veteran Spaniard Oriol Servia coming on board to drive a second Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan Racing car for the 500, Rahal is a guy to watch over the next two weeks.

Sebastien Bourdais
The Frenchman, driving for the little team that could, Dale Coyne Racing, led the points after three races – one of which, the season-opening race at St Petersburg, Florida, he won after starting dead last – but has experienced two brutal finishes back to back.

He was caught up in a first-lap accident in Phoenix, a victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and was out early this week after an engine failure. The real shame is that Bourdais qualified strongly and was happy to tell anyone who’d listen that he had a good car.

Spencer Pigot
The Ed Carpenter Racing driver started sixteenth and finished ninth on Saturday, but a disastrous first pit stop, in which he stalled the car and required a restart, dropped him from sixth place and put an end to any hopes of a serious run at the front end.

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That said, Pigot showed he has the speed and the ability to match it with IndyCar’s best and will be there or thereabouts as the season continues. Pigot and ECR are the perfect example of a team whose speed has been far better than the box score results would suggest.

Helio Castroneves
The enthusiastic Brazilian and Team Penske mainstay hasn’t won a race in nearly three years, but is still racking up pole positions and strong finishes. He’s had two poles and three straight top-five finishes this year, and is always a factor at Indianapolis, where he’ll be shooting for his fourth Indianapolis 500 victory to lift him into rarefied air.

Up Next – The 101st Indianapolis 500
Two-time Formula One world champion Fernando Alonso headlines a group of talented drivers joining the series for the biggest race of the year.

A field of 33 will take the green flag for the Brickyard classic on Monday 29 May (Australian AEST) with two days of qualifying time trials to come this weekend.

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