It’s true what they say: there’s no rest for the wicked, or for drivers and crews of the IndyCar Series.
One week after Takuma Sato celebrated in victory lane at the Indianapolis 500, the series moved to its most gruelling weekend, the double-header weekend on the temporary street circuit at Detroit’s Belle Isle Park.
Here are the main talking points from a busy weekend in the Motor City:
Rahal dominates
The second-generation Ohioan has really come into his own in recent years, but this year, Graham Rahal had experienced some of the worst luck I’ve ever seen.
We all knew that if he could break that run of bad luck, he would be tough to beat, and, what do you know, the bad luck disappeared and Rahal shined, winning both races on the weekend, becoming the first driver to ever sweep the Detroit double-header.
Starting from pole on Saturday, Rahal was barely headed, using the combination of a two-stop strategy and blinding speed to grind the opposition nearly into the bumpy streets around the Belle Isle Park circuit.
The #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda was on rails. He was in a class of his own, and aside from pit stop cycles, the son of 1992 Detroit Grand Prix winner Bobby, led 55 of 70 laps for his first win of the year – a win that’s been a long and frustrating time coming for one of the most animated and quotable drivers in the paddock.
On Sunday, Rahal had to come from the third position, and used the same two-stop strategy that served him so well on Saturday to record another dominating win. Though, and despite leading 41 of 70 laps, it wasn’t without a little drama: two concurrent incidents involving James Hinchcliffe and Spencer Pigot with less than five laps to run brought out a red flag, and Rahal had to hold off the hard-charging Team Penske drivers Josef Newgarden and Australia’s Will Power to get his second win of the weekend.
The back-to-back victories were the first time that the Rahal squad has achieved such a milestone since 2001, when Sweden’s Kenny Brack won consecutive races at Motegi and Milwaukee.
Just like that, Rahal is back in the championship hunt, sixth in the queue at the moment, and if this weekend is anything to go by, he will play a major role in the title fight as the IndyCar Series hits the North American summer with a string of races leading up to the finale at Sonoma in September.
Takuma Sato
The reigning Indianapolis 500 champion had a better weekend than most Indy 500 winners do at Detroit, claiming eighth and fourth place finishes. He showed good speed across the weekend, including nabbing the pole for Sunday but, ultimately, like so many others, just didn’t have the ponies to match it with Rahal.
Scott Dixon
One week after a horrifying crash at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the New Zealander known fondly as The Ice Man found himself needing to get through the gruelling test of twin 70-lap races around Detroit with a very sore left ankle.
His Saturday race was sublime, coming home in second place, despite what had to be serious pain, and he followed that up with a stout drive to sixth on Sunday, for an eight-point championship lead.
Will Power
The Aussie had a lacklustre day on Saturday, finishing way down the back in eighteenth place, but rebounded nicely to a third-place finish on Sunday, trailing only Rahal and Team Penske stablemate Josef Newgarden home. The Queenslander sits eighth on the points table.
(SarahStierch / Wikimedia Commons)
Josef Newgarden
A three-stop strategy on the back of a thirteenth place in qualifying might’ve seemed like a no-hope sort of day, but the young American showed impressive speed to finish second. He clearly wasn’t a match for Rahal – to be fair, none were across the weekend – but collected a nice haul of points to keep him in touch with Dixon, sitting currently fifth in the order.
James Hinchcliffe
The affable Canadian spun in the first corner on the first lap on Saturday afternoon, but somehow managed to not hit the wall, and used a good pit strategy to bring his Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda home in second place.
Next stop
Again, there’s no break for the crews and drivers as the IndyCar circus heads from the bumpy city streets of Detroit to the fast, banked environs of Texas Motor Speedway for the second night race of the Season (Sunday morning AEST) and as I conclude, it’s worth mentioning the defending champion of this event: yep, you guessed it! Graham Rahal.
Looking forward to 300 miles at Texas!
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