Mike Conway earned his second IZOD IndyCar Series victory and is poised to receive a $50,000 bonus if he can sweep the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans.
Conway, who started second in the Honda-powered No. 18 Sonny’s car for Dale Coyne Racing, overtook Ryan Hunter-Reay for the lead on Lap 44 of 70 on the 2.35-mile, 13-turn street circuit, built a 20-second gap leading into the final round of pit stops and went on to a commanding victory.
“The car has been great all weekend and as the track was rubbering in it was getting better and better,” said Conway, who claimed his other series at Long Beach in 2011. “It was keep pushing and get a gap, and the strategy worked out perfectly at the end. I wanted to stay out and do more laps.”
Hunter-Reay, the reigning IZOD IndyCar Series champion, was 12.9707 seconds back and Conway’s teammate, Justin Wilson, claimed his second consecutive top-five finish by holding off 2012 race winner Scott Dixon by .0984 of a second for third.
Should Conway sweep the doubleheaders this season will receive the $50,000 SONAX Perfect Finish Award, which will be up for grabs at Toronto and Houston’s twin bills. If Conway can’t complete the task at Belle Isle, the prize fund carries over to Toronto in mid-July ($100,000). If no one wins both of those races, the Houston doubleheader in early October will be worth $150,000.
Conway also claimed the Verizon P1 Award for Race 2 on June 2 with the quickest lap in the two-group qualification session six hours before Race 1. It was the first earned IZOD IndyCar Series pole for the driver from England and Dale Coyne Racing.
The Verizon P1 Award was awarded to the best overall lap time in the two sessions. The remainder of the cars in the pole sitter’s group will occupy the odd-numbered starting grid positions, starting with third. Cars from Group 1 will occupy the even-numbered starting grid positions.
James Jakes posted the quickest lap in Group 1 (1:18.1704) in the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He’ll also start on the front row — an IZOD IndyCar Series career high through 37 races. In 1992, team co-owner Bobby Rahal started second and went on to win the race at Belle Isle.
Complete Results of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit #1
Order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (2) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
2. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
3. (16) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
4. (15) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
5. (12) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
6. (11) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
7. (24) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
8. (9) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
9. (23) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
10. (3) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
11. (6) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
12. (8) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
13. (19) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
14. (25) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
15. (20) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
16. (17) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
17. (1) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
18. (22) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 69, Running
19. (7) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 68, Running
20. (18) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 67, Running
21. (21) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 66, Contact
22. (10) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 32, Contact
23. (5) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 28, Contact
24. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 19, Mechanical
25. (13) AJ Allmendinger, Dallara-Chevy, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
- Winners average speed: 90.753
- Time of Race: 01:48:45.4309
- Margin of victory: 12.9707
- Cautions: 3 for 14 laps
- Lead changes: 4 among 3 drivers
- Lap Leaders:Conway 1-23, Hunter-Reay 24-43, Conway 44-52, Wilson 53-55, Conway 56-70.
- Point Standings: Castroneves 182, Hunter-Reay 179, Andretti 178, Sato 168, Wilson 161, Dixon 154, Hinchcliffe 143, Kanaan 141, Pagenaud 126, Kimball 122.
Source: IndyCar • Photo: Chris Jones
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