Simon Pagenaud became the sixth different winner in seven IZOD IndyCar Series races when he drove the No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports car to 5.6-second victory in the second race of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans.
It was the initial win in the series for the native of France and for the team co-owned by former IndyCar drivers Sam Schmidt and Davey Hamilton. It also was the 100th victory for Honda with Indy car engine manufacturer competition.
“It’s unbelievable. I don’t know how we did it,” said Pagenaud, who started sixth in the 70-lap race on the 2.346-mile, 13-turn street course. “It’s a great feeling. One I hope of more to come. I started karting when I was 8 so it’s been 21 years of hard work to finally win an IndyCar race.”
James Jakes, who started second, finished a career-best second in the No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing by holding off Race 1 winner Mike Conway by .4342 of a second. Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti were next to cross the start-finish line.
Helio Castroneves overtook Graham Rahal on the final laps for eighth place, gaining the extra point to retain the championship points lead. He’s tied at 206 with Marco Andretti, who finished sixth, heading to the Firestone 550 on June 8 at Texas Motor Speedway.
In Race 1 on June 1, Conway overtook Ryan Hunter-Reay for the lead on Lap 44, built a 20-second gap leading into the final round of pit stops and went on to easily claim his second series victory. Because Conway missed sweeping the inaugural IZOD IndyCar Series doubleheader, the prize fund for the SONAX Perfect Finish Award jumps to $100,000 at the Honda Toronto Indy in mid-July.
Complete Results of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit #2
Order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (6) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
2. (2) James Jakes, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
3. (1) Mike Conway, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
4. (7) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
5. (16) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
6. (14) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
7. (18) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
8. (9) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
9. (15) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
10. (11) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
11. (22) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
12. (19) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
13. (13) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 69, Running
14. (20) Tristan Vautier, Dallara-Honda, 69, Running
15. (23) Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevy, 66, Running
16. (24) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 64, Running
17. (5) EJ Viso, Dallara-Chevy, 61, Running
18. (4) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Chevy, 59, Running
19. (10) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Chevy, 57, Running
20. (3) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 53, Running
21. (25) Alex Tagliani, Dallara-Honda, 27, Contact
22. (8) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 27, Contact
23. (21) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 23, Contact
24. (17) Simona De Silvestro, Dallara-Chevy, 8, Contact
25. (12) AJ Allmendinger, Dallara-Chevy, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
- Winners average speed: 84.906
- Time of Race: 01:56:14.7861
- Margin of victory: 5.6274
- Cautions: 6 for 22 laps
- Lead changes: 8 among seven drivers
- Lap Leaders: Power 1 – 3, Conway 4 – 28, Kanaan 29 – 38, Vautier 39 , Conway 40 – 45, Kimball 46 – 48, Pagenaud 49 – 54, Jakes 55 – 58, Pagenaud 59 – 70
- Point Standings: Castroneves 206, Andretti 206, Hunter-Reay 191, Dixon 186, Pagenaud 177, Sato 175, Wilson 169, Kanaan 160, Hinchcliffe 154, Kimball 149.
Source: IndyCar • Photo: Chris Owens
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