With his second win in as many days, Graham Rahal completed a near-perfect weekend at the Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. But it was no Sunday afternoon cruise.

After winning the opening race of the IndyCar Series doubleheader weekend front the pole position on Saturday, Rahal started third today in the No. 15, Rahal led 40 laps and beat Josef Newgarden to the checkered flag by 1.1772 seconds to claim his sixth career Indy car victory and the 25th for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

“Buckeyes like to win up in this state,” said Rahal, a proud Ohio native and avid Ohio State University sports fan. “It was just a good weekend. Thanks to the crowd, thanks to (race promoter) Roger Penske, Bud Denker and everybody for putting this on. It’s a tremendous event.

“It’s a special day for us. We’re the first one to win the double (in Detroit), it means a lot. It feels great, trust me. Any day you can beat a Penske driver, it means a lot.”

Driving the No. 2 hum by Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Newgarden climbed from the 13th starting position to challenge Rahal late and post his best finish in 10 starts at Belle Isle.

“We tried to have the same strategy as (Saturday),” Newgarden said. “Three (pit) stops, running fast and the yellows worked out a lot better for us today. I think that second-to-last stint we lost too much ground when we got stuck behind Simon (Pagenaud) and Will (Power). We couldn’t clear those guys and I think if we could have cleared them we could have had a better shot at Rahal.”

Power (No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet) rounded out the podium in third place, while Pagenaud (No. 1 DXC Technology Chevrolet) came home fifth to give Team Penske three of the top five finishers in the event operated by team owner Roger Penske’s group. Takuma Sato, winner of the 101st Indianapolis 500 presented by PennGrade Motor Oil on May 28, sat on pole in the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda with a new track record of 1 minute, 13.6732 seconds and finished fourth for his second top-five finish in nine races on the island’s 2.35-mile, 14-turn temporary street course.

“It was a solid result,” said Sato, who remains third in points behind Scott Dixon and Helio Castroneves. “I think the team did a great job. We did everything we could and made no mistakes, but we just didn’t quite have the speed today.”

Rahal first led on Lap 23 when he stayed out a lap longer than Sato on the first round of pit stops. After reclaiming the lead following the stops on Lap 30, Rahal appeared uncatchable until late issues befalling two competitors put the outcome in jeopardy.

The lone full-course caution of the day came out on Lap 66 when James Hinchcliffe (No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda) and Spencer Pigot (No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka Ed Carpenter Chevrolet) stopped on track in separate incidents. INDYCAR officials brought out the red flag at the conclusion of Lap 67 to set up a green-flag finish. Following an 18-minute delay, the field re-fired the engines and the race restarted with two laps to go.

Rahal led the field back to the green. Despite the best efforts of Newgarden, Rahal held onto the lead to win his second race in as many days and become the first driver since Dixon (Toronto 2013) to complete a doubleheader sweep. It is the first back-to-back wins for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing since Kenny Brack won on the ovals at Motegi and Milwaukee in 2001. With the weekend sweep, Rahal jumped from 15th to sixth in the IndyCar Series championship standings after eight of 17 races.

Source: IndyCar.com

Graham Rahal set a track record for the Raceway at Belle Isle Park temporary street course to win the Verizon P1 Award and pole position for this afternoon’s first race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

Rahal, driving the No. 15 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, scorched around the 14-turn, 2.35-mile circuit in 1 minute, 13.9681 seconds (114.374 mph). It bettered the record of 1:14.0379 set last year by Simon Pagenaud.

Graham Rahal set a track record for the Raceway at Belle Isle Park temporary street course to win the Verizon P1 Award and pole position for this afternoon’s first race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.

Rahal, driving the No. 15 SoldierStrong / TurnsforTroops.com Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, scorched around the 14-turn, 2.35-mile circuit in 1 minute, 13.9681 seconds (114.374 mph). It bettered the record of 1:14.0379 set last year by Simon Pagenaud.

Helio Castroneves ran a lap of 1:13.8901 (114.494 mph) in the second group but was penalized by INDYCAR for not reducing his speed in the area of a local yellow and had his fast lap negated. Castroneves’ second-best lap in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet of 1:14.0414 was still good enough to be fastest in his group, so he will start outside Rahal on Row 1 in this afternoon’s race.

Qualifying this morning consisted of two groups receiving 12 minutes of track time each instead of the typical three rounds of knockout qualifying seen at Verizon IndyCar Series street- and road-course events.

Source: IndyCar.com

Graham Rahal completed a dominant drive to win the opening half of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, the first race of the IndyCar Series doubleheader weekend on the Raceway at Belle Isle Park.

Rahal, in the No. 15 Honda, led 55 of 70 laps around the 14-turn, 2.35-mile temporary street course on the state park island located in the Detroit River. The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver earned the fifth win of his 11-year Indy car career and first since his thrilling victory last August at Texas Motor Speedway.

Rahal crossed the finish line 6.1474 seconds ahead of four-time Verizon IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Camping World Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing. James Hinchcliffe gave Honda a podium sweep by placing third in the No. 5 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsports entry.

With the runner-up finish, Dixon unofficially reclaimed the championship lead after seven of 17 races with 275 points. Helio Castroneves, who finished seventh in the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, is second with 273 points and Indianapolis 500 winner Takuma Sato, who finished eighth today in the No. 26 Andretti Autosport Honda, is third in points with 258.

Source: IndyCar.com

Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal swapped top honors in today’s two practice sessions for the Detroit Grand Prix.

Castroneves led this afternoon’s final practice before qualifying for the first race of the Verizon IndyCar Series doubleheader weekend. Driving the No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, Castroneves clocked a best lap of 1 minute, 15.1511 seconds (112.573 mph) that stands as the fastest of the day.

Rahal led the morning session in the No. 15 SoldierStrong / TurnsforTroops.com Honda (1:15.3328), with Castroneves second. The order flipped in the afternoon’s 45-minute session on the 2.35-mile, 14-turn temporary street course, with Castroneves first and Rahal second (1:15.3519).

Alexander Rossi, in the No. 98 Andretti Autosport/Curb Honda, ran the third-fastest lap this afternoon (1:15.4323) before his car spun midway through the session and made contact with the wall in Turn 8.

“It was just loose in entry, I guess,” Rossi said. “It’s a weird place to spin, especially on entry, so it just got away from me. I don’t think the car is too bad, but that’s a concrete wall there.”

The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix provides the only doubleheader race weekend of the 2017 season. Qualifying for the first race starts at 10:20 a.m. ET Saturday.

Source: IndyCar.com