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.
DAY 2 NOTEBOOK:
INDYCAR officials issued a memo to IZOD IndyCar Series teams clarifying competition rules used this weekend.
Qualifying Procedures: IZOD IndyCar Series officials will shorten the amount of time to call for a red flag following a local yellow condition. Any driver who is found improving segment times in a segment displaying a yellow Condition will be subject to penalty, which could include loss of lap time.
Belle Isle pit lane: There will be a cone placed on the left rear corner of the unoccupied pit box at pit entry where the division between the fast and slow lanes begins. The Car occupying pit box 25 (Car 18) is allowed to drive to the right of this cone. All other cars must stay to the left of this cone.
Blocking: Drivers moving in reaction to pursuing Drivers will be subject to review for blocking. Where the driving line permits, Drivers defending their position must leave room for the pursuing Car.
QUALIFYING FOR THE VERIZON P1 AWARD (DUAL 2):
Qualifying for the Verizon P1 Award consists of one 30-minute session with the field split into two groups based on Friday's first practice. Each group receives 12 minutes of track time with at least five minutes of guaranteed green-flag running. The fastest overall driver, regardless of group will win the Verizon P1 Award. The fastest driver in each group will receive one bonus point. The pole winner's group will occupy the odd-numbered positions (3, 5, 7...) while the other group's drivers will occupy the even-numbered positions (4, 6, 8...) based on their fastest lap times. Any driver who causes a red flag during any segment will lose their two quickest laps.
Track record: Juan Pablo Montoya, 1:13.065 (June 2000). Fastest lap today: #98 Alex Tagliani, 1:18.2096 (Practice 1).
At 9:15 a.m., the ambient temperature was 69 degrees with a relative humidity of 86 percent. Skies were cloudy. The track temperature was 74 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
9:15 a.m. - Session is on brief hold for track cleanup.
9:17 a.m. - GREEN. Group 1.
9:23 a.m. - #1 Hunter-Reay sets fastest lap at 1:18.2294. #1 Hunter-Reay slows on course and pulls off course in Turn 3. Driver reports no fuel pressure. #16 Jakes sets fastest lap at 1:18.1704.
9:23 a.m. -- #98 Tagliani spins between Turn 4 and 5. RED FLAG. #98 Tagliani will lose two fastest laps for causing the red flag.
9:29 a.m. - CHECKERED. #16 Jakes is fastest at 1:18.1704 and earns a front-row starting position for the Chevrolet Indy Dual at Detroit 2.
At 9:30 a.m., the ambient temperature was 70 degrees with a relative humidity of 83 percent. Skies were cloudy. The track temperature was 77 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
9:37 a.m. - GREEN. Group 2.
9:43 a.m. -- #5 Viso is fastest halfway through the session at 1:18.7810.
9:48 a.m. -- #18 Conway sets fastest lap 1:18.0977.
9:49 a.m. - CHECKERED. Mike Conway wins the Verizon P1 Award for Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit #2.
QUALIFYING FOR THE VERIZON P1 AWARD NOTES:
This is Mike Conway's first Verizon P1 Award. His previous best qualifying performance with was second (Barber 2010, Baltimore 2012).
This is the first career Indy car pole for Dale Coyne Racing. Previous best team start was most recently at Mid-Ohio 2009 (Justin Wilson)
James Jakes qualified second, besting his career best start of fourth set yesterday here at Belle Isle
Jakes matches the team's best qualifying result at Belle Isle, which was second with driver Bobby Rahal in 1992. Rahal led 21 laps that year to win the race.
IZOD INDYCAR SERIES POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:
MIKE CONWAY (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda, Verizon P1 Award winner, Dual 2): "We just had to hang out and see what we had and it was enough for pole. Excellent job by all the guys at the team at Dale Coyne for making this happen. We're really, really happy and can't wait to see how it goes. (About his starting positions for both races): "We've got really good starting position, with second and first, and we couldn't have asked for much more coming into this weekend. I was hoping I'd make the Fast Six, but to do it as well as we've done is amazing. So big credit to the team and my teammate for giving us a good car." (Does starting from pole in Dual 2 affect strategy for Dual 1?) "That all plays into hand, especially with the amount of reds and blacks we have, we've got loads of blacks but not many reds. But I think the black time will be better for us anyway, so I'm happy, and it's going to be a tough race for sure. There are some quick guys around me, and I just have to focus on getting my head down and hopefully pull away, but we'll see."
JAMES JAKES (No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Honda, qualified second): "It was pretty good. It was short. It's a shame we didn't get a few more laps, actually. I think we would have had a shot at pole if our session hadn't been cut short. But yeah, the guys worked really hard. It's funny yesterday after qualifying the balance wasn't great so we made some adjustments to that and had a game plan this morning and it worked out well for us. But, like I said it's a shame we got cut short because actually if you look to the laps we only did three flat laps and if you look at the other groups three flat laps we were ahead by a half a second still. In a way it's good but it's still a little disappointing to miss out on pole. Going to have to find which hotel [Mike] Conway is staying so I can high jack his room tonight. He keeps on spoiling the party. But no, congratulations to those guys they've been strong all weekend, as well. Obviously with the weather looking uncertain today and tomorrow it's nice to start up front." (On being a pleasant surprise): "I think you just to be patient right now in the series. This series is that competitive that if you are off your game by a tenth you fall massively backwards. There are 25 guys who can win a race, and I don't think there is any other championships where you can say that. It really is unique. IndyCar is a great product right now, and the depth of the drivers is fantastic. Everyone is pushing so hard and like I said if you are off your game you are going to go backwards so you really have to make sure that you are ticking all the boxes going into the weekend and if it doesn't go your way just stay patient and if you're doing everything you can do and it will come. But like I said yesterday, big thank to all the Penske Organization. The track is really fun to drive. It flows well. It's nice to go down to Turn 3, and hang a right. And then the next two corners, Turn 4 and Turn 5, are fun. And it's a real drivers' track, you know. You really have to be on your game."
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The following cars will have a 10-grid spot penalty for today's IZOD IndyCar Series race: #10 Franchitti (unapproved engine change at Indianapolis), #15 Rahal (unapproved engine change at Indianapolis), #67 Newgarden (unapproved engine change at Indianapolis) and #83 Kimball (unapproved engine change at Indianapolis).
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The following cars: #16 Jakes, #98 Tagliani, #55 Vautier, #6 Saavedra, #10 Franchitti, #78 De Silvestro and #4 Briscoe will start on the alternate red tires. All cars must use a new set of alternate red tires for two green flag laps in today's race, unless rain tires are used due to weather.
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Twenty-three players from the Detroit Red Wings, including Henrik Zetterberg, Pavel Datsyuk and Jimmy Howard, visited the track at Belle Isle today for the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit #1.
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CHEVROLET INDY DUAL IN DETROIT #1 RACE SPECIFICS:
The race is 70 laps, 164.2 miles on the 13-turn, 2.35-mile street course.
The race will become a timed race of two hours if there are wet conditions.
The pit road speed limit is 50 mph.
Pole sitter E.J. Viso will grid drivers' right.
The green flag to start the race will be show the second time by the start-finish line.
Mark Reuss, president of General Motors North America, will drive the 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray Pace Car to start the race. Three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford will drive the Safety Car during the race
The race leader will accelerate at his discretion to determine the restarts.
There will be no tow-ins or returns from the garage within 10 minutes of the checkered flag.
Lapped cars will be moved to the back in the final 10 laps.
CHEVROLET INDY DUAL IN DETROIT #1 PRE-RACE:
At 3:30 p.m., the ambient temperature was 79 degrees with a relative humidity of 58 percent. Skies were mostly cloudy. The track temperature was 99 degrees, according to Firestone engineers.
3:43 p.m. - Jay Farner, the president and CMO of Quicken Loans and the race's grand marshall, gave the command "Drivers, start your engines." All 25 cars have started and are rolling on the grid.
CHEVROLET INDY DUAL IN DETROIT #1 RACE RUNNING:
Lap 1: GREEN. #5 Viso leads the field into Turn 1. #18 Conway takes the lead heading into Turn 1. #2 Allmendinger makes contact with #9 Dixon in Turn 4. Car climbs over the #9 car and makes contact with the barrier in Turn 4. FULL COURSE YELLOW.
Lap 2: #9 Dixon on pit road to replace the rear wing and four black tires and fuel.
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Mike Conway is leading his first IZOD IndyCar Series race since the Edmonton race on July 24, 2011
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Lap 4: #9 Dixon returns to pit lane for fuel only. GREEN. #18 Conway leads the field into Turn 1.
Lap 5:#12 Power, who restarted in seventh, passes three cars in Turn 1 and now runs fourth.
Lap 7: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .6736 of a second.
Lap 9: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .8166 of a second.
Lap 10: #15 Rahal on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 11: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .8140 of a second. #67 Newgarden on pit lane for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 12: #55 Vautier on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 13: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .8210 of a second. #83 Kimball on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 14: #25 Andretti on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 15: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by .7546 of a second.
Lap 17: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 2.4533 seconds.
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Mike Conway has led 17 laps today. It is the most laps he's led in any Indy car race. His previous best was 15 laps led at Indianapolis in 2010.
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Lap 19: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 2.5227 seconds.
Lap 21: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 1.7842 seconds.
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Medical update from Dr. Michael Olinger, INDYCAR medical director: AJ Allmendinger has been checked and released from the infield care center and is cleared to drive.
AJ ALLMENDINGER (No. 2 Quicken Loans Team Penske Chevrolet): "I'm fine. I just jammed my thumb, it's sore but it'll be fine. It was tight on the start, just got crowded. I ran into the back of Scott (Dixon) and wrecked. That was it."
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Lap 23: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 1.6582 seconds. #6 Saavedra on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 24: Leader #18 Conway pits for four black tires and fuel. New leader is #1 Hunter-Reay.
Lap 25: #98 Tagliani runs off course in Turn 3. #14 Sato is off the pace in Turn 3 and has stopped on course. FULL COURSE YELLOW. Pits are open. #1 Hunter-Reay, #12 Power, #10 Franchitti, #3 Castroneves, #19 Wilson and #7 Hinchcliffe all pit for four tires and fuel. Leader under caution is #1 Hunter-Reay.
Lap 29: #98 Tagliani makes left-side contact with the tires in Turn 3.Restart has been waved off. Holmatro Safety Team pushes car behind the wall in Turn 3.
Lap 31: GREEN. #1 Hunter-Reay leads the field into Turn 1.
Lap 32: #10 Franchitti gets inside of #12 Power in Turn 1. #16 Jakes runs off course in Turn 3.
Lap 33: #6 Saavedra is off course in Turn 5 after contact with the tire barrier.
Lap 34: FULL COURSE YELLOW. Leader under caution is #1 Hunter-Reay, #18 Conway, #10 Franchitti, #12 Power and #3 Castroneves.
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Ryan Hunter-Reay has led five consecutive IZOD IndyCar Series races dating to Barber Motorsports Park in April.
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Lap 39: GREEN. #1 Hunter-Reay leads field into Turn 1.
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IZOD IndyCar Series have penalized #5 Viso with a drive-through for passing before the green flag on the Lap 39 restart.
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Lap 41: #27 Hinchcliffe on pit lane for four tires and fuel and remove debris that was picked up on course.
Lap 43: #1 Hunter-Reay leads #18 Conway by.4083 of a second.
Lap 44: #18 Conway passes #1 Hunter-Reay for the lead in Turn 3.
Lap 45: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 3.8210 seconds.
Lap 46: #67 Newgarden on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 47: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 9.7496 seconds. #11 Kanaan and #25 Andretti and #77 Pagenaud on pit lane for four tires and fuel. #25 Andretti has damage after contact on course.
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Medical update from Dr. Michael Olinger, INDYCAR medical director: Sebastian Saavedra has been checked and released from the infield care center and is cleared to drive.
SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA (No. 6 Dragon Racing Chevrolet): "It's just frustrating to see that Marco (Andretti) keeps doing these dirty moves and as usual nothing is done to him. It's just a very frustrating day. We were very strong. We were up there. Great strategy from the guys. The car was perfect. And he just punched me out. It's just a very unfortunate situation for the TrueCar racing."
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Lap 48: #10 Franchitti and #12 Power on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 49: #1 Hunter-Reay on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 50: #18 Conway leads #19 Wilson by 20.6675 seconds.
Lap 51: #4 Briscoe on pit road for four black tires and fuel.
Lap 53: Leader #18 Conway on pit road for four red tires and fuel. New leader is #19 Wilson. #9 Dixon and #3 Castroneves also on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 54: #19 Wilson leads #18 Conway by 8.1907 seconds.
Lap 55: Leader #19 Wilson on pit road for four red tires and fuel. New leader is #18 Conway.
Lap 57: #18 Conway leads #55 Vautier by 16.1522 seconds. #16 Jakes on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 59: #55 Vautier on pit road for four tires and fuel.
Lap 60: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 19.3672 seconds.
Lap 62: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 18.2259 seconds.
Lap 64: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 14.5257 seconds.
Lap 66: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 11.5182 seconds.
Lap 67: #4 Briscoe is in the tires in Turn 6.
Lap 68: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 10.6236 seconds.
Lap 69: WHITE: #18 Conway leads #1 Hunter-Reay by 11.3613 seconds.
Lap 70: CHECKERED: #18 Mike Conway wins the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit #1 by 12.9707 seconds over #1 Hunter-Reay. #19 Wilson is third.
CHEVROLET INDY DUAL IN DETROIT POST-RACE NOTES:
This is the second career IZOD IndyCar Series victory for Mike Conway. His previous victory was Long Beach 2011 with Andretti Autosport.
Earlier today, Conway earned his first career pole for Sunday's race.
This is the third IZOD IndyCar Series win for Dale Coyne Racing. The team's most recent win as Texas 2012 (Justin Wilson).
Today's second place finish is a career best for Ryan Hunter-Reay at Belle Isle. His previous best finish was sixth in 2008. It is Hunter-Reay's third podium finish of the season (Barber, Indianapolis, Belle Isle 1)
Justin Wilson finished third, his second podium finish this season. He also finished second at Long Beach. To date, Wilson has 3 top-five and four top-10 finishes this season
Scott Dixon recorded his third top-five finish of the season (St. Pete, Barber, Belle Isle 1). It is his third consecutive top-5 finish at Belle Isle
CHEVROLET INDY DUAL IN DETROIT POST-RACE QUOTES:
MIKE CONWAY (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "The car has been great all weekend and as the track was rubbering in it was getting better and better. 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. (About Race 2): "We're starting in the perfect position so we'll take it to them and I'm looking forward to tomorrow."
DALE COYNE (Owner, Dale Coyne Racing): "We were impressed this morning. We've never had a driver qualify on the pole, let alone win, set the fastest lap, lead the most laps, everything he did. It's pretty amazing on his part and for the entire team to put both cars in the top-three. Our engineering side is working hard and we're pretty pleased. (On expectations heading into Belle Isle): Our goal was to score as many points as possible and think we could get in the top-five. This is even better.
JUSTIN WILSON (No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda): "It was tough. Scott (Dixon) was coming fast and I knew he was good. I just tried to had to hit my marks and make sure I didn't make a mistake. He had a couple of runs on me, and I just tried to position my car in the middle of the road so it made it harder for him to pass. I was just sliding around there at the end. It was good fun. I'm really pleased for Mike (Conway) to get the win. It's great to get Dale Coyne Racing 1-3 on the podium, both cars there. It's fantastic for Boy Scouts of American and Honda. All around a good day.
SCOTT DIXON (No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): "I got to the back of the field there twice and had to drive through it. I'm just so happy for Mike Conway. He's one of the nicest guys in the paddock and he is so deserving. He did a fantastic job. No, I'm stoked man. Tough day, tough weekend for qualifying. At least we start, I think 10 or 12 spots further up tomorrow so we should be looking good. (About preparing for Race 2): You know, I don't feel too bad. The pace of the race was very high. It felt like it was qualifying all over again almost every lap. Earlier on it was a bit funky in the middle there with people trying to set a pace, but the front runners were definitely going. Yea, I'll definitely be getting plenty of rest tonight.
HELIO CASTRONEVES (No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet): "I just saw that I'm on top of the points, but I mean really Mike Conway - great job. Jumping straight from the couch to the driver's seat. It just proves that the series is very competitive with the teams. And now we've taken the points lead, which is very good. What we had was great; I wish it could've been a little bit more, but we'll take it. (About Race 2): Our strategy for tomorrow is just to keep it clean like we did today. It was a perfect call from everyone, from John Erickson. For now we just need to keep going. We have a good momentum and we want to get the podium, but in order to get on the podium we have to pass a lot of cars."
RYAN HUNTER-REAY (No. 1 DHL Chevrolet): "The DHL Chevy was great but on the middle stint on reds we just fell out of it. We completely had no grip. I'm not sure if we were just using up the tires too much. Mike (Conway) did a great job. He was flying. We were as quick as him on blacks, and on those laps few laps. I should say those last ten laps of the race we were reeling him in by about 2 seconds a lap it just wasn't enough. He has such a big lead from that middle stint. Great job to the Coyne guys, and heck a job to Mike coming right back in and winning a race. It's tough. We really wanted to win it for Chevy, but we have another shot at it tomorrow."
CHARLIE KIMBALL (No. 83 NovoLog FlexPen Honda): ""It was a struggle again for the No. 83 car but a lot of credit to the guys in the pits. They did a green flag nose-change that was super quick. I think it was almost as fast as a regular stop. The Novo Nordisk boys have been working hard on that all year. The car was good. I think we can make some big improvements tomorrow as it looks like it's going to be dry all day. The car was really good at the end. We just have to figure out how to get there from the beginning, but overall I'm pretty happy."
JOSEF NEWGARDEN (No. 67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Honda): ""Not a bad day. We had a strong car. I think we need to probably tweak it a little bit before tomorrow. We did a great job from where we started and the team had great pit stops and a killer strategy, so well be trying to work really hard tomorrow to replicate that."
ED CARPENTER (No. 20 Fuzzy's Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet): "We got a lot better over the course of the race. We are getting closer with car so I believe we'll be better for tomorrow's (Sunday) race. We were able to be more competitive as the race went on. We thought there might be rain later in the race so we went on a different strategy a bit. This is a tough track. It was a good job by Mike (Conway) but I'm bummed out a Chevrolet didn't win. Hopefully Chevy can come back and take Sunday's race. There were a lot of marbles and it made it tough if you got off the line. And you also picked up some stuff on the tires. Tag (Alex Tagliani) even lost it under yellow so you can see how tough it was off line. It made it tough to pass because you had to go off the groove and it was slick. Overall, we ran all day and we learned some stuff for the future."
SIMONA DE SILVESTRO (No. 78 Nuclear Entergy Areva KVRT Chevrolet): ""I think it was a hard race; we fought hard, but we kind of got squeezed out on the wrong side on the one restart and lost five positions there. That was a bit frustrating, but I think we're kind of ok. We still need a little bit of work for tomorrow, so we're going to go back and open the books again and try to do it better. During the race we learned a lot and that should really help. Hopefully we can improve tomorrow and bring the Nuclear Clean Air Energy home to a better finish than today."
SIMON PAGENAUD (No. 77 Schmidt Hamilton HP Motorsports Honda): "It was a difficult day for us in Detroit for Dual 1. We managed to improve the car for qualifying but unfortunately it went the wrong way for the race. It was a pretty long day at the office but we managed to bring home some points finishing 12th. We're going to do some work to make the HP car better for tomorrow in Dual 2. Congratulations to Mike Conway and Honda for this win here in Chevrolet's camp. We've got some work to do, but I'm definitely not giving up hope. We'll study what happened during the race because we're obviously lacking a little bit of something. We'll come back stronger tomorrow because that's what we do."
TRISTAN VAUTIER (No. 55 Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda): " "It was a pretty epic race today. I flat spotted my right front tire early on. I had to come in early for a pit stop because there was really no point in staying out after that. So that was my mistake obviously. After that we had a pretty good race even though our pace wasn't quite there. The yellow flags definitely helped us catch up. I tried to fight for a top-10 and didn't quite make it. The guys did a great job in the pits today and now we just have to work on being faster for tomorrow."
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS (No. 7 Dragon Racing Chevrolet): "I had a decent start, but lost a few positions after getting caught behind the Allmendinger crash on the first lap. We made a lot of progress after that, passing a lot of cars and having good laps. I caught up to Sebastian (Saavedra) and my throttle got stuck. I am lucky I didn't take him out because it was very close and the stuck throttle ended our day early."
RYAN BRISCOE (No. 4 National Guard Panther Racing Chevrolet): "It was good fun out there; I passed a lot of cars and the car was great. I was just setting up Graham (Rahal) for a pass there with a few laps to go and turned in too wide on the dust and the National Guard car came around on me. It's a real bummer that we didn't finish but all-in-all it was a super positive race, and we had really good speed. I was feeling really good in the car and the pit stops were great. We'll try to have the same kind of pace tomorrow."
E.J. VISO (No. 5 Team Venezuela PDVSA Citgo Chevrolet): "Definitely an extremely disappointing result. I feel terrible for everybody involved in my crew and my car. An error on the manufacturer's end diminished the best chance that I had til now of winning a race starting from first. It's extremely frustrating, but at the same time, things like this happen in racing. I have nothing else I can do at this point except to focus on tomorrow's race. Thanks to my crew and everyone at Andretti Autosport for giving me a car fast enough for pole position and getting my first "pole" in IndyCar."
DARIO FRANCHITTI (No. 10 Suave Honda): "We had a really good first stint with the Suave car. But then on either the second or third restart we got shuffled back. Helio [Castroneves] got down the inside of us and locked up his tires and I had to go wide to avoid him. I probably lost five places in three corners there during that exchange. From there it was just a case of coming back through the field. The team did a bit of strategy and I was trying to make some passes there. I have to say the Suave car was very fast. It was just a matter of getting some clear track to make things happen. It was a good team effort today. We need to make a few changes for tomorrow to see if we can improve things."
TONY KANAAN (No. 11 Hippino.com KV Racing Technology-SH Racing Chevrolet): "This was not the result that I was looking for the Hippino.com/Chevy/Firestone car, but I can say I gave my best today. I took the opportunity in every restart to gain positions, but the bottom line is that we did not have the speed to run upfront with those guys. The No. 11 crew will continue to work hard on getting the car where it should be for tomorrow's warmup and I hope that we can get a better result in race two."
WILL POWER (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet): "Man, that was a hard race, I drove the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet at 100% every single lap. That was the hardest I've ever worked and not won a race, it really shows the competition level right now. We had great restarts today which hopefully will carry over to tomorrow and starting closer to the front should help us be in it at the end."
GRAHAM RAHAL (No. 15 Midas/Big O Tires Honda): "Obviously I'm happy with the finishing result. You always want to finish higher up but some days you've got to take what you can get. The Midas / Big O Tires guys worked awfully hard, we had good stops and ultimately we got ourselves a top-10. It was a good day for the team overall. Clearly we need to keep working but I'm pretty happy with where we finished relative to where we started. (About if there was something from today that can be applied to tomorrow's race:) "Without a doubt I think that set-up wise we are going to learn quite a lot overnight here. There are a lot of things that we can work on to make the car a little bit better but overall I am pretty pleased. (About physical demands of duel races:) "It's a tough race, there's no doubt about that. I feel all right but everybody is going to want their rest tonight."
JAMES JAKES (No. 16 Acorn Stairlifts Honda): "The first stint was tough. The first few laps were OK, we lost a couple of positions but then got them back. And then just could not drive on the reds and I don't know why. The guys did a great job in the pits. Hopefully we can make a few changes tonight and get right up there tomorrow. (On trip through the runoff area on L31:) I was struggling with the tires and struggled to stop so I went straight in to the runoff, had to turn back around and get back on track." (About f there was something from today that can be applied to tomorrow's race:) "We can learn a lot from today for the race tomorrow. We will have a look at the data now. It will be a long night tonight. We have a session in the morning, make a few changes and then see where we end up. (On physical demands of duel races:) "It's going to be tough tomorrow. It's a tough race track. We'll just get on with it and do it."
JAMES HINCHCLIFFE (No. 27 GoDaddy Chevrolet): "Up and down day for us, unfortunately. I think that we actually had a pretty decent car. In the first half of the race we were picking guys off and got up to, I think, just outside the top 10 from 20th. I was trying to get by Graham (Rahal) in Turn 3 and we went side-by-side there, and I had to use a lot of curb and ended up picking up a tire on the inside of the thing there. It caused us an early stop which meant we had to stop again for a splash at the end. It's too bad because the pace was there for a solid top 10 which, after where we started, I would have been happy with. The GoDaddy Chevy just got better and better as the race went on, and hopefully that is a good sign for tomorrow and we can start up in the top 10 now, and take the lessons learned today and just try to keep moving forward."
SUNDAY'S SCHEDULE (all times local):
6 a.m.Garages open
9:30-10a.m.IZOD IndyCar Series warmup
3:30 p.m.Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit Dual #2 (70 laps/164.22 miles) ABC (Live)
