Team Penske Verizon IndyCar Series Race Report

June 3, 2018

Track: Belle Isle Street Course
Race: Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear (Race 2)
Date: June 3, 2018

No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet – Josef Newgarden
Start: 19th
Finish: 15th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 69/70
Laps Led: 0
Points Position: 5th (-39 pts)

Notes:

Josef Newgarden got off to a rough start for the second race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear after getting into the tire barriers during the morning's wet qualifying session, which relegated him to a 19th place starting position.
Being at the back of the field as the race went green, Newgarden and the No. 1 Hitachi Chevrolet narrowly missed a spinning competitor on the first lap and was able to escape the incident without any damage.
The reigning Verizon IndyCar Series Champion reported an understeer condition throughout the first run, but was able to fight his way up to 15th as pit stops began to take place.
Race strategist Tim Cindric called Newgarden to pit road on lap 12 for fuel and a change from red, alternate tires to the primary blacks, hoping a three-stop strategy and a timely yellow could gain him track position.
Throughout the remainder of the race, Newgarden noted that his front tires were wearing more than normal. Due to this, Cindric kept his driver on the black tires over the final two stints. Unfortunately for Newgarden, the timely yellow flag never came.
The No. 1 Hitachi Chevrolet finished the event in the 15th position, which dropped Newgarden from fourth to fifth in the Verizon IndyCar Series point standings.

Quote:
"It was a rough day. We did what we could and we fought hard, but just didn't come up with much from a results standpoint. It's a tough pill to swallow, but sometimes you have days like this. It was fun having Hitachi here this weekend. They are super supportive of our race team, so I'm disappointed we couldn't do a little better for them and especially for Team Chevy too. We will go to the next one."

No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet – Will Power
Start: 3rd
Finish: 2nd
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 70/70
Laps Led: 0
Points Position: 1st (+5 pts)

Notes:

Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power took advantage of a wet morning qualifying session and guided his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet to a third-place qualifying effort in second race of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix.
Despite the lack of overall speed from the Chevrolets most of the weekend, Power made himself a staple of the top-three as the race went green under sunny skies.
The No. 12 Verizon team elected to complete the 70-lap race on a two-stop strategy, which saw Power stay on the track in the second position until visiting the pits for the first time on lap 23.
Because Power was able to build a big gap on some of the other drivers who had already pitted, he fell no further than sixth in the running order all afternoon.
Power looked to be on his way to a third-place finish when leader Alexander Rossi locked up his tires and had to pit with less than five laps to go. Power slotted into the second position, where he would finish, 11 seconds behind winner Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The podium finish allowed Power to recapture the top spot in the Verizon IndyCar Series point standings. He leads Scott Dixon by five points heading into next week's race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Quote:
"This is probably the most physical track that we go to and we have to do two races here. I'm really happy to come home with a second-place finish. That is about as good as we were going to do unless one of those guys in front of us made a mistake. It was just a solid day. We were fast, we had great pit stops and we made no mistakes. We were looking for a result like that to get on the podium. We were on the back foot going in with the power curve that Honda has here, so we are really pleased with that result."

No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet – Simon Pagenaud
Start: 8th
Finish: 10th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 70/70
Laps Led: 0
Points Position: 10th (-121 pts)

Notes:

After a disappointing race one in the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, Simon Pagenaud looked to bounce back in race two and got off to a much better start, qualifying his No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet in the eighth position.
Simon dropped back to 10th at the start of the event and complained his Dallara/Chevrolet was fighting an understeer condition.
After falling back to 11th, Pagenaud made his first pit stop of the day on lap 11, electing for a three-stop strategy to make it through the 70-lap event.
As the field once again spread out due to varying pit strategies, Pagenaud began to lay down fast lap after fast lap, cutting into the deficit of the leaders and working to gain more track position in clean air.
Pagenaud was able to get all the way up to fifth as the leaders pitted in front of him while he continued to lay down stop lap times.
Eventually, Pagenaud would settle into the 10th position, where he would finish as the leader took the checkered flag. The top-10 run kept Pagenaud 10th in the Verizon IndyCar Series point standings, 121 behind leader and teammate Will Power.

Quote:
"Today was defiantly better than yesterday. We made big progress on the car, still not enough though. We rallied as a team. It was a much more decent showing. We need to continue to progress and evolve. Street courses are definitely our weakest area at the moment. We are going to be on the superspeedway next week and we have been strong on those. We are going to try and get a hat and cowboy boots, especially with DXC being the title sponsor of the event. Overall, a tough weekend and a lot of adversity, but the team did a great job."