IndyCar Detroit: Hunter-Reay takes first victory since 2015 – IndyCar

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Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay grabbed his first IndyCar win for three years in the second Detroit race, passing team-mate Alexander Rossi in the closing laps.

The race was defined by a mix of two and three-stop strategies. As was the case in the opening race of the weekend, Hunter-Reay made an early first pitstop after starting 10th.

Polesitter Rossi led the race at this point, the two stop approach proving popular with the majority of the front-runners.

When the strategies converged after the final stops, Hunter-Reay emerged in second, 7.6 seconds behind Rossi.

He reeled in the race leader at over a second per lap and caught Rossi with 10 laps to go. Four laps later, Rossi locked-up in the heavy braking zone at Turn 3 and drove into the escape road, allowing Hunter-Reay through to win for the first time since Pocono 2015.

The 2012 series champion made up significant ground prior to his second pitstop, crucially overcutting Robert Wickens, who was also on a three-stop strategy after starting second.

Hunter-Reay recorded consecutive fastest laps, which put him in position to take advantage of clean air and overcut Penske’s Will Power after his final stop.

Rossi, who entered the race as the championship leader and led the most laps, finished an unrepresentative 12th after returning to the pits with a puncture.

This allowed Power to inherit second and reclaim the championship lead. The Indianapolis 500 winner was the only Chevrolet-powered car in the top six.

Ed Jones equalled his best finish of the season in third, holding off his Chip Ganassi Racing team-mate Scott Dixon in the closing stages. Until a slow final pitstop, Jones had controlled a comfortable margin over Dixon.

Race one winner Dixon had battled with Sebastien Bourdais at mid-distance of the 70 lap race. However, the Dale Coyne Racing-prepared car spun out of contention with a left-rear tow link failure. He finished three laps down.

Last year’s double-winner Graham Rahal made up for his race one DNF by finishing fifth, while Wickens finished sixth, unable to match Hunter-Reay’s pace on the same strategy.

Tony Kanaan rose from 22nd on the grid to finish seventh for AJ Foyt Racing, after an opening lap pitstop when a caution was called for a spin by Spencer Pigot.

Charlie Kimball recorded Carlin’s best IndyCar finish in eighth, while race one poleman Marco Andretti and Simon Pagenaud completed the top 10.

The race was delayed by nearly 40 minutes when the safety car spun into the wall at Turn 2 on the formation lap.

Both the driver, GM executive Mark Reuss, and passenger Oriol Servia were unscathed.

Result – 70 laps

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1h33m50.5784s
2 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 11.3549s
3 Ed Jones Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 13.2291s
4 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Honda 13.7652s
5 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 16.6280s
6 Robert Wickens Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 34.9398s
7 Tony Kanaan AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 41.6328s
8 Charlie Kimball Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 47.3553s
9 Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 56.6293s
10 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 59.5891s
11 Max Chilton Carlin Dallara/Chevrolet 1m04.6868s
12 Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m06.6419s
13 Zach Veach Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1m07.6438s
14 Matheus Leist AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Chevrolet 1m11.6742s
15 Josef Newgarden Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1m14.2820s
16 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m17.3729s
17 Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 1 Lap
18 Jordan King Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1 Lap
19 Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 1 Lap
20 Santino Ferrucci Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 1 Lap
21 Sebastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 3 Laps
22 Rene Binder Juncos Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 4 Laps
23 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Mechanical



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