The Grand Prix of Indianapolis played out just about as expected: Penske cars running up front, contact between competitors in corner one and another strong outing from Canadian James Hinchcliffe.
Simon Pagenaud’s winning streak also continued.
After going winless in his first year with Team Penske last season Pagenaud is making up for lost time and putting significant distance between himself and the competition in the championship. The Frenchman qualified on pole for the race and after he put in a couple of quick laps and his pit crew performed flawlessly on the final stop for fuel and tires he was out front of the field and cruised to his third consecutive victory.
Pagenaud is having the kind of season drivers dream of. He’s won three straight races, something that hasn’t been accomplished in the series since 2013 when Scott Dixon did it, and in the other two events finished as runner-up. He was in position to win the season opening race at St. Petersburg but made one little mistake that cost him the victory. He’s been near flawless since.
Teammate Helio Castroneves crossed the finish line in second and Oakville, Ont.’s James Hinchcliffe continues to show he has come all the way back from his injuries suffered a year ago, grabbing his first podium result of the season with a third-place finish — his third consecutive top-10 result. Hinchcliffe also leapt four spots in the overall standings.
It was an especially satisfying result after mechanical issues kept Hinchcliffe from ever turning a lap during the first practice session. Track time is precious and being able to get up to speed quickly shows this team is on their game. To those that know him, it’s also no surprise that Hinchcliffe is donating his race winnings from this past weekend to the Red Cross relief efforts for the Fort McMurray fires.
Something the series will have to look at is the layout of corner one, which again was the site of a first-lap incident. Accidents are inevitable with the entire field at high speed fanned out across the long wide straightaway trying to funnel into the narrow corner. No one really did anything wrong; drivers are supposed to try and gain position but the resulting contact took the contending cars of Tony Kanaan and Sebastien Bourdais out of the race.
Also noteworthy from the Grand Prix is that while we again saw Chevrolet finish in the top two positions, Honda cars finished in three of the top six positions — an indication that perhaps the battle between manufacturers is getting closer.
Now that the appetizer at Indianapolis is complete teams are focused on the main course. The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place in two weeks but practice for qualifying and the race begins Monday. Every driver will tell you that winning at Indy is like nothing else, and with this year being the 100th anniversary the stakes are even higher and the honour will be even greater.
