What a difference one weekend can make.
Graham Rahal’s sweep of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix doubleheader vaulted him from 15th to sixth in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings and right in the title picture at roughly the midway point of the season.
It’s a quick turnaround for the 28-year-old American driver, who has had his share of struggles this season as the lone full-time entry for the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team. Not having teammates, multiple crews, etc. to rely on for sharing race data has put Rahal at a significant disadvantage compared to the big three of Team Penske, Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Autosport.
The 14-turn street course on Belle Isle offers tricky terrain with lots of bumps resulting in white-knuckle racing from start to finish, but it all came together for Rahal this weekend and he became the first driver to complete the Detroit sweep since the doubleheader format started in 2013.
Simply put, Rahal owned the field right from the start, setting the pace by qualifying on pole position Saturday for Race 1. Rahal was in total control relinquishing the lead only when he needed to dash into the pits, and he quickly reclaimed P1 when those ahead of him made their stops.
Rahal started third for Race 2 Sunday and took over on lap 25 when pole sitter Takuma Sato pitted. An extra lap out allowed Rahal to build enough of a lead that when he made his eventual stop, he was able to beat Sato out of the pits. From there it was looking like Saturday’s race all over again as Rahal cruised away until a red flag with three laps to go — caused by the 1-2 punch of Canadian driver James Hinchcliffe parked on the track due to electrical problems and Spencer Pigot spewing a smoke screen — brought the race to a halt.
That erased Rahal’s 3.43-second lead on second-place Josef Newgarden and bunched up the entire field for the final restart to set up a potentially thrilling sprint to the finish line. However, Newgarden and third-place finisher Will Power were more concerned with staying steady and waited for an opening that never came as Rahal took the chequered flag once again.
The Verizon IndyCar Series now heads to Texas Motor Speedway for Saturday’s Rainguard Water Sealers 600 where (surprise!) Rahal is the defending race winner after edging out Hinchcliffe for the victory last year by the narrow margin of eight-thousandths of a second.
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Hinchcliffe forced to rally from early gaffes
A couple of early mistakes could have spelled disaster for Hinchcliffe this weekend.
Right on the opening lap of Race 1, the loose back end of Hinchcliffe’s car got out from under him and spun him around at turn two. Speeding through the pit lane on lap nine of Race 2 resulted in a drive-through penalty that punted him to the back of the pack once again.
Both were classic cases of “it’s early” and Hinchcliffe made an incredible recovery in Race 1 to work his way back through the field and fend off a surging Newgarden for third place.
The Oakville, Ont., native was on his way to salvaging Race 2 as well and was running eighth during the late stages of the race until his car shut down on him. It was totally not his fault and Hinchcliffe definitely deserved a better fate than what he got there.
Hinchcliffe, who won at Long Beach during the second stop of the season, entered the weekend 10th in the points, moved up to eighth with his podium finish in Race 1 and was shuffled back down to 10th following the DNF in Race 2.
Parity in play with intriguing results
Rahal represented the seventh different driver to win a race this season and became the first repeat victor of the year. While parity is high, it is interesting to note that among this year’s winners so far are not the familiar names of Helio Castroneves and Ryan Hunter-Reay nor any of the Chip Ganassi Racing drivers like Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan.
Castroneves is amid a lengthy winless streak that now stretches 51 races although he’s still running strong overall and sits second in the points race.
Hunter-Reay is somewhat fittingly in 13th as he has had an unlucky year and a mixed up with Castroneves in Race 2 derailed both of their runs. Castroneves caught Hunter-Reay’s front wing while making a pass, which resulted in a punctured tire for Castroneves and front wing damage for Hunter-Reay.
In Dixon’s case, it’s amazing he was even back in action less than a week after his frightening crash during the Indianapolis 500 when his car launched in the air and smashed sideways into the wall. Dixon was sporting a walking boot on his left foot earlier in the week and was still experiencing some pain, but with both Detroit races offering full points, the four-time series champ couldn’t afford the chance to skip either one. The adrenaline must have kicked in quickly as Dixon picked up second and sixth place finishes to leapfrog Sato and Castroneves for first place in the standings.
Speaking of Sato, the Indy 500 winner also appeared unfazed by the tight turnaround. Sato was on a whirlwind media tour for most of the week with little time to rest, but managed to secure eighth and fourth place finishes.
Penske & Chevy rebound in Race 2
Team owner Roger Penske, who plays a crucial role in promoting the Detroit GP, and Chevrolet had to be disappointed with the results of Race 1 with Honda-powered teams flexing their muscles to take all three podium spots.
Fortunately for them they had a second shot Sunday and managed to bounce back with Penske drivers Newgarden and Power preventing Honda from upstaging them again. Power in particular really needed the rebound following a forgettable Race 1 where he finished 18th and was even lapped by Rahal in the late stages.
