Tuesday December 24th, 2024 11:51AM

Power takes opening round of Belle Isle IndyCar doubleheader

By IndyCar Media
DETROIT, MI - Will Power overtook race leader Ryan Briscoe on a lap 60 restart and then held off Graham Rahal over a 10-lap sprint to win Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans Dual 1.<br /> <br /> "(Rahal) was really pushing me at the end and it was a great victory for Roger, the (crew) guys and Verizon," said Power, who started 16th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car and tied Tommy Milton for 18th all time with his 23rd Indy car victory.<br /> <br /> Rahal, driving the No. 15 National Guard car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, started a season-best ninth and recorded his best finish since placing second at Long Beach in April 2013. Rahal closed to within .3308 of a second behind the race winner, but had to settle for a runner-up finish.<br /> <br /> "We've been fighting awfully hard to just finish where we have been finishing and so to finally get a result like this it means more than words," said Rahal, who was the first to retire from the Indianapolis 500 six days earlier. "As we look forward to (Dual 2 on June 1), I think we can do one better and we really learned a lot today and a lot that is going to help us."<br /> <br /> Tony Kanaan finished third -- his 66th career podium and best street/road course finish since Baltimore in 2011 - to post his best finish of the season, as did Justin Wilson in fourth. Verizon P1 Award winner Helio Castroneves, who led a field-high 30 laps, finished fifth.<br /> <br /> Qualifications for Race 2 -- split into two groups of 12 minutes of track time each - are at 10 a.m. (ET) June 1 and will set the starting lineup for the 70-lap race at 3:30 p.m. (ET) on ABC.<br /> <br /> Both races on the 2.36-mile, 13-turn street circuit carry full points. Power moved to within three points of front-runner and Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, who finished 16th, in the championship standings.<br /> <br /> <strong>Verizon IndyCar Series</strong><br /> <strong> Detroit Belle Isle - Detroit, MI</strong><br /> <strong> Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit Race 1 - May 31, 2014</strong><br /> <br /> 1. (16) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 2. (9) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running<br /> 3. (8) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 4. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running<br /> 5. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 6. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running<br /> 7. (11) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running<br /> 8. (12) Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running<br /> 9. (20) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 10. (18) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running<br /> 11. (10) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 12. (6) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 13. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 14. (13) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 15. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running<br /> 16. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 69, Running<br /> 17. (22) Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda, 68, Running<br /> 18. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 66, Running<br /> 19. (3) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 65, Running<br /> 20. (14) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 36, Contact<br /> 21. (4) Mike Conway, Dallara-Chevy, 14, Contact<br /> 22. (17) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 4, Contact<br /> Race Statistics<br /> <br /> <strong>Winners average speed:</strong> 90.138<br /> <br /> <strong>Time of Race:</strong> 01:49:29.9323<br /> <br /> <strong>Margin of victory:</strong> 0.3308<br /> <br /> <strong>Cautions:</strong> 4 for 17<br /> <br /> <strong>Lead changes:</strong> 10 among 7 drivers<br /> <br /> <strong>Lap Leaders:</strong><br /> Castroneves 1 - 16<br /> Rahal 17 - 25<br /> Andretti 26<br /> Power 27 - 29<br /> Aleshin 30 - 31<br /> Castroneves 32 - 45<br /> Dixon 46<br /> Power 47 - 53<br /> Rahal 54<br /> Briscoe 55 - 59<br /> Power 60 - 70<br /> <br /> <strong>Point Standings:</strong> Hunter-Reay 288, Power 285, Castroneves 254, Pagenaud 219, Andretti 213, Munoz 186, Montoya 170, Bourdais 160, Wilson 155, Dixon 152.
© Copyright 2024 AccessWDUN.com
All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission.