Podium for Palou, Honda at Detroit INDYCAR Race Two
The Raceway at Belle Isle Park
・Alex Palou finishes third in second round of the Detroit doubleheader
・Colton Herta, Graham Rahal score top-five finishes
・Honda powers 10 of top 15 finishers
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was the top Honda finisher in today’s second of two races at the Detroit Grand Prix, taking third place in his #10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES machine.
The 70-lap race saw three yellow flag periods, the first on lap one for contact between Max Chilton and James Hinchcliffe, the second for Jimmie Johnson spinning and finally for Romain Grosjean who suffered a brake fire. The field went back to green for a seven-lap shootout to end the race.
In the closing stages, Colton Herta was running in the third position before locking up and running wide in his #26 Andretti Autosport Honda. The incident allowed Palou to close up and take the last podium position from the young Californian, behind Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden.
Herta would hold on to the fourth position ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal.
Fast Facts
In addition to Brazilian Helio Castroneves historic win last month at the Indianapolis 500, the other Honda race winners this year include Spaniard Alex Palou (Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama); defending and six-time champion Scott Dixon (Texas Race 1) from New Zealand; American Colton Herta (Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg); and Marcus Ericsson of Sweden (Detroit Race 1).
Honda-powered drivers have won six of the last eight Indy car events run on the Belle Isle Park street circuit.
Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is back racing next weekend at the National Park of Speed, Wisconsin’s Road America June 17-20.
Yesterday was one of those days where we didn’t really have any luck at all. But the team worked all night, and it was amazing to see the #10 American Legion Honda car finishing on the podium today. We had a good fight with Colton [Herta] and Josef [Newgarden] at the end there. I couldn’t really get Josef, but I’m really happy with a podium finish and good [championship] points. Now we leave for [next weekend’s race at] Road America and we need to go win that one
It’s pretty disappointing, to be honest. We definitely had a fast car, I just didn’t get it done in the end there, unfortunately. We can find some stuff to make the car a little better on restarts. But whatever [race winner] Pato [O’Ward] have found is really good. We need to work ourselves towards that goal. The race car on a long run was fantastic. I imagine we were one of the fastest – if not the fastest – cars on the track today. Full credit to the Gainbridge team, the [pit] stops were amazing, the Honda was wonderful, always proud to be powered by Honda, and our strategy was perfect. It put us in the best position to win today. Unfortunately, I just didn’t get it done.
