Detroit 2023, the order of arrival
POS. | PILOT | TEAM | LAPS |
1 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi | 100 rounds |
2 | Will Power | Chip Ganassi | |
3 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | |
4 | Scott Dixon | Arrow McLaren | |
5 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | |
6 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti | |
7 | Scott McLaughlin | Chip Ganassi | |
8 | Marcus Armstrong | Chip Ganassi | |
9 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi | |
10 | Josef Newgarden | Penske | |
11 | Colton Hertha | Andretti | |
12 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti | |
13 | Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank | |
14 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger | |
15 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter | |
16 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman | |
17 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman | |
18 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter | |
19 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank | |
20 | Benjamin Pedersen | AJ Foyt | |
21 | Santino Ferrucci | AJ Foyt | |
22 | Sting Ray Robb | Dale Coyne with HMD | |
23 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne with HMD | Retired |
24 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti | Retired |
25 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman | Retired |
26 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren | Retired |
27 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger | Retired |
Race report
The 26th edition of the round of Detroitthe first after twenty-three years to compete in the city center on the track of the Renaissance Centerand no longer in Belle Isle, was taken with Alex Palou for the second time in a row pole position after setting the fastest time in the Indianapolis 500 last week. The Spaniard finished ahead of McLaughlin and Grosjean, with Josef Newgarden, winner at Indianapolis, in 5th place behind Scott Dixon. On a tight and twisty circuit like the one located at the General Motors headquarters, the risk of caution it actually materialized with the yellow flag displayed immediately due to the non-compact group at the start. Once the ideal conditions for the second start were re-established, the Race Direction immediately declared the first caution, this time due to the contact between Ilott and Kirkwood which forced the Juncos driver to retire. All this did not affect Palou, who kept the lead ahead of McLaughlin and Grosjean. The first changes to the top of the standings occurred around the 20th lap, during which Will Power first passed McLaughlin and then Grosjean, in both cases at turn 3. The Frenchman also lost the podium area on lap 29 due to an error at the penultimate corner with a long braking. With the game of strategies, Palou managed to keep the first position on Power and Dixon, but the pit stops of Newgarden and O’Ward, both betrayed by errors of their respective mechanics in screwing the tires. Of the two, the Mexican from McLaren had the worst, even remaining stationary in the pit lane and thus relegated to last position. As if that weren’t enough, O’Ward then made a mistake himself by impacting against the barriers on lap 44, with Race Direction thus establishing another Caution regime. During the latter, incredibly, Rahal was the protagonist of a contact with the wall, with Pedersen who was unable to avoid it. However, the Dane did not suffer any damage such as not to restart the race, unlike Rahal.
With another yellow flag, this time exposed for another off-track by Robb, the first half of the race thus ended, but at the restart, on lap 56, Power made the attack on Palou, with the Spaniard thus losing the lead. Nine laps later, still braking into turn 3, the championship leader then took back the lead of the standings with a decisive overtaking on the American, then maintaining the lead of the race even with the subsequent return to the pits to change tyres. Since then there have been no changes in the noble area of the standings, except for some overtaking or contact in the middle of the standings. With 19 laps to go, however, yet another yellow flag was displayed, this time due to Grosjean’s impact against the wall, thus confirming his ‘no’ period. With the caution the group regrouped again for the last 13 laps, but at the restart the race was again neutralized, this time due to Malukas’ accident just before the green flag. With 10 laps to go, Palou kept the lead despite Power’s decisive attack, but in turn bumped by Dixon. A contact that cost Power a momentary relegation to 3rd place, with Rossi who took the opportunity to climb back up to second place. Shortly after, however, another caution was decreed once again, in this case for a collision between Robb and Ferrucci. 5 laps from the end, with another restart, Palou didn’t let himself be betrayed by the tension, still maintaining the leadership: the great battle took shape above all for the podium, with Power initially able to pass Rossi, with the latter then author of a series of overtaking and counter-passing with his teammate Rosenqvist. The Swede finally had the upper hand in this derby, with Rossi then also outclassed by Dixon’s other McLaren. Palou, on the other hand, does not miss a shot, who defends the first place and wins the second success of the season after the statement in Indianapolis street. For the Catalan, in his sixth career victory, it is a very important result also for the purposes of the general classification, which sees him lengthen his pursuers, with an advantage of 51 points from Ericsson, only 9th in the Italian night.
IndyCar/Driver Standings Post Detroit 2023 (Round 7)
POS. | PILOT | TEAM | POINTS |
1 | Alex Palou | Chip Ganassi | 273 |
2 | Marcus Ericsson | Chip Ganassi | 222 |
3 | Josef Newgarden | Penske | 203 |
4 | Scott Dixon | Chip Ganassi | 194 |
5 | Pato O’Ward | Arrow McLaren | 191 |
6 | Alexander Rossi | Arrow McLaren | 176 |
7 | Scott McLaughlin | Chip Ganassi | 175 |
8 | Will Power | Chip Ganassi | 172 |
9 | Colton Hertha | Andretti | 149 |
10 | Felix Rosenqvist | Arrow McLaren | 148 |
11 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti | 145 |
12 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti | 142 |
13 | Christian Lundgaard | Rahal Letterman | 136 |
14 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger | 116 |
15 | Rinus VeeKay | Ed Carpenter | 108 |
16 | Santino Ferrucci | AJ Foyt | 105 |
17 | Marcus Armstrong | Chip Ganassi | 101 |
18 | Graham Rahal | Rahal Letterman | 99 |
19 | David Malukas | Dale Coyne with HMD | 91 |
20 | Conor Daly | Ed Carpenter | 88 |
21 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti | 81 |
22 | Helio Castroneves | Meyer Shank | 80 |
23 | Jack Harvey | Rahal Letterman | 78 |
24 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger | 77 |
25 | Simon Pagenaud | Meyer Shank | 72 |
26 | Benjamin Pedersen | AJ Foyt | 61 |
27 | Sting Ray Robb | Dale Coyne with HMD | 55 |
28 | Takuma Sato | Chip Ganassi | 37 |
29 | Ed Carpenter | Ed Carpenter | 27 |
30 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Dreyer & Reinbold | 20 |
31 | Tony Canaan | Arrow McLaren | 18 |
32 | Marco Andretti | Andretti | 13 |
33 | Katherine Law | Rahal Letterman | 5 |
34 | RC Enerson | Abel Motorsports | 5 |
A week off
With the Michigan round closed, IndyCar is now taking a break for the whole of next week before returning to the track from 16 to 18 June for another date on a road circuit. In this case, the venue for the eighth round of the season will be the track Road America, located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Here, last year, the recent winner of the Indianapolis 500 won: Josef Newgarden.
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