Pagenaud Wins Detroit Indy Race #2
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A day after Mike Conway dominated the first Detroit race at Belle Isle Park, Simon Pagenaud gave the engine manufacturer a second consecutive weekend race win.
Honda did more than that. It got a podium sweep with James Jakes finishing a career-best second and Conway in third.
The victory was the first in two IndyCar seasons for Pagenaud, a former American Le Mans Series champion. Conway gave Dale Coyne Racing its second consecutive podium finish after Conway and Justin Wilson earned top-three finishes in the Saturday race.
Honda also finished fourth with Scott Dixon and fifth with Dario Franchitti, in part because Chevrolet’s top driver, Will Power, was at the epicenter of a 10-car crash.
Chevrolet had the top four positions in last month’s Indianapolis 500, a race won by Tony Kanaan.
Pagenaud finished 5.6 seconds ahead of Jakes in the first victory for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Sam Schmidt had an official role in Dan Wheldon’s 2011 Indianapolis 500 victory that was entered by Bryan Herta Autosport.
Pagenaud became the third first-time winner this season and the sixth overall in seven races.
At the other end of the spectrum was AJ Allmendinger, who had almost the same thing happen to him two days in a row. He crashed on the first lap after the field slowed and he ran over the right side of Scott Dixon’s car; Sunday’s trouble happened exiting Turn 2.
“I’m embarrassed, honestly,” he said. “I don’t know where I go from here.”
Simona De Silvestro had completed every lap this season until she hit the Turn 8 wall hard on Lap 9. It appeared something came off the car, perhaps cutting the tire.
Ryan Hunter-Reay bumped the wall exiting Turn 7, and that ruined his ability to turn the car in the same spot as De Silvestro hit. Like her, his day was over.
The big crash came on a restart on Lap 28. Sebastien Bourdais ran into the back of Power approaching Turn 1, and that turned Power sideways in front of the pack. What happened from there was a mess of epic proportions.
Ten cars took at least some kind of damage, with Alex Tagliani essentially buried in the tire barrier. Also collected: Ed Carpenter, Ryan Briscoe, EJ Viso, Wilson, James Hinchcliffe, Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal.
Bourdais received a penalty for avoidable contact.
