Tag: Detroit GP

Morad, Ward claim maiden MPC victory on streets of Detroit

The GM Renaissance Center serves as one backdrop of the Detroit Street Course, while the Canadian flag serves as another thanks to nearby Windsor, Ontario. It was the latter backdrop that held true in Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, …

The GM Renaissance Center serves as one backdrop of the Detroit Street Course, while the Canadian flag serves as another thanks to nearby Windsor, Ontario.

It was the latter backdrop that held true in Saturday’s Chevrolet Detroit Sports Car Classic, as Canadian Daniel Morad won in the shadow of his home country in the fourth round of the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge season.

Morad and Bryce Ward shared the No. 57 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4, using a bit of strategy, Morad’s relentless attack on a restart and eventual overtake to secure the victory in the Grand Sport (GS) class-only, 100-minute race. It is both drivers’ first victory in Michelin Pilot Challenge competition.

Ward started 11th and pitted shortly after the 33-minute mark, three minutes after the minimum drive time window of 30 minutes opened. The Winward Racing team swapped in Morad, took rear Michelin tires and resumed on course shortly behind the No. 95 Turner Motorsport BMW M4 GT4 and No. 28 RS1 Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS CS, which had been the dominant cars in the opening stanza of the race.

The No. 28 car, started by Eric Filgueiras, went for a fuel-only stop and swapped the car to Stevan McAleer. Meanwhile, the No. 95 car, started on pole by Cameron Lawrence, matched the strategy and flipped over to Robert Megennis after leading the opening 28 laps.

It was there the complexion – and visuals – of the race changed.

Megennis sought to lap Rory van der Steur in the No. 19 van der Steur Aston Martin Vantage GT4 heading into the primary passing opportunity on the bumpy, 1.645-mile, nine-turn new downtown street course.

It all went awry when Megennis drove into van der Steur, with the momentum carrying his BMW up and over the Aston Martin in a spectacular incident. Megennis’ car hit the top of the tire barriers before he continued onto the pit lane, while van der Steur’s car was significantly impacted on the driver’s side and roof of the car. Both drivers made it back to pit lane.

The resulting full-course caution shuffled the order as a handful of cars, including the points-leading No. 72 Murillo Racing Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 of Kenny Murillo and Christian Szymczak, had not yet pitted and subsequently lost track position when it did stop.

The race resumed with McAleer cycled to the front ahead of Marc Miller in the debuting No. 78 Thaze Competition by MC Squared Mercedes-AMG GT GT4 and Morad third in the No. 57 Winward Mercedes.

Morad took off behind the leaders, as McAleer had a gap of a couple lapped cars between himself and Miller. After charging past two lapped cars on the first restart lap (40), Morad had the gap down to just a second behind McAleer by lap 43.

Morad made the winning move on lap 46, sizing up McAleer into Turn 1 and going past him on the inside on the run to Turn 2.

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“I knew the best opportunity would be right at the beginning when track was unknown with oil and coolants,” Morad said.

“I had a good idea of where the grip was and went full attack and didn’t hesitate. The moment you hesitate on a street circuit, you run into trouble, so I went for it, full send.”

While Morad began to stretch his gap in front, McAleer put on a defensive driving clinic behind him to keep a bevy of cars in his rearview mirror, in the form of Miller, Jeff Westphal (No. 39 CarBahn by Peregrine Racing Porsche Cayman 718 GT4 RS Clubsport), Elliott Skeer (No. 47 NOLASPORT Porsche Cayman 718 GT4) and the recovering Szymczak.

Despite multiple attempts, Miller was never able to get past McAleer. The two were former teammates with another program and know each other’s racing styles well, so a healthy level of respect was present.

McAleer and Filgueiras finished second with Miller and Michael Di Meo completing a dream debut for Birmingham, Michigan-based Thaze Competition, finishing on the podium in both the team’s and Miller’s home race.

Westphal and Sean McAlister were fourth, ahead of Jeff Mosing and Eric Foss in the No. 56 Murillo Racing Mercedes. Mosing and Foss capped off an eventful weekend where Mosing needed to reverse down the backstraight in a Friday session after a spin. For Foss, the opportunity to race in Detroit was special as he caught the racing bug going to the Formula 1 race with his dad here in the 1980s. Points leaders Murillo and Szymczak finished seventh, behind Skeer and Adam Adelson in sixth.

For Morad and Ward the win was sweet, particularly for Ward whose Winward team has been a Michelin Pilot Challenge stalwart for several years.

“It’s awesome,” Morad said. “Driving with Bryce is such a good opportunity for me this year. He’s been the best team owner and teammate. There’s no pressure except for what I put on myself. And I want to win. Winning is fun!”

Ward added, “It’s an amazing day, and I can’t say enough for the team. The pit stop was perfect. The call from engineering was perfect. It was key to be clean and get it over to Daniel!”

The Michelin Pilot Challenge resumes with both the GS and Touring Car (TCR) classes back in action at Watkins Glen International on Saturday, June 24.

RESULTS

Roger Penske reunited with his lost 1958 trophy

As a team owner, Roger Penske left the Indianapolis 500 with a claim to a special piece of silverware: his 19th Baby Borg. But as a driver, he didn’t fly out of Indianapolis empty-handed either. In this case though, it was a trophy he’d won 65 years …

As a team owner, Roger Penske left the Indianapolis 500 with a claim to a special piece of silverware: his 19th Baby Borg. But as a driver, he didn’t fly out of Indianapolis empty-handed either. In this case though, it was a trophy he’d won 65 years earlier.

Penske the driver first got his feet wet in amateur road races, but in 1958 he decided to up the stakes and acquire a used Porsche RS for SCCA events. The payoff was immediate – he won the 1500cc class in the SCCA National at Marlboro Raceway in Maryland – and he received an elegant silver cup for his efforts.

He continued to have success in sports cars for the next few years, including wins at the Riverside California Grand Prix and the Pacific Grand Prix in 1962, and the Nassau Tourist Trophy in 1964. But in 1965 he hung up his helmet to focus on his rapidly expanding business interests, and over the years that followed, that first trophy from 1958 became lost.

Fast-forward several decades, and Tennessean motorsports history enthusiast Mike Teske was browsing through an antique shop in central California’s San Joaquin Valley when something caught his eye.

The original Penske victory hardware, once lost, now found. Mike Teske

“I actually have a couple of NASCARs and I was searching for trophies, and I found a couple that were for cars that I had,” Teske told RACER. “So I’ve always kept an eye out for them, and when I saw this one… I didn’t even really know about Marlboro Raceway, so it piqued my interest. The guy in the antique store didn’t know what it was, so I had to do a little research.”

Research is Teske’s forte: he’s one of the world’s top authorities on the Ford GT40. But it still took some digging and cross-referencing for him to work out that he’d acquired the trophy from Penske’s 1958 win. Having established that, Teske decided to return the trophy to its original owner: a mission that took some time (“Roger Penske’s not an easy guy to get in touch with,” he said) but which finally came to pass this year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the eve of the 500.

“Honestly, I have to believe it has been decades since I last saw that trophy,” Penske told RACER. “What a terrific surprise from Mike Teske while we were in Indianapolis. On top of Josef’s win in the 500, it made it a special week.”

The circumstances that led to the trophy falling out of Penske’s possession and making its way across the country to an antique store in California’s agricultural heartland have been lost to the mists of time.

“Since my driving days we have moved shops a few times, from Newtown Square, PA to Reading, PA to Mooresville, NC,” Penske said. “It is likely not the only thing that got misplaced in those moves. Very happy to have it back.

“It brought back some great memories of my driving days. We had a lot of fun and I’m proud of our success in those days. It is amazing that Mike was able to find it and give it back to me. I greatly appreciate it.”

For Teske, whose own house is a self-described “mini-museum” of GT40-related artifacts, there was almost as much pleasure in seeing the trophy return “home.”

“Roger’s done a lot, so to see his eyes light up was special” he said. “He said, ‘I like everything nice and bright and shiny’ – which this is not; it has aged – ‘and I’m going to get this cleaned up and I’m going to put it in my office in Detroit.’

“I think it’s hard to impress him with all he’s gone through and achieved in life, so it was very special for me to be able to give it to him.”

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Crews battles to TA2 victory on the streets of Detroit

15-year-old Brent Crews is the first Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli winner on the brand-new Detroit Grand Prix course on the downtown streets. After taking over the lead on lap 12, the Young Gun held off champions Rafa Matos and Thomas Merrill …

15-year-old Brent Crews is the first Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli winner on the brand-new Detroit Grand Prix course on the downtown streets. After taking over the lead on lap 12, the Young Gun held off champions Rafa Matos and Thomas Merrill to win his fifth-career race and earn his second-career street circuit victory in the 3-Dimensional Services Group Muscle Car Challenge.

Connor Zilisch in the No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro started race one of the Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series doubleheader from the pole and got off to a great start, effortlessly pulling ahead of second-place driver Austin Green in the No. 89 3-Dimensional Services Group Camaro. As Zilisch pulled ahead of the field, Crews in the No. 70 Franklin Road/Mobil 1/GearWrench Ford Mustang maneuvered around Green and into the second position. Zilisch and Crews had the rest of the field in their wake through the first full-course caution on lap seven for competitor Mike Skeen in the No. 86 3-Dimensional Services Group Camaro making hard contact with the wall.

When the race returned to green on lap 11, Zilisch initially pulled ahead, but Crews was quick to get to his tail and pull to the inside of Zilisch going into Turn 5. With Crews going wide into the tight left hander, the pair ran out of room and Zilisch nosed into the tire barrier. Only drawing a local caution, Zilisch had to wait for traffic to pass before righting himself, dropping him down to the 21st position. Refusing to give up, Zilisch fought his way back up to eighth within 20 laps. Unfortunately, he lost traction on the bumpy surface and once again made contact with the wall. With heavy right-side damage, the 16-year-old was forced to visit pit road and was out of contention for the victory.

After Crews took over the lead, he was hounded by former champions Matos and Merrill (No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race Cars Ford Mustang) in second and third. He continued to hold them off, but a full-course yellow on lap 19 regrouped the field for the lap-29 green flag. Evan Slater in the No. 6 Franklin Road Apparel Camaro was the reason for a caution, as the young driver had a mechanical failure and made hard impact with the tire barrier in a runoff.

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Following an extensive cleanup, Crews had a perfect restart and was able to pull away from Matos and Merrill. Merrill now had competition from Thomas Annunziata (No. 90 Nitro Motorsports Ford Mustang), slowing him down. Crews and Matos pulled way ahead of the third and fourth-place competitors and Matos had a few flawless laps which would allow him to challenge for the lead. Unfortunately, Matos had to go into preservation mode with just a few laps to go, as he felt something was amiss and wanted to ensure he made it to the finish. Crews was able to open up a gap in front of Matos, and he crossed the finish line to win his second race of 2023. He was followed by Matos, Merrill, Annunziata and Dillon Machavern in the No. 17 SLR-M1 Race Cars Ford Mustang.

“First, this wouldn’t be possible without our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ,” said Crews. “I just want to say ‘thank you’ to my whole team and to (Matos and Merrill) for racing hard. That was a blast. There definitely was not a dull moment and it wasn’t easy. My Nitro Motorsports team did an incredible job. To be able to hold pace like that and to be able to turn those fast laps at the end of the race is truly amazing. I want to thank my whole family, everyone at Franklin Road Apparel, Ken Thwaits, everybody who got us here. I also want to thank Tony Parella and everyone at Trans Am. This is an incredible series and it’s not often that you get to come to an amazing street course like this and be able to race with IndyCar.”

“I can’t thank my 3-Dimensional Services Group team enough,” said runner up, Matos. “This is a very important weekend for (team owner) Doug Peterson and his company, which is sponsoring the race, so it was really important for us to get a good result. I was hoping that we could catch Brent at the end. I kept the pressure on him but faced some issues toward the end of the race and I had to choose between finishing the race or potentially suffering a parts failure trying to win. I’m really proud of my team and to be racing against these two very talented drivers. Hopefully we will win tomorrow.”

The Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series returns to the track Sunday at 11:05 a.m. ET with the 3-Dimensional Services Group Motor City Showdown.

A highlight show combining races one and two in Detroit will air on MAVTV on Thursday, June 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET.

RESULTS

McLaughlin dismisses Detroit track concerns

Most of the NTT IndyCar Series field is bracing itself for a potentially eventful race on the new downtown Detroit street course Sunday, but Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin believes that fears that the race could turn into a mess are overblown. …

Most of the NTT IndyCar Series field is bracing itself for a potentially eventful race on the new downtown Detroit street course Sunday, but Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin believes that fears that the race could turn into a mess are overblown.

“We’ll be all right,” said the New Zealander, who qualified second in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet. “With the track, there’s been a lot of noise I’ve seen on Twitter, from other drivers and stuff… At the end of the day this is a new track, new complex. I think what everyone has done to get this going…the vibe is awesome. Belle Isle was getting old. We had to do it.

“Yeah, (there are) first-year problems. It’s always going to happen. It’s just going to get better from here. The racetrack for the drivers is a blast. We don’t even know how it races yet. Everyone is making conclusions already. They probably just need to relax and wait for tomorrow.”

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Polesitter Alex Palou still needs some convincing.

“Honestly I agree with most of the drivers,” he said. “It’s too tight for Indy cars. It’s too short for Indy cars. There’s too much traffic. It’s too bumpy.

“If they were asking me, I would say, ‘Please, can we have 20 more seconds (of lap time) so it’s a little bit of a longer lap, a bit wider turns. Turn 1 is really tight. They are not going to ask me, so… I’m happy wherever they take me. Obviously, I can complain a little. I’m not saying I would do a better job (at designing a track). That wouldn’t be a good idea!”

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Palou looking to embrace the unknowns in Detroit

Alex Palou’s aim for tomorrow’s inaugural NTT IndyCar Series race on the new Detroit downtown street circuit is to control his rivals from the front. Whether that’s the right strategy, he says, is an open question. The Spaniard put the No. 10 Chip …

Alex Palou’s aim for tomorrow’s inaugural NTT IndyCar Series race on the new Detroit downtown street circuit is to control his rivals from the front. Whether that’s the right strategy, he says, is an open question.

The Spaniard put the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda on pole for tomorrow’s race, which is the first on the new layout after the event moved from its previous home on Belle Isle. The short, tight and bumpy track has prompted raised eyebrows from some drivers – reinforced by an incident-laden Indy NXT race – but Palou said he hopes to take advantage of whatever flexibility is granted to him through running up front, and hopes it pays off.

“It’s going to be tough,” Palou said. “But I think the idea is to try to stay up front. Maybe there’s a faster strategy to (pit) 10 laps before, try to run fast. (But) if you drop to 10th, there’s a caution, you’re going to stay there. That happened to us the first year in Nashville.

“At the same time, we don’t know what the tire deg is. It’s an unknown for everybody, but at least we start (in front), and we have a bit more margin to try and decide. It’s fun, honestly. It’s fun because nobody knows. The engineers have to think about all the different outcomes and different strategies. We don’t know if there’s going to be 20 laps of yellow, or maybe there’s none, like Detroit last year.

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“I think it’s going to be a bit better for us (than the Indy NXT field) just because we have two tire compounds. We have pit stops. We have more tire deg and a lot more laps. Hopefully our race is a bit more action on track. That’s it.

“We’ll have to see how the tires hold on, or not. We saw something during practice, but as we keep on having traffic, we don’t have, like, 10 continuous laps. We’ll see tomorrow on the warmup if we can get some tire deg sense and see how the race going to be.”

Palou’s first job on Sunday will be to stay ahead of Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who will line up alongside him on the front row. “It’s a long straight, so they’re going to get a big tow from me,” he said. But McLaughlin says the keys to success will be tire preservation and patience.

“It’s going to be all that tire life; tire life is going to be key,” he said. “One thing that’s good about this track, it’s a lot of stop-start corners. If you get better runs than others, use the push to pass, I think it’s going to race similar to Nashville.

“Everyone says we crash a lot in Nashville. I think it’s going to race very well. It’s just going to be up to us, the etiquette of the drivers, to figure it out along the way. Looking at it, there’s going to be a lot of passes; opportunities. Hopefully, I only have to make one.”

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Palou grabs second straight pole in qualifying street fight in Detroit

Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Alex Palou backed up his first oval pole in the Indy 500 with his first street course pole around the new 1.645-mile course in downtown Detroit. Firestone Fast Six Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean caused a local yellow …

Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Alex Palou backed up his first oval pole in the Indy 500 with his first street course pole around the new 1.645-mile course in downtown Detroit.

Firestone Fast Six

Marcus Ericsson and Romain Grosjean caused a local yellow by skating into the same runoff zone at the same time and were given drive-through penalties. This allowed the Penske-Chevrolets of Scott McLaughlin and Josef Newgarden their moments in the sun, but Alex Palou set a 1m01.8592s on his first flying lap to claim the third pole of his IndyCar career, his second in succession and his first on a street course.

McLaughlin’s final effort trimmed his deficit to 0.3s with his final flyer to beat Grosjean who slapped the wall on the exit of Turn 2 but still claimed third.

Scott Dixon ran Firestone primaries but was 0.56s off his polesitting teammate, but that was still quicker than Newgarden who told his team that was all he had after his final effort, while Ericsson took sixth.

Q2

Ganassi teammates Dixon, Palou and Marcus Armstrong all went out on used alternates at the start of the session, Palou going top initially ahead of McLaughlin and Will Power, both Penske drivers on primaries. McLaughlin eventually went to the top on primaries with 1m02.5717s.

Kyle Kirkwood ripped his left-front off at Turn 7, eliminating one of the potential pole-winners, while Ericsson sent his Ganassi car to the top until Palou produced a 1m01.6390s, 0.3s quicker, the pair eventually split by Romain Grosjean.

All three Penske cars were in the top six in the final minute, but a late flyer from Dixon knocked out Power, who admitted he made a little mistake on a flying lap and had enough time but not enough fuel to make another run.

Power – and an encouraged Simon Pagenaud – did at least beat Arrow McLaren’s pair of Felix Rosenqvist and Pato O’Ward, while Armstrong’s last effort was ruined by a slalom effort through the final sector.

Q1 Group 2

Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan , AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci and Sting Ray Robb in the Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing hit the track on alternates right away. The RLL driver’s pole at the Indy GP gave him the first choice of pitbox and therefore the best exit off the two-tiered pitlane. He was out on track first and had a clear lap, but his initial effort was stymied when Ferrucci went into a runoff, causing a local yellow.

Lundgaard did whittle that down to a 1m02.6495s but Kirkwood blew that aside on primaries – a 1m02.2093s – and O’Ward also shaded the RLL driver. Lundgaard pitted again for a second set of reds to try and ensure he remained in the top six. It was a wise move, as Dixon, Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing, and Ericsson all pushed him down, with Callum Ilott pushing him outside the transfer zone.

Kirkwood finally lowered his time to a brilliant 1m01.5305s – 96.245mph average – over half a second clear of O’Ward and Dixon.

McLaughlin made a strong final effort to jump into second place, 0.22s off Kirkwood, ahead of O’Ward, Dixon, Ericsson and Josef Newgarden. That bumped out VeeKay (by 0.0011s) and Ilott.

Lundgaard eventually damaged his left-front wheel on the Turn 7 wall, while another surprise non-graduate was Colton Herta, who also damaged his car and will start from the 12th row.

Q1 Group 1

Devlin DeFrancesco, Conor Daly, Helio Castroneves and Benjamin Pedersen went straight out on Firestone’s green-sidewalled alternate tires and, sure enough, two-time Detroit winner Castroneves rapidly hit the top ahead of DeFrancesco.

Armstrong, on primaries, slotted the No. 11 Honda on top with a very strong 1m02.8341s until usurped by 0.1380s by Palou. The primary runners were swift to pit for the softer rubber, and Rosenqvist moved up to second.

On alternates, Armstrong then unleashed a 1m01.8558s, an average of 95.739mph, before Helio Castroneves spun exiting Turn 2 but kept it off the wall. It did interrupt several drivers’ attempts at a flyer, however.

Palou leapt to second but was usurped by Grosjean, while late improvements from Power, Pagenaud and Rosenqvist ensured the latter’s teammate Alexander Rossi wouldn’t be moving onto Q2.

RESULTS

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Gold captures Detroit Indy NXT win; heartbreak for Foster, Siegel

Reece Gold led home Jagger Jones and Ernie Francis Jr. in the first Indy NXT race of the weekend in Detroit, but Louis Foster on the first lap and Nolan Siegel on the last lap were victims of circumstances outside their control. From pole position, …

Reece Gold led home Jagger Jones and Ernie Francis Jr. in the first Indy NXT race of the weekend in Detroit, but Louis Foster on the first lap and Nolan Siegel on the last lap were victims of circumstances outside their control.

From pole position, Foster went straight into the lead ahead of Andretti Autosport colleague Hunter McElrea, but approaching the first turn – Turn 3 for starts and restarts – McElrea punted his teammate under braking and spun him into the wall.

It damaged the No. 27 car’s nose cone, but McElrea stayed out while the penalty call was inevitable once the race went green again.

Behind him, points leader Christian Rasmussen consigned himself to the back because he needed a new front wing after running his HMD Motorsports car into the back of teammate Reece Gold, while Kyffin Simpson also needed a new wing.

On the restart, McElrea led away but was called to the pits for avoidable contact, leaving Gold to hold off teammate Nolan Siegel and Rasmus Lindh, but a lap later Lindh was punted into a spin by an overambitious effort from Josh Green (HMD) who also spun himself broadside.

That allowed Jagger Jones to slot his Cape Motorsports car into third ahead of Jacob Abel (Abel Motorsports) and Enaam Ahmed (Cape).

A solid run of green-flag laps saw Gold running just under one second clear of Siegel on lap 15, with Jones 4s further adrift but 6.5s clear of Ahmed. James Roe was holding onto sixth despite an askew front wing on his Andretti car, while Danial Frost was up to seventh from 17th on the grid. Francis ran eighth ahead of Toby Sowery and W Series champion Jamie Chadwick.

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On lap 22 of the 45-lap race, out came the full course caution as Frost got squeezed into the wall on the outside of the braking zone for Turn 3 as he tried to draw alongside Roe. While Frost’s car was terminally damaged, there would be no penalty for Roe.

The restart at the end of lap 25 saw Gold under fierce pressure from Siegel but he occupied the inside line and retained the lead, while Jones immediately pulled away from Abel to keep third, the pair of them chased by Ahmed, Roe, Francis and Sowery. Christian Bogle of HMD was having one of his strongest runs in this series, and having deposed of Simpson he then also demoted Chadwick.

On lap 29, Francis grabbed sixth from Roe and moved onto the tail of Ahmed, leaving Roe to fend off Bogle. Meanwhile Sowery had been slipping back and then pitted with mechanical problems.

Siegel started ramping up the pressure on Gold on lap 34, forcing the leader to protect the inside line in heavy brake zones, but the significant order change that lap was for fifth, as Francis slipped past Ahmed, and started applying the pressure on Abel.

Bogle – who has been receiving coaching from reigning champion Linus Lundqvist – passed Roe for seventh on lap 36, while Rasmussen and McElrea pushed Chadwick out of the top 10, and then demoted Roe whose front wing damage appeared to be affecting his front-end tire wear.

On lap 39, Siegel’s efforts paid off, braking late and sticking around the outside of Gold through Turn 3 which gave him the inside line into Turn 4. Both drivers’ racing etiquette was perfect and the lead changed hands without contact.

With just three laps to go, Francis snatched fourth from Abel into Turn 8 — an amazing performance on this bumpy track, given that the Force Indy driver is nursing a broken wrist.

The drama wasn’t over. On the final lap, with just two corners to go, poor Siegel, holding a 5s lead, had a driveshaft let go, handing the lead back to Gold, who had the closely following Jones and Francis follow him across the line. The mortified Siegel trickled to a halt, allowing Abel, Ahmed, Bogle and McElrea past before he crossed the line.

The Indy NXT drivers hit the track again for race two in Detroit at 12:45 p.m. Sunday.

RESULTS

Dixon leads Power in stop-start second practice at Detroit

Experience took precedence over youth in IndyCar’s second practice session on the new downtown Detroit racecourse, Scott Dixon leading Will Power, as all drivers struggled to find a clear lap between traffic and red flags. Since yesterday, the pit …

Experience took precedence over youth in IndyCar’s second practice session on the new downtown Detroit racecourse, Scott Dixon leading Will Power, as all drivers struggled to find a clear lap between traffic and red flags.

Since yesterday, the pit exit has been pinched, the blend line moving three feet closer to the right-hand wall to allow cars on the track to swing out and take a wider entry into the left-handed Turn 1 that follows.

The session was barely three minutes old when the first red flag flew as Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden got his Penske-Chevrolet stuck down an escape road and needed retrieving.

One of his teammates, Scott McLaughlin, was the first driver to set a sub-650second time with a 1m04.3660s on his sixth lap, an average of 92.005mph around the 1.645-mile course.

Kyle Kirkwood obliterated that with a 1m03.5658s for Andretti Autosport-Honda, and Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda’s Alex Palou also ducked under the 64-second barrier but then out came the second red to retrieve Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet.

Palou had just moved up to the top of the times but then spun down an escape road and stalled, so out came the third red. The fourth followed soon after, thanks to Colton Herta’s Andretti car stranded in the Turn 8 runoff.

Another constant throughout the first half of the session, was the speed of yesterday’s pacesetter, the Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet of Pato O’Ward and Palou’s teammate Marcus Armstrong, the Kiwi shining on a track that is new to everyone. Both of them were within a tenth of Palou’s 1m03.7165s.

With a quarter-hour to go, Callum Ilott was a late improver in the Juncos Hollinger Racing-Chevrolet, but then he brushed a tire wall and pitted.

Scott Dixon delivered a 1m03.5s, then a 1m03.2317s to go to the top – a very impressive time on primary tires. Kyle Kirkwood’s earlier 1m03.5658s was also re-installed on the glitchy timing and scoring screens to put him second, while Penske’s Will Power kept trimming his time after a spring change at the rear of the No. 12 car to put himself in the top five. However, with 10mins to go he was bumped out of the top five by McLaughlin.

Just a couple of minutes later, Turn 7 claimed Devlin DeFrancesco who went in head-on and this was followed by a right-side impact.

With the No. 29 AA car scooped up and cleared away, there were nine minutes left as the field got the green flag, the drivers blended together from the two-abreast pitlane and then tried to find a gap to set a flyer. On such a short track, that was near impossible for anyone more than five cars back.

Power’s original best was invalidated for a yellow flag violation, but in the closing moments he set a 1m03.4627s to vault into second, albeit still 0.23s off Dixon’s benchmark and after a wild fishtail moment into the tires at the final turn.

NBC Sports revealed that Meyer Shank Racing did not have to change Helio Castroneves’ Honda unit despite his electronics causing engine over-revs yesterday, but they did make an early switch-out of the Honda unit in the back of his teammate Simon Pagenaud’s No. 60 entry.

UP NEXT: Qualifying will commence at 1:20pm ET

RESULTS

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Detroit Trans Am TA2 live stream

Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series takes on the Detroit Grand Prix for the 3-Dimensional Services Group Muscle Car Challenge – race 1 of 2 during a doubleheader weekend! Stream all the action live starting at 10:35am ET.

Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series takes on the Detroit Grand Prix for the 3-Dimensional Services Group Muscle Car Challenge — race 1 of 2 during a doubleheader weekend! Stream all the action live starting at 10:35am ET.

Zilisch takes pole for Detroit Grand Prix race 1

Qualifying is in the books for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series at the Detroit Grand Prix. Today’s qualifying session sets the field for Race 1, while the starting grid for Race 2 will be set by …

Qualifying is in the books for the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli’s Big Machine Vodka SPIKED Coolers TA2 Series at the Detroit Grand Prix. Today’s qualifying session sets the field for Race 1, while the starting grid for Race 2 will be set by fastest laps in today’s 3-Dimensional Services Group Muscle Car Challenge.

16-year-old Road Atlanta winner Connor Zilisch in the No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro set the fastest time (1:13.781), earning him his first pole of 2023 and first pole with Silver Hare Racing. Zilisch’s only other pole came in his series debut at VIRginia International Raceway in 2021. 22-year-old Austin Green in the No. 89 3-Dimensional Services Group Camaro and 15-year-old Brent Crews qualified second and third, respectively, making the average age of the top three just 17.6.

“It’s definitely really important to get the pole here at the Detroit Grand Prix,” said Zilisch. “This Silver Hare team has been working really hard, and we haven’t gotten a pole yet together. I have a pole myself from 2021, but it was with a different team, so my first pole with this team is pretty special. I know all of these guys have been wanting one for a while now.

“We’ve struggled a bit in qualifying, so to finally get this and get our Chevrolet on top is special, especially in Motor City with the GM building in the background. I’m just so thankful to all my guys for getting me this pole and giving me the opportunity. I think the pole is going to be really helpful here, and hopefully we can make the most of it.”


Qualifying Top Five:

1. Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:13.781)
2. Austin Green, No. 89 3-Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro (1:14.053)
3. Brent Crews, No. 70 Franklin Road/Mobil 1/GearWrench Ford Mustang (1:14.188)
4. Mike Skeen, No. 86 3-Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro (1:14.391)
5. Thomas Merrill, No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race Cars Mustang (1:14.467)

Full qualifying results can be found here.
Practice 1 Top Five:

1. Rafa Matos, No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang (1:16.276)
2. Thomas Merrill, No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race CarsMustang (1:16.363)
3. Mike Skeen, No. 86 3-Dimensional Services Group Chevrolet Camaro (1:16.869)
4. Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:16.900)
5. Caleb Bacon, No. 18 Cortex Racing/Bacon Development Ford Mustang (1:17.043)

Full Practice 1 results can be found here.
Practice 2 Top Five:

1. Rafa Matos, No. 88 3-Dimensional Services Group Ford Mustang (1:14.622)
2. Connor Zilisch, No. 7 Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro (1:15.130)
3. Thomas Merrill, No. 26 Bennett/HP Tuners/Mike Cope Race Cars Mustang (1:15.199)
4. Brent Crews, No. 70 Franklin Road/Mobil 1/GearWrench Ford Mustang (1:15.221)
5. Daniel Suarez, No. 27 SLR-M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro (1:15.284)

Full Practice 2 results can be found here.

The race will be contested today at 10:35am ET. It will be broadcast live on MAVTV and can also be streamed live here.

A highlight show combining Race 1 and Race 2 from the Detroit Grand Prix will air on MAVTV on Thursday, June 1 at 8:00pm ET.