The NTT IndyCar Series headed to the streets of downtown Detroit for the first time in over three decades, and it was a tough task for the 27 drivers on the grid.
One of the bumpiest and shortest street courses the series has visited in quite some time, the margins were even more narrow than usual and the concrete barriers played their role in the outcome.
Right from the outset, it was clear that a couple cars had more pace than most of the rest of the field.
READ MORE: IndyCar Detroit GP – Full Race Results
Alex Palou drove away from pole quickly, but ended up having to fight with Will Power at a couple times throughout the race.
Like all duels on the track on Sunday, the fighting was tight between the two. In the end, it was Alex Palou that was able to stay in front to claim his second win of the season.
Power held on to second place, but it wasn’t as easy as the results make it look. On a late restart, he tussled with Scott Dixon and had his Verizon Chevy bounced into the air a bit in the collision.
He dropped to fifth, but was able to quickly regain the second position by time the checkered flag flew.
Felix Rosenqvist grabbed a solid podium finish, but had to duel with his team-mate Alexander Rossi on multiple occasions to earn the position.
Dixon and Rossi finished fourth and fifth respectively, with each being lucky to get away with all the hard battles near the end of the race with no damage.
The race took a couple attempts to get going, as race control wanted drivers to pack up tighter before they gave them the green flag.
Even when they did, there was a crash as the field dove into the first turn. Callum Ilott misjudged his braking zone and climbed the back of Kyle Kirkwood.
Kirkwood had a remarkable recovery drive after that incident, and worked his way all the way back up to sixth after his team replaced his rear wing.
A bizarre sequence of events happened right at the midpoint of the 100-lap event, and it was started by Pato O’Ward crashing into the turn 9 wall while fighting with Santino Ferrucci.
O’Ward was already a lap down on account of a loose wheel nut on his first pit stop, and he admitted that he was taking chances that he would not take if he were at the front.
Right as the green flag was given, the yellow was thrown again for Sting Ray Robb, who stalled in the runoff area at the end of the long back straight.
During that neutralization period, Graham Rahal crunched his front wheel into the concrete barrier while catching up to the pack. He took total blame for the incident, and collected Ben Pedersen as well because he was around a blind corner.
That wasn’t the end of the carnage, as Romain Grosjean also pushed the limits too far and crushed his front wheel with just 20 laps to go. The Frenchman had been in line for a top 10 finish.
In all, there were seven yellow flag periods that totaled nearly a third of the race distance. There weren’t any large-scale wrecks or red flags, as some had predicted there would be.
It was a fun outing on the first attempt at a new street course, and drivers will likely look forward to the event next season.
The next venue on the calendar is a visit to the historic Road America in two weeks, which received a full track repave in the offseason and should be quicker than ever before.
