Will Power and his Team Penske squad got to soak in the final dip into the Belle Isle Park fountain before the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix moves to the downtown area in 2023. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)
Team Penske’s Will Power outlasted a fierce late-race charge by Alexander Rossi on the final lap to take home the final NTT IndyCar Series Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix at Belle Isle Park.
In 2021, Power was in a position to win the first of two races at Belle Isle on a doubleheader weekend until a red flag late in last year’s event forced the cars down pit road. When the drivers re-fired the engines for a sprint to the finish, Power’s car wouldn’t restart which ultimately cost him the race.
Fortunately, Power got the one that got away last year in Chevrolet’s backyard, leading a total of 55 laps in this year’s 70-lap street race.
“I drove it as straight as I could,” Power said. “I never put any slip into it. I was just driving it really straight and really nice on the brakes and the throttle. I knew if I could keep a reasonable gap until the end, we’d be OK.
“Very enjoyable race because you had to chop through the field and fight hard,” Power said. “It’s just redemption from last year. I was just waiting for something to happen those last 10 laps, but I just stayed laser-focused.”
Power leaves Detroit as the championship leader by three points over 2022 Indianapolis 500 champion Marcus Ericsson.
One of the best drives I’ve had in years! Can’t believe we got to jump in the fountain one last time in Belle Isle ⛲️#INDYCAR | #DetroitGP | #WP12 pic.twitter.com/wjqZ1IVqaX
— Will Power (@12WillPower) June 5, 2022
With 15 laps remaining, Rossi was 12.3 seconds behind and cut the gap down to a single second in the end. If the race was 71 laps long instead of 70, the Andretti Autosport driver would’ve likely had a shot to take down Team Penske on the streets of Belle Isle.
When coming to Belle Isle Park, there’s always talk about the two-stop versus the three-stop strategy. Today, the two-stopper prevailed for Power.
But Rossi almost made the three-stop strategy work, who was charging hard on the Firestone primary “black” tires at the end. Power was struggling on the Firestone alternate “red” tires as the No. 12 Chevrolet started losing grip.
“I think one more lap would have been really interesting,” Rossi said.
“But you’ve got to give credit to the 12 guys and Will. That’s hard to do at the end, to hang on. It was a good recovery from yesterday. The strategy was good.”
Alexander Rossi’s second-place finish in Detroit gives him some momentum heading into next weekend’s race at Road America, the site of his last IndyCar win in June 2019. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)
Only three drivers ended up retiring from the race: Kyle Kirkwood, Helio Castroneves and Graham Rahal.
The day ended early for Rahal on Lap 2 after hitting the wall with the right-rear. Rahal’s No. 15 Honda was too damaged to continue.
Castroneves was forced to bring the car in after 21 laps, due to an issue with the steering. For the driver of the No. 06 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, it was a disappointing end to his weekend in Detroit after advancing to the Firestone Fast Six in qualifying alongside his teammate Simon Pagenaud.
Kirkwood’s weekend came to an end on Lap 49 when he got into the wall. The highly touted IndyCar rookie got off to a strong start by setting the fastest lap in the first practice session on Friday afternoon and taking the GTD class pole in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race at Belle Isle.
However, Kirkwood crashed in second practice on Saturday morning and injured his right hand. After his race-ending crash, the 23-year-old American had ice on his wounded hand.
“You know, it’s super disappointing, it was definitely due to cold tires,” Kirkwood said.
“I managed the rest of the race with the hand and on cold tires. Super disappointing. I feel so bad for the No. 14 ROKiT Chevrolet guys with AJ Foyt Racing cause they had me on a fantastic strategy. We were looking at running the reds less than everyone else and I was expecting a top-10 finish.”
Kyle Kirkwood fought through an injury to his right hand and made the best of a difficult situation in Detroit. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)
At the moment, Kirkwood’s status is unclear regarding next weekend’s race as he awaits new information about his injury.
To say the least, it was a challenging weekend but he managed to fight through it and even scored a GTD class victory with Vasser Sullivan Racing and co-driver Ben Barnicoat in the No. 17 Lexus RC F GT3 over the No. 27 Heart of Racing Team Aston Martin Vantage AMR GT3 of Roman De Angelis and Ross Gunn.
The NTT IndyCar Series returns to action next Sunday, June 12, at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC for a trip to the Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin for the eighth race of the 2022 season at iconic Road America.
2021 IndyCar champion Alex Palou is the defending race winner at Road America and he’s looking to continue his title defense, entering Elkhart Lake at a 14-point deficit in the championship. (Photo: James Black | Penske Entertainment)
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Top-10 Results: Power, Rossi, Dixon, Newgarden, O’Ward, Palou, Ericsson, Herta, Pagenaud, Rosenqvist.
