Race report
Detroit IndyCar: Top 10 quotes after race 1
Graham Rahal dominates to win first race of Belle Isle doubleheader
Photo by: Michael L. Levitt / Motorsport Images
| Cla | # | Driver | Laps | Time | Gap | Mph |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 |  Graham Rahal |
70 | 1:35'48.7028 | 103.015 | |
| "First of all, I got to say thanks to my boys. The guys did a great job in the pits. You know, Eddie (Jones, engineer), Martin (Pare, engineer), Mike (Talbott, head of vehicle dynamics), Tom (German, engineering consultant), all the engineers, Alex (Farina, engineer), all the guys that came up with this setup. As I said to you guys yesterday, we rolled off the truck and it was right there. So definitely pleased with that because we changed one thing this weekend. That doesn't normally happen, so I'm really excited about that. But, yes, we were firing on all cylinders today. We were able to match whatever pace we needed to. We were able to run some blistering fast times while saving a ton of fuel, so thanks to Honda for that. I could certainly do the number that I needed to. You know, it's just a routine day. As I said to you guys yesterday, and trust me, a lot of drivers didn't like my comment that I felt like I could dominate if I got out front, but I didn't lie. I didn't say that in any other way other than I felt that confident in my car. It's not about anything else. I just knew if I could be out front in clean air, we could do what we did today. I'm very fortunate for the team around me. The guys did a tremendous job. For United Rentals, Soldier Strong, Turns For Troops, we raised a lot more money, hopefully we sold some T-shirts today. We're looking forward to tomorrow." | ||||||
| 2 | 9 |  Scott Dixon |
70 | 1:35'54.8502 | 6.1474 | 102.905 |
| "It was a tough race no matter what. Physically for me it was tougher than normal. I think I was favoring a lot of things, but I'm just so proud of the whole Camping World crew. They did an amazing job, and the car was fast. Today was great for points. I'm definitely going to go back to my RV here and put my foot in a big bucket of ice, and see if I can cool it off. Hopefully get some good rest tonight and obviously qualifying tomorrow is going to be key for the race. We've got to come out blazing. We've definitely got to improve the car - it's not perfect right now." | ||||||
| 3 | 5 |  James Hinchcliffe |
70 | 1:35'57.8716 | 9.1688 | 102.851 |
| "Tires are the name of the game here. To be able to get off the reds (alternate Firestone tires) after the spin in the first turn there played to our advantage. Then we got that yellow at the right time right after out stop. It put us up where we belonged, and I think we showed that the No. 5 Arrow car had a lot of pace. To come back from that - the SPM boys were great in the pits and really happy to grab a podium here today." | ||||||
| 4 | 2 | Josef Newgarden |
70 | 1:35'58.7958 | 10.0930 | 102.834 |
| "It was a pretty good day for us - pretty good points. We obviously want a little bit more and I think we had more in the hum by Verizon Chevy. Fourth (place) is what we could get with the yellows and the way they played out today, but it's still a great run for us. It's a good top five - I wish we could have raced for the win a little bit better but we needed the race to play out differently. We didn't need that yellow - that caught us out. But a good day overall, we'll try to go for another good result and maybe a win." | ||||||
| 5 | 98 | Alexander Rossi |
70 | 1:36'14.2584 | 25.5556 | 102.559 |
| "We weren't quick enough today. The top four were on another level. I think our first stint on reds was strong, but on blacks we slowed a little bit in speed. That's the thing with doubleheaders, we can learn from today and go into tomorrow with a better car." | ||||||
| 6 | 7 |  Mikhail Aleshin |
70 | 1:36'20.0672 | 31.3644 | 102.456 |
| "I think we were pretty competitive and we had a great strategy. The Lucas Oil car was very good, so that allowed me to overtake a couple people at the beginning and be competitive throughout the race. I'm proud of our boys, and from where we started I think it's a great day." | ||||||
| 7 | 3 |  Helio Castroneves |
70 | 1:36'21.8080 | 33.1052 | 102.425 |
| "That was really fun. The cautions didn't work out for us. I didn't save an ounce of fuel. The Hitachi Chevy was super fast. It's just unfortunate that we couldn't get to the front. It's pretty difficult to pass, so you need a few things to go your way and they didn't. I drove the heck out of that car today. The fun part is we get to go right back out there tomorrow." | ||||||
| 8 | 26 |  Takuma Sato |
70 | 1:36'36.1724 | 47.4696 | 102.171 |
| "Tough day. We had a very strong qualifying in third and the start of the race we a good, clean start. We were holding position. Although the top two cars were very strong. We were starting from behind and we were struggling for pace on the reds in the first stint. After the yellows when the field changed the tires, it looks like they had more speed, so the team decided to go to the short stint. In the end, it cost us a little bit in terms of strategy and having three stops was tough. But the boys did a good job. We need to gather the data now to make the car fast and hopefully we have an even stronger race tomorrow." | ||||||
| 9 | 19 |  Ed Jones |
70 | 1:36'42.3559 | 53.6531 | 102.062 |
| "It was a good race, I started off not driving well enough earlier this weekend, but I made big steps every session and I feel like finally we were quite comfortable with the track, so I was able to attack more. The car was really good and it allowed me to overtake some people and keep consistent lap times throughout the stints and we ran a good strategy. All in all everything worked together well and it gives me confidence for tomorrow." | ||||||
| 10 | 20 | Spencer Pigot |
70 | 1:36'42.7754 | 54.0726 | 102.055 |
| "It was a decent race. The guys did a really good job in the pits and also on the timing stand to bring us in at the right time. We were able to jump some people in pits but at the end of the day, we still have things to work on and improve on for tomorrow. We'll try to get a little more pace out of the car. I'm happy with a top 10 and happy for everyone at Fuzzy's Vodka and Chevy, but we're definitely going to work to be higher up tomorrow." | ||||||
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