Car 77 Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda Wins Inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis (with fuel strategy) for his 3rd IndyCar career win. Margin of victory was 0.8906 of a second over 2nd place Car 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda who was also trying to save fuel.
In 3rd place Car 3 Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy who was coming up fast with lots of gas. 4th place Car 11 Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy followed by Car 83 Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy in 5th place. 6th place Car 8 Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy followed by Car 98 Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda in 7th place. 8th place Car 12 Will Power, Dallara-Chevy followed by Car 14 Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda in 9th place. Lastly in the Top 10 is Car 10 Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy in 10th place.
This was an action packed race from the start. The 1st caution came at the standing start with a massive crash when pole sitter Car 17 Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy stalled and was hit by Car 34 Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda and Car 7 Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda.
The race had 4 Cautions for 19 laps and 12 Lead changes among 8 drivers. To make the race more interesting they ran reverse course of the Indy 500 so the track would be completely different as a road course than as the oval.
On lap 56 Car 27 James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda was hit with debris in the cockpit of his car so he pulled off course & was transferred medical center at the track.
Verizon IndyCar Series driver James Hinchcliffe was discharged from IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis after being evaluated and having a CT scan of his head and neck. INDYCAR Medical Director Dr. Michael Olinger said Hinchcliffe was diagnosed with a concussion.
The driver of the No. 27 United Fiber and Data car for Andretti Autosport will be re-evaluated by Olinger and INDYCAR medical consultants before being cleared to drive.
INDIANAPOLIS Grand Prix of Indianapolis Verizon IndyCar Series event on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
Position Car # Driver Chassis-engine Laps Completed & Reason out (if any):
1. Car 77 Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
2. Car 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
3. Car 3 Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 82, Running
4. Car 11 Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 82, Running
5. Car 83 Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy, 82, Running
6. Car 8 Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 82, Running
7. Car 98 Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
8. Car 12 Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 82, Running
9. Car 14 Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
10. Car 10 Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 82, Running
11. Car 19 Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
12. Car 16 Oriol Servia, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
13. Car 18 Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
14. Car 25 Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 82, Running
15. Car 9 Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 82, Running
16. Car 2 Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 81, Running
17. Car 67 Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
18. Car 41 Martin Plowman, Dallara-Honda, 80, Running
19. Car 20 Mike Conway, Dallara-Chevy, 58, Mechanical
20. Car 27 James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 56, Contact
21. Car 15 Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 50, Contact
22.Car 26 Franck Montagny, Dallara-Honda, 47, Contact
23. Car 34 Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact
24. Car 17 Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 0, Contact
25. Car 7 Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda, 0, Contact
Race Statistics
Winners average speed: 96.462
Time of Race: 02:04:24.0261
Margin of victory: 0.8906 of a second
Cautions: 4 for 19 laps
Lead changes: 12 among 8 drivers
Lap Leaders:
Hunter-Reay 1-9
Hawksworth 10 – 27
Hunter-Reay 28
Wilson 29 – 30
Hawksworth 31 – 43
Pagenaud 44
Hunter-Reay 45 -51
Wilson 52 – 53
Hunter-Reay 54
Castroneves 55 – 69
Bourdais 70
Servia 71 – 77
Pagenaud 78 – 82
Point Standings:
Power 149, Hunter-Reay 148, Pagenaud 143, Castroneves 102, Dixon 102, Conway 93, Andretti 89, Wison 87, Kanaan 82, Bourdais 80.
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Photo credits: 16c – 1701 photo by Chris Owens Courtesy of Indycar, Kuhnindygp20148221 photo by Walter Kuhn Courtesy of Indycar.