Alex Palou conquers IndyCar’s return to Downtown Detroit
In the first motorsports event held in downtown Detroit since 1991, Alex Palou won Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix after three yellow flags flew in the closing 20 laps. The NTT IndyCar Series point leader held off Will Power and a dicey group of drivers contesting the podium positions in the final laps for his second victory on the 2023 season.
Palou’s No. 10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing led 74 of the 100 laps around the 1.645-mile circuit circulating the Renaissance Center which makes up the headquarters of General Motors and their subdivision Chevrolet. Two bowties shared the podium with Palou, with Power finishing second and Felix Rosenqvist third.
Power led 14 laps himself, overtaking the Ridgeline Lubricants CGR Honda on lap 29 through pit cycles, and again on a lap 56 restart, in which he led nine consecutive laps before being overtaken by the Spanish driver. On the final restart of the race, which occurred with five laps remaining, Power popped to both sides of Palou attempting a pass into the third turn. Power continued this tactic into the corner, a 180-degree hairpin, and in doing so, turned across Scott Dixon’s front wing while he stuffed his No. 9 Honda into the corner fighting. The contact launched Power in the air briefly resulting in his car stalling momentarily. With the slight stack up, Alexander Rossi swooped by to take second.
He was put into the wall in the same corner a few laps later racing hard with his Arrow McLaren teammate, Felix Rosenqvist. Rosenqvist capitalized by bringing home a podium finish for the AMIT after Pato O’Ward retired from the race following a driveshaft breaking in the pits, and an ensuing trip to the barrier. Rossi took the checkered flag in fifth, and Dixon finished fifth for CGR.
Kyle Kirkwood finished in sixth after being used as a ramp in the opening corner of the race Sunday. The stellar street course racer from Jupiter, Florida, had Callum Ilott climb over the rear attenuator of Kirkwood’s No. 27 AutoNation Honda. The damage sustained to Ilott’s No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevy was substantial enough to retire the entrant for the day, while Kirkwood’s Andretti Autosport team swapped out the rear wings on the Honda. Kirkwood was resilient all race, and the Long Beach Grand Prix winner was able to muster his second Top-10 finish of the season.
Outside polesitter Scott McLaughlin ended the day in seventh. He once again had a slight run-in with Romain Grosjean on a pit exit merge, and minor angst racing against Marcus Ericsson in the waning laps. His Indianapolis 500-winning teammate in Josef Newgarden finished in 10th. Rookie driver for Ganassi, Marcus Armstrong, matched his career-best effort in an Indy car with his 8th-place performance, equaling his Long Beach result. Ericsson finished behind his fellow Marcus and CGR teammate in 9th.
Colton Herta had a tumultuous race to result 11th, being damaged from a block pulled by Agustin Canapino down the nearly 3/4th-mile back straight. On the final restart, he went wide chasing a pack of cars into the third turn and slightly clipped a tire bundle, which damaged his new front wing. The new aerodynamic assist on the No. 26 was stuck on the underside, and shot the Gainbridge Andretti Autosport Honda into a concrete wall in turn four, before falling off later on the circuit. Herta muscled the damaged Dallara to 11th.
Off his best career result in last week’s 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500, Devlin DeFrancesco one-upped himself today. The Canadian-Italian driver had a quiet Sunday, rebounding from a heavy crash after wall contact in Saturday practice. The 12th-place run for the pilot of Andretti Steinbrenner Racing No. 29 Honda is his best career performance.
Santino Ferrucci collided with Sting Ray Robb on lap 92, displaying the seventh and final full course caution of the day’s race — sixth for accidents after the initial start was waved off by race control. David Malukas found the concrete barrier on lap 87, wrecking as the field was taking a green flag after a caution was waved for Romain Grosjean’s crash. Grosjean’s lap 82 shunt into the white canyon walls ended the day for the No. 28 Andretti Autosport Honda, running in the seventh position at the time. Graham Rahal and Benjamin Pedersen wrecked under caution period, ending the day for the RLL Honda.
Race Results – 2023 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix
1 – (10) Alex Palou / 6th Career IndyCar Series Victory
2 – (12) Will Power / 96th IndyCar Podium
3 – (6) Felix Rosenqvist / 5th IndyCar Podium
4 – (9) Scott Dixon
5 – (7) Alexander Rossi
6 – (27) Kyle Kirkwood
7 – (3) Scott McLaughlin
8 – (11) Marcus Armstrong [R]
9 – (8) Marcus Ericsson
10 – (2) Josef Newgarden
11 – (26) Colton Herta
12 – (29) Devlin DeFrancesco
13 – (60) Simon Pagenaud
14 – (78) Agustin Canapino [R]
15 – (20) Conor Daly
16 – (45) Christian Lundgaard
17 – (30) Jack Harvey
18 – (21) Rinus VeeKay
19 – (06) Helio Castroneves
20 – (55) Benjamin Pedersen [R] / 3 Laps Down
21 – (14) Santino Ferrucci / 3 Laps Down
22 – (51) Sting Ray Robb [R] / 3 Laps Down
23 – (18) David Malukas / Out, 85 Laps
24 – (28) Romain Grosjean / Out, 80 Laps
25 – (15) Graham Rahal / Out, 50 Laps
26 – (5) Pato O’Ward / Out, 41 Laps
27 – (77) Callum Ilott / Out, 1 Lap
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