CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX
STREETS OF BELLE ISLE
TEAM CHEVY RACE TWO POST RACE RECAP WITH DRIVER QUOTES
JUNE 3, 2018
WILL POWER SCORES RUNNER-UP FINISH IN SECOND RACE FOR CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX
Four Team Chevy drivers in top-10 on streets of Belle Isle
DETROIT (June 3, 2018) – For the second straight day, Will Power led the contingent of Team Chevy drivers with a runner-up finish in the second of two Dual in Detroit races as part of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday.
The reigning Indianapolis 500 winner started third following a wet qualifying session in the morning and moved up one spot after a consistent run in his No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. He appeared on his way to a third-place finish before leader Alexander Rossi went off-track with six laps to go.
“This is a very good result for us,” Power said. “I think that is about as good as we could get.”
Power, a two-time winner on Belle Isle, regained the Driver’s Championship lead in the Verizon IndyCar Series.
Three additional Team Chevy drivers finished in the top-10 Sunday. Tony Kanaan drove his way to a seventh-place finish after starting 22nd in the No. 14 ABC Supply Chevrolet.
Charlie Kimball placed eight in the No. 23 Tresiba Chevrolet despite starting 21st. Simon Pagenaud in the No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet placed 10th.
The next race for the Verizon IndyCar Series is the DXC Technology 600 on Saturday, June 9 from Texas Motor Speedway. NBC Sports Network will air the race at 8 p.m. ET.
The race will be streamed on RaceControl.IndyCar.com in conjunction with the INDYCAR Radio Network broadcast, and can be heard on INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates, IndyCar.com, indycarradio.com, the INDYCAR Mobile app, and Sirius 214 and XM 209.
DRIVER QUOTES:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 2ND: “This is probably the most physical track that we do and we have to do two races here. I’m really happy to come home with a second. That is about as good as we were going to do unless one of those guys in front of us made a mistake. It was just a solid day. WE were fast, we had great pit stops and we made no mistakes. We were looking for a result like that to get on the podium. We were on the back foot going in with the power curve that Honda has here, so we are really pleased with that result.”
THIS TRACK TAKES ITS TOLL, DOESN’T IT? “It does. The constant bumps out of the corner can knock your head around a bit. I drove my (rear end) off all day! We’re really happy with second place. This is a very good result for us. I think that is about as good as we could get.”
TONY KANAAN, NO. 14 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: “Great day for us. I had to redeem myself for this morning. The good part about it, what is awesome is when your boss [A.J.] is behind you regardless what happens. I was really down after qualifying today because I made a mistake. It looked like he was trying to find the reason that I crashed so that it wasn’t my fault. I said, ‘A.J. it was my fault.’ So that gives me a lot of confidence and a lot of motivation just to go and do it. And the guys did a great job in the pits. We had a fast car. I had a lot of fun. I’m exhausted but it’s our best result of the season so far at one of the most difficult tracks and with one of our worst qualifiers. So pretty happy.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 23 TRESIBA CARLIN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH: “I’m really proud of the resiliency of this Carlin team. We didn’t get the job done all that well this morning in qualifying, but we had a nice clean race, good solid pit stops, and a really good strategy. It felt like I raced pretty cleanly and we had good pace in clean air which helped us get good mileage when we needed to. I’m just so happy for the 23 car guys for getting a top eight finish today. With Max coming home in the top 11 today, hopefully we can get both of us into the top in Texas next weekend. We had a tough day yesterday but bounced back. Qualifying this morning didn’t go our way, but our guys did a great job on strategy. The car had good pace in clean air and in traffic. We could get the mileage we needed, the power was there when we wanted it and the economy was there when we needed it. It felt good to get the second top-10 for Team Carlin and our best result with eighth – powered by Chevy here in Detroit.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: “Today was defiantly better than yesterday. We made big progress on the car. Still not enough though. We rallied as a team. It was a much more decent showing. We need to continue to progress and evolve. Street courses are definitely our weakest area at the moment. We are going to be on the superspeedway next week and we have been strong on those. We are going to try and get a hat and cowboy boots, especially with DXC being the title sponsor of the event. Overall, tough weekend and a lot of adversity, but the team did a great job.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET. FINISHED 11TH: It was a solid day, but a long day. It was basically a green race apart from the start. We had more pace today than we had yesterday and the team had really great stops every time we came in. I think I did the best mileage that I’ve done in my entire career by them telling me the fuel number and me sticking to it. Unfortunately, Charlie got me in the last stint and then I was in the marbles and was passed by a few others. We then had their pace and got one back, but it dropped us just out of the top 10. This has been a positive afternoon for the team as a whole though and we’ll concentrate, moving forwards, on getting both cars in the top 10.”
MATHEUS LEIST, NO. 4 ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14TH: We probably had the pace to be in the top 10, we got a great start but it just was not our day today. I’m learning a little bit more every time [on saving fuel], but it’s time to start running at the front, not the back. Hopefully we’ll have a good race next weekend.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH: “It was a rough day. We did what we could and we fought hard, but just didn’t come up with much from a results standpoint. It’s a tough pill to swallow, but sometimes you have days like this. It was fun having Hitachi here this weekend. They are super supportive of our race team, so I’m disappointed we couldn’t do a little better for them. And especially for Team Chevy too. We will go to the next one.”
JORDAN KING, NO. 20 ALLEGIANT INTERNATIONAL CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH: “It was a long, long race. The only thing keeping me motivated was my lap time delta, I was just trying to beat my lap time delta every lap! Our speed was alright, we maybe could have had a Top 10 but the first stint did not allow for that. We struggled a bit with the reds and probably stayed out a bit long. By the time the pit sequence was through, we were a big chunk of time behind people. After that, on the blacks, we were alright. Pace seemed pretty good, but I had no one behind and no one in front – it was just a long race!”
GABBY CHAVES, NO. 88 HARDING GROUP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19TH: “Definitely a trying weekend for us in Detroit, especially race two today. I thought we had the right strategy, but one of the cars spun coming out of pit lane and I picked up some debris. This caused us to think the tire was going flat, so we came to the pits which cost us a lot of time. After that we just wanted to make it cleanly to the finish because we didn’t really have anything to gain at that point. Now we look to Texas next weekend, we finished fifth last year so I’m hoping we can manage a finish like that again.”
RENE BINDER, NO. 32 BINDERHOLZ JUNCOS RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22ND: “We were 2-laps down before the race even started because of the issue in Turn-1. We had to shut off the car as ordered by the series and we were not able to restart. Unfortunately, it looks like the ECU stopped working, a part supplied by the series and we had no option but to change it and we received a 2-lap penalty. I had to adjust my race and had to let everyone pass because of the blue and yellow flag. I worked on trying to get my rhythm throughout the race and that was the best we could do.”
SPENCER PIGOT, NO. 21 FUZZY’S VODKA ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 23RD: “It wasn’t just a spin, I got hit from behind by (Santino Ferrucci). First, we banged wheels, then he just kind of punted me in Turn 5. It is very disappointing to end the race this way. The Fuzzy’s Vodka was strong yesterday and we were hoping to move forward in today’s race. It’s unfortunate when drivers come into the series and do silly things like that because they don’t respect that all of us are out here racing every weekend for the championship.”