Round 2: Diamond Desert Valley Casino, Phoenix Grand Prix. ISM Raceway, Avondale. 6-7 April.
This will be the third running of the race since IndyCar returned in 2016, after an 11 year absence.
The first race ever to be held at Phoenix was in 1915, on a dirt oval at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. In 1950 the American Automobile Association revived the race and when the United States Auto Club became the sanctioning body, the race was added to their calendar in 1956. In 1964, the race was moved to the newly built Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, on the outskirts of Phoenix.
During the USAC era, two races a year were held, the Jimmy Bryan 150 in Spring and Bobby Ball Memorial in the Fall/Autumn. Both races were named after local race drivers who were killed at Phoenix. After the split with USAC, the race became a CART event from 1979 to 1995. The track continued to hold two races a year, with the spring race often serving as the season opener but in 1987 the Fall race was dropped. In 1995, after a dispute between the track owners and CART series officials, the event was dropped from the 1996 CART calendar and immediately switched to the IRL for that year. It remained on the IRL calendar until 2005.
Since its construction the track has changed its name, from Phoenix International Raceway, (1964 - March 2015), Jeff Gordon Raceway (2015) and Phoenix Raceway (2017). In September 2017, track owners International Speedway Corporation, (ISC) formed a partnership with Ingenuity Sun Media (ISM Connect) and the track was renamed ISM Raceway at the beginning of this year. Like last year's race, this will also be a night race.
Some trivia:
Phoenix saw the last career win for Mario Andretti, in 1993.
The driver with most wins: 6, Al Unser Sr, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1976, 1979, 1985.
The Team with most wins: 9, Penske Racing/Team Penske, 1979, 1982, 1985, 1989, 1990, 1994, 2002, 2005, 2017.
Track layout:
The track has both road course and oval configurations. The original road course ran both inside and outside of the oval but was replaced in 1991 with an infield course. The oval gets its unusual layout with the "dogleg", due to a combination of terrain, the original road course and a drag strip. In 2011, the oval underwent significant changes, the most notable were to the front stretch, widened to 62 feet (19 m) and the "dogleg" being moved outward by 95 feet (29 m), as well as its radius being increased to 500 feet (150 m).
In January 2017, ISC and Phoenix Raceway announced a $178 million renovation programme, called the Phoenix Raceway Project Powered by DC Solar, which will be completed by November 2018. The most notable changes to the track will be to the start/finish line, which will be between the current Turn 1 and the dogleg, thus changing the turn numbering and also the pit road. The pit road entrance will move down the new backstretch, currently the front straightaway and the exit will be just past the new start/finish line. The radius of pit road, through the new Turn 4, currently Turn 1, will be tightened and the pit road stalls extend around the new turn 4, currently Turn 1 and just past the new start/finish line. The majority of the pit stalls will be on a curve before the start/finish line.
Length: 1.022 Miles (1.644 Km)
Turns: 4
Lap record old configuration: Arie Luyendyck, March 23, 1996. 19.608, 183.599 mph (295.474 km/h),
Treadway Racing, Reynard 96i-Ford Cosworth XB, Indy Racing League.
Lap record new configuration: Hélio Castroneves, 28 April, 2017. 18.8701, 194.975 mph (313.782
Km/h) Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6. Verizon IndyCar Series.
Last year's race:
Castroneves took Pole and at the start of the race took the lead. Newgarden moved into second after passing both Power and Hildebrand. However, chaos ensued as Aleshin spun in the middle of Turn 1, triggering a multi-car incident, taking championship leader Bourdais, Chilton, Andretti and Rahal out of the race. Hunter-Reay suffered a puncture and was forced to pit, dropping to 15th.
Racing resumed on lap 22 and after a 21 lap clean up, Pagenaud moved into fourth place ahead of Hildebrand. For several laps all four Penske drivers, Castroneves, Newgarden, Power and Pagenaud were in first, second, third and fourth places, repectivley. However, on lap 70, Pagenaud was able to catch and overtake Power and move into third place.
The first round of scheduled pit stops began shortly after and Power leapfroged all three of his teammates to take the lead, with Castroneves, Pagenaud and Newgarden behind. The order remained largely unchanged for the following stint, though Newgarden, struggled with a broken front wing, losing fourth position to a hard charging Hildebrand.
At around lap 120, the second round of pit stops came, during which Alexander Rossi made contact with the wall and was forced to retire. There was no caution, though shortly after, Rossi's team mate Sato made contact with the wall at Turn 4 and came to a stop on the front stretch, bringing out the second full course yellow. Due to the pit stop cycle, Pagenaud now had a sizable advantage which, allowed him to pit under yellow, without losing track position.
The restart was on lap 149 and Pagenaud was able to pull out a healthy lead, due to several lapped cars being between him and Power. Further back, Newgarden had quickly climbed back up into the top five, after finally getting the chance to change his front wing. There was little change in the order as the field cycled through the final scheduled pit stop, with Pagenaud's lead now over 5.5 seconds by lap 215.
Shortly after the final stops, Newgarden and Hunter-Reay made contact, breaking Newgarden's new front wing and damaging Hunter-Reay's suspension, forcing him to retire. For the second time in three races, all the Andretti Autosport cars were out. Newgarden changed his front wing again, dropping him to 10th. Hildebrand, was was able to pass both Newgarden and Castroneves, who had slowed to avoid the incident between Newgarden and Hunter-Reay, giving Hldebrand third place.
From then on, it was plain sailing for Pagenaud, who finished over nine seconds ahead of Power. Hildebrand was third, securing his first podium finish in six years. Castroneves was fourth, while Dixon, who ahd a quiet race, was fifth and one lap down. This was Pagenaud's, 10th career victory
and his first ever on an oval. It was also a mile stone win for Team Penske, as they scored their 450th win in motorsports and their 100th IndyCar win on an oval. Pagenaud now took the lead in the driver's championship.
Pole:
Hélio Castroneves. 00:37.7538, 194.905 mph (313.669 Km/h). Two lap average.
Winner:
Simon Pagenaud
Team Penske
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6
Laps 250
Distance 255.5 Miles (411.186 km)
Race Time 1:46:25
Average Speed 144.058 mph (231.838 Km/h)
Caution periods: 2
Caution laps: 32
Race Broadcast:
NBCSN. April 7, 9:00pm, ET.