Round 5: IndyCar Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 9-11 May.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 5: IndyCar Grand Prix, Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 9-11 May.

It's been more or less a month since the Chequered flag fell, at Long Beach and the Month of May, can finally get underway.

This year will be the sixth running of the event. So far, the start of each race has been barely without incident, the exception being 2017.

The inaugural race in 2014 featured a standing start but pole sitter Saavedra stalled as the lights went out and his car was hit by Munoz and Aleshin, showering the track with carbon-fibre and forcing a restart. It was decided that for 2015, the race would have a conventional rolling start. However, several cars came together at Turn 1, though somehow this didn't lead to a restart.

In 2016 after the start and as the field moved into the Turn 1, Kanaan collected Bourdais on the outside of the corner, bringing out the first caution of the race. The race restarted after four laps under yellow. Last year the yellow came out on Lap 1, as Charlie Kimball and Ed Jones made contact.

The track is a modified layout of the circuit previously used for the F1 United States Grand Prix, held from 2000 - 2007 and which is currently used by the MotoGP, Red Bull Indianapolis

Grand Prix. The race is run clockwise, the opposite direction to the Indianapolis 500.

Some trivia:
Driver with the most wins: Will Power, 2015, 2017, 2018
Team with the most wins: Team Penske, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

Layout:
Motorcycle Course:


IndyCar Road Course:


Length:
2.439 Miles (3.925 Km)

Turns: 14

Lap record:
Will Power, May 12, 2017. 1:07.704, 129.69 mph (208.44 km/h).
Team Penske, Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndyCar V6.
Verizon IndyCar Series.


Last year's race:

Will Power repeated the previous year's qualifying session by taking Pole. At the start Power took the lead, with the field going from four to five to six wide coming up to Turn 1. Within seconds, Simon Pagenaud, was nudged by Newgarden, into the path of Jordan King's Ed Carpenter
Racing Chevrolet, who then clipped Pagenaud from behind at Turn 2 with both going off into the sandtrap. Pagenaud rejoined the track but King needed rescuing, which brought out the first full course yellow.

Spencer Pigot, in the other Ed Carpenter entry also got into trouble at Turns 5/6, after he ran out of road at the chicane, took off over the curb, landing back on the track and collecting Sato. Pigot was given a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. Sato, teammate Graham Rahal and Pagenaud all pitted for a fuel top-up.

The restart saw Power storm away, as Wickens and Bourdais dueled for second place, with Newgsarden's Penske looming large in Bourdais' mirrors. Power kept a margin of around one second over Wickens but the pair of them were now four seconds clear of Bourdais, who was still trying to fend off Newgarden, with Alexander Rossi now in tow.

As Power caught up with Spencer Pigot to lap him, Wickens had caught right up with Power, forcing Power to use his push-to-pass to get around Pigot. With Wickens right up with Power both pitted on Lap 20, virtually together and left together, with Power on primary tires and

Wickens on another set of reds, giving Bourdais the lead for just a lap before he too pitted. Newgarden stayed out a lap longer, with Rossi now in the lead, which he gave up on Lap 23 when he pitted.

Meanwhile, on the black tires, Power had been unable to hold off Wickens, conceding a spot along the back straight. By lap 26, Wickens held a 2.5sec lead, and Power was having to fight off Bourdais who was also on reds. Newgarden, like Power, was on blacks and a further five seconds down, still trying to hold off Rossi.

Behind them, Dixon’s off-strategy had seen him climb to sixth, ahead of Hinchcliffe and Hunter-Reay. Rahal passed Tony Kanaan for ninth on Lap 28, and Hunter-Reay for eighth on Lap 34. Hunter-Reay, on blacks, was also easy meat for Castroneves, and he conceded ninth on the pitstraight on Lap 35.

Rossi, Dixon, Hinchcliffe and the second Ganassi car of Ed Jones made their second stops on Lap 36, with Newgarden and Castroneves doing the same two laps later, Pagenaud a lap after that.

Wickens’ lead over Power had remained at around 5 seconds. However, he started suffering from understeer from his reds and as their second stops approached, Wickens leant on his push-to-pass but Power was now 4.5 seconds behind, as Wickens made his stop. Bourdais also pulled in on Lap 41, with Power, pitting on Lap 42. Now he was on the reds and Wickens on the blacks. The gap was now 3.5 seconds and Bourdais, also on blacks had fallen 3.5 seconds behind Power. The off-strategy Rahal, briefly led the race but but when he made his stop on

Lap 46, he handed the lead back to Wickens, which was now down to 1.7sec.Meanwhile further back, Newgarden on reds was gaining on Bourdais, who was on primary-tyres for third, while Dixon and Rossi closed on Newgarden.

At the end of Lap 48, Power was on Wickens’ tail but Wickens responded with a clever combination of Push-to-Pass and defensive lines into the hard braking zones of Turn 1 and 7.

At the start of Lap 51, Power made a move around the outside of Turn 1. Wickens tried to but couldn't defend his lead and had to give it up.

Four laps later, Newgarden tried to pass Bourdais for third place, at the Turn 12 chicane but from too far back. He clipped the high curb, spun the car and stalled, bringing out the second full course yellow.

Everyone took the opportunity to pit and while Power emerged ahead of Wickens, the Ganassi #9 crew did a great job to leap-frog Dixon ahead of Bourdais, Rossi, Castroneves, Hinchcliffe, Rahal, Pagenaud and Jones. All were on reds but were wondering if they could make it to the end on a tank of fuel.

A clean restart on Lap 62 left the drivers in the same order but on Lap 63, Rossi got past Bourdais on the back straight and at the start of Lap 64, Dixon passed Wickens for second.

Jones, in the other Ganassi car, had far worse fortune picking up a puncture and having to pit.

Power had a lead of 1 second over Dixon by Lap 67, when the battle between Wickens and Rossi for third place started hotting up. However, rain started to sprinkle the track over the closing 10 laps and Power edged away by a tenth or two each lap, finishing 2.5 seconds clear of Dixon.

Wickens was able to keep Rossi and Bourdais at bay and claim third place and second podium of his five-race IndyCar career. Bourdais managed to pass Rossi for fourth.

Castroneves finished sixth on his comeback and holding off Hinchcliffe, to complete the top six finishers.

As well as clocking Penske’s 200th win, Power scored his third win in four years at the IMS road course and his 33rd career victory.

Pole:
Will Power, 1:09.8182, 125.761 mph (202.392 km/h)
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Winner:
Will Power,
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 85
Distance: 207.315 Miles (333.641 km)
Race Time: 1:49:46
Average Speed: 113.318 Mph (182.367 km/h)

Caution periods: 2
Caution laps: 8

Race broadcast: NBC. 11 May, 3:00pm ET.