Summary
The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation was the lone doubleheader event of the 2018 IndyCar Series season, consisting of the 7th and 8th rounds of the championship. The event was held at the Raceway at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan. Scott Dixon won Race 1, and Ryan Hunter-Reay won the Sunday race.
| Race details | |
|---|---|
| 7th and 8th round of the 2018 IndyCar Series season | |
 | |
| Date | June 2 and 3, 2018 |
| Official name | Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation |
| Location | The Raceway on Belle Isle |
| Course | Temporary street circuit 2.350 mi / 3.782 km |
| Distance | 70 laps 164.500 mi / 264.737 km |
| Pole position | |
| Driver |  Marco Andretti (Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian) |
| Time | 1:14.8514 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) |
| Time | 1:15.8049 (on lap 40 of 70) |
| Podium | |
| First |  Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
| Second | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) |
| Third | Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport) |
| Pole position | |
| Driver | Alexander Rossi ( Andretti Autosport) |
| Time | 1:33.3143 |
| Fastest lap | |
| Driver | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) |
| Time | 1:15.0590 (on lap 59 of 70) |
| Podium | |
| First | Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport) |
| Second |  Will Power (Team Penske) |
| Third |  Ed Jones (Chip Ganassi Racing) |
This event also marked the final IndyCar Series broadcast for ABC, ending a half-century stint covering the series (and its predecessors), as starting in 2019, NBC Sports was the series' only broadcaster. This would ultimately mark the end of Scott Goodyear's commentary career after 17 seasons with ESPN.
Race 1 – Saturday, June 2 edit
Results edit
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
| W1 | Past winner of race 1 in doubleheader |
| W2 | Past winner of race 2 in doubleheader |
Qualifying edit
| Pos | No. | Name | Group | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 98 | Marco Andretti
|
2 | 1:14.8514 | ||||
| 2 | 9 | Scott Dixon W
|
1 | 1:15.4186 | ||||
| 3 | 6 |  Robert Wickens R
|
2 | 1:15.3267 | ||||
| 4 | 27 | Alexander Rossi
|
1 | 1:15.4946 | ||||
| 5 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
2 | 1:15.3351 | ||||
| 6 | 12 | Will Power W1 W2
|
1 | 1:15.7210 | ||||
| 7 | 30 |  Takuma Sato
|
2 | 1:15.3920 | ||||
| 8 | 15 | Graham Rahal W1 W2
|
1 | 1:15.8273 | ||||
| 9 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe
|
2 | 1:15.5402 | ||||
| 10 | 59 |  Max Chilton
|
1 | 1:16.0396 | ||||
| 11 | 10 | Ed Jones
|
2 | 1:15.8876 | ||||
| 12 | 21 | Spencer Pigot
|
1 | 1:16.1430 | ||||
| 13 | 22 |  Simon Pagenaud W2
|
2 | 1:16.0099 | ||||
| 14 | 1 | Josef Newgarden
|
1 | 1:16.1923 | ||||
| 15 | 10 |  Tony Kanaan W
|
2 | 1:16.0740 | ||||
| 16 | 26 | Zach Veach R
|
1 | 1:16.3157 | ||||
| 17 | 18 | Sébastien Bourdais W2
|
2 | 1:16.2205 | ||||
| 18 | 19 | Santino Ferrucci R
|
1 | 1:15.8343 | ||||
| 19 | 88 |  Gabby Chaves
|
2 | 1:16.7531 | ||||
| 20 | 20 | Jordan King R
|
1 | 1:16.9075 | ||||
| 21 | 4 | Matheus Leist R
|
2 | 1:16.4182 | ||||
| 22 | 23 | Charlie Kimball
|
1 | 1:17.2067 | ||||
| 23 | 32 |  René Binder R
|
2 | 1:18.6108 | ||||
| OFFICIAL BOX SCORE[permanent dead link] | ||||||||
Race edit
Notes: 1 Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps. For Detroit only, 1 bonus point was awarded to the fastest qualifier from both groups.
Championship standings after Race 1 edit
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included.
Race 2 – Sunday, June 3 edit
Results edit
| Icon | Meaning |
|---|---|
| R | Rookie |
| W | Past winner |
| W1 | Past winner of race 1 in doubleheader |
| W2 | Past winner of race 2 in doubleheader |
Qualifying edit
| Pos | No. | Name | Group | Time | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27 | Alexander Rossi
|
1 | 1:33.3143 | ||||
| 2 | 6 | Robert Wickens R
|
2 | 1:33.6605 | ||||
| 3 | 12 | Will Power W1 W2
|
1 | 1:33.8295 | ||||
| 4 | 10 | Ed Jones
|
2 | 1:33.9256 | ||||
| 5 | 9 | Scott Dixon W W1
|
1 | 1:33.9544 | ||||
| 6 | 5 | James Hinchcliffe
|
2 | 1:34.1370 | ||||
| 7 | 26 | Zach Veach R
|
1 | 1:34.6464 | ||||
| 8 | 22 | Simon Pagenaud W2
|
2 | 1:34.2315 | ||||
| 9 | 15 | Graham Rahal W1 W2
|
1 | 1:35.0256 | ||||
| 10 | 28 | Ryan Hunter-Reay
|
2 | 1:34.5021 | ||||
| 11 | 20 | Jordan King R
|
1 | 1:35.1374 | ||||
| 12 | 98 | Marco Andretti
|
2 | 1:34.5475 | ||||
| 13 | 19 | Santino Ferrucci R
|
1 | 1:35.4664 | ||||
| 14 | 88 | Gabby Chaves
|
2 | 1:35.6045 | ||||
| 15 | 21 | Spencer Pigot
|
1 | 1:36.3713 | ||||
| 16 | 18 | Sébastien Bourdais W2
|
2 | 1:35.6692 | ||||
| 17 | 59 | Max Chilton
|
1 | 1:36.9796 | ||||
| 18 | 4 | Matheus Leist R
|
2 | 1:36.0439 | ||||
| 19 | 1 | Josef Newgarden
|
1 | 1:38.3041 | ||||
| 20 | 30 | Takuma Sato
|
2 | 1:37.0851 | ||||
| 21 | 23 | Charlie Kimball
|
1 | 1:39.3597 | ||||
| 22 | 10 | Tony Kanaan W
|
2 | No time | ||||
| 23 | 32 | René Binder R
|
2 | No time | ||||
| OFFICIAL BOX SCORE[permanent dead link] | ||||||||
Race edit
Notes: 1 Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps. For Detroit only, 1 bonus point was awarded to the fastest qualifier from both groups.
Championship standings after Race 2 edit
|
|
- Note: Only the top five positions are included.
Pace car incident edit
During the opening pace laps of Race #2, the 2019 Chevrolet Corvette ZR1 pace car leading the field and being driven by General Motors executive Mark Reuss lost control and crashed head-on into the left-hand retaining wall coming out of the exit of turn two of the track, shortly after leaving pit road. Neither Reuss nor Mark Sandy, an IndyCar official who was a passenger in the car, were injured in the crash and were able to exit the vehicle after the crash.[1] Because the race cars had just left pit road and were being led by the pace car, all of the drivers in the race, except for Alexander Rossi, stopped on the track behind the wrecked car as safety crews and track workers cleaned up debris from the accident and removed the damaged vehicle. Rossi, who was to start the race from the pole position and was directly behind the pace car when the incident occurred, was the only driver to drive past the crash and returned to pit road afterwards. Approximately 20 minutes after the crash, the cars still on the track had their engines re-fired and were directed to drive to pit road in order to reset the starting grid for the race start. An identical back-up pace car of the same make and model was brought out to pace the field, this time driven by former IndyCar driver and official Oriol Servià who regularly drove the pace car during caution periods. The incident delayed the start of the race by over 30 minutes from its scheduled start time of 3:50pm local time.[1] The race eventually went green sometime past 4:20pm.
An official statement from General Motors, of which Chevrolet is a division of, read in part, "It is unfortunate that this incident happened. Many factors contributed, including weather and track conditions. The car’s safety systems performed as expected."[2] Reuss, who had previous experience driving high powered cars in his tenure at General Motors, posted his own statement onto his Facebook page apologizing for the mishap: "I have driven this course many many many times. I have paced this race in the wet, cold, hot, and calm. On Z06’s, Grand Sports, and other things. It is never a casual thing for me, but an honor to be asked. Today I let down my friends, my family, IndyCar, our city and my company. Sorry does not describe it. I want to thank our engineers for providing me the safety I know is the best in the world."[2] IndyCar drivers Will Power and eventual race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay were sympathetic to Reuss in their comments on the incident following the race, with Power saying, "I felt really bad for whoever was in the pace car. It's very easy to do, and the traction control must have been turned off. Wasn't really his fault."[1]
The unusual incident garnered massive amounts of attention on social media and news outlets, with Adam Stern of Sports Business Journal tweeting that the exposure that the crash gave to Chevrolet was " more than 70 times" worth the exposure Chevrolet earned from the race itself.[3] The incident was briefly mentioned by television presenter Jeremy Clarkson in series 3, episode 8 of the Amazon Prime Video motoring show The Grand Tour while Clarkson was test driving a Corvette similar to the one Reuss had crashed. Nearly one year after the crash, Reuss was given the opportunity to drive the pace car for the opening laps of the 2019 edition of the race, this time doing so without incident.[4]
References edit
- ^ a b c Krupa, Gregg. "GM exec: 'Sorry does not describe' crashing pace car at Detroit Grand Prix". The Detroit News. Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- ^ a b Bonkowski, Jerry. "GM exec who crashed Corvette before IndyCar race issues apology". NBC Sports. NBC Sports. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
- ^ Stern, Adam. "Adam Stern on Twitter: "The exposure that @Chevrolet and its Corvette brand got yesterday due to ZR1 pace car crash was more than 70 times' worth the exposure it got during @DetroitGP 's race No. 1 Saturday, per Apex Marketing Group ( @ApexMGAnalytics ). ➖ It generated $3.47M in exposure as of this AM."". Twitter. Adam Stern. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
- ^ Phelan, Mark. "GM's Mark Reuss gives Grand Prix track another try. Here's what happened". Detroit Free Press. Detroit Free Press. Retrieved 17 June 2023.