2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix

The 2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season and the first oval race of the season. It took place on April 29, 2017 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. The race was won by Simon Pagenaud for Team Penske, his first ever victory on an oval.[1]

United States 2017 Phoenix
Race details
4th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season
Phoenix International Raceway (2011-2018)
DateApril 29, 2017
Official nameDesert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix
LocationPhoenix International Raceway
CoursePermanent racing facility
1.022 mi / 1.645 km
Distance250 laps
255.5 mi / 411.25 km
Pole position
DriverHélio Castroneves (Team Penske)
Time18.8837 + 18.8701 = 37.7538
Fastest lap
DriverWill Power (Team Penske)
Time19.7446 (on lap 208 of 250)
Podium
FirstSimon Pagenaud (Team Penske)
SecondWill Power (Team Penske)
ThirdJ. R. Hildebrand (Ed Carpenter Racing)

Report

edit

Qualifying

edit

Qualifying was held on Friday, April 28. Hélio Castroneves took pole position, breaking the track record that he had set the previous lap with a time of 37.7538 (194.905 mph). His teammate Will Power qualified second. J. R. Hildebrand qualified third; the only driver outside of Team Penske in the top five. Tony Kanaan in sixth place was the fastest Honda driver.[2]

Race

edit

The race was held on Saturday, April 29. The start saw Hélio Castroneves pull into the lead, while Josef Newgarden was able to move into second after passing both Will Power and J. R. Hildebrand. Behind them, however, the start was chaotic, as Mikhail Aleshin spun in the middle of turn one, triggering a multi-car incident that took out championship leader Sébastien Bourdais, Max Chilton, Marco Andretti, and Graham Rahal. All five were out of the race. Ryan Hunter-Reay suffered a punctured tire in the incident and dropped to 15th following his pit stop.[3]

After a lengthy clean-up, racing resumed on lap 22, where Simon Pagenaud managed to move in front of Hildebrand for fourth place. For several laps, the order remained unchanged. On lap 70, however, Pagenaud was able to catch up to his teammate Power and move himself into third place. Pit stops began shortly after, where Power was able to leapfrog all three of his teammates and take the lead of the race, with Castroneves, Pagenaud, and Newgarden behind. James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top five after the stops. During the cycle, Conor Daly lost numerous laps after suffering a gearbox failure while on pit lane on lap 78.[3]

The order remained largely unchanged for the following stint, though Newgarden, struggling with a broken front wing, lost his fourth position to a hard-charging Hildebrand. At roughly lap 120, the second cycle of pit stops came, during which Alexander Rossi made contact with the wall and was forced to retire from the race, though there was no caution for this incident. Shortly after, however, Rossi's teammate Takuma Sato made contact with the turn four wall and came to a stop on the frontstretch, bringing out the caution. Due to where the pit stop cycle was at the time, Pagenaud now held a sizable advantage on the field, allowing him to pit under yellow without losing any track position.[3]

The restart came on lap 149, where Pagenaud was able to pull out a healthy lead due to several lapped cars being between him and Power. Further back, Newgarden was able to march back up into the top five quickly after finally being afforded the chance to change his front wing. Little change in the order occurred as the field cycled through their final pit cycle from about lap 190 through lap 210. Pagenaud's lead now stood at over 5.5 seconds on lap 215.[3]

Shortly after pit stops, Newgarden's day went awry once again, as he and Ryan Hunter-Reay made contact, breaking Newgarden's front wing again and breaking Hunter-Reay's suspension, taking him out of the race. For the second time in three races, all Andretti Autosport cars were out of the race.[4] Newgarden changed front wings again, dropping him to 10th. The biggest beneficiary of the incident, however, was Hildebrand, who was able to pass both Newgarden and Castroneves, who had slowed up to avoid the incident, boosting him to third place.[3]

Up front, it was smooth sailing for Pagenaud, who came across the finish line over nine seconds ahead of his teammate Power. Hildebrand came across the line third, securing his first podium finish in six years.[5] Castroneves finished fourth while Scott Dixon, who ran an quiet race, finished fifth, the first car one lap down. For Pagenaud, the victory was his 10th career victory and his first ever on an oval. For Team Penske, it was the team's 450th win in motorsports and the 100th IndyCar win for the team on an oval.[6] The victory also allowed Pagenaud to take the lead in the points.[6][3] Attendance was 18,500[7]

Results

edit
Key Meaning
R Rookie
W Past winner

Qualifying

edit
Pos No. Name Lap 1 Time Lap 2 Time Total Time Avg. Speed (mph)
1 3   Hélio Castroneves W 18.8837 18.8701 37.7538 194.905
2 12   Will Power 19.0188 18.9078 37.9266 194.017
3 21   J. R. Hildebrand 18.9757 18.9714 37.9471 193.912
4 2   Josef Newgarden 19.0256 18.9677 37.9933 193.676
5 1   Simon Pagenaud 19.0242 19.0207 38.0449 193.414
6 10   Tony Kanaan W 19.1216 19.0962 38.2178 192.539
7 7   Mikhail Aleshin 19.1620 19.0979 38.2599 192.327
8 9   Scott Dixon W 19.1750 19.1446 38.3151 192.050
9 27   Marco Andretti 19.2693 19.1785 38.4478 191.387
10 18   Sébastien Bourdais 19.2417 19.2137 38.4554 191.349
11 5   James Hinchcliffe 19.2536 19.2330 38.4866 191.194
12 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay 19.2688 19.2975 38.5663 190.799
13 8   Max Chilton 19.3579 19.2146 38.5725 190.768
14 83   Charlie Kimball 19.3029 19.3107 38.6136 190.565
15 98   Alexander Rossi 19.3721 19.2740 38.6461 190.405
16 19   Ed Jones R 19.3822 19.3404 38.7226 190.029
17 15   Graham Rahal 19.4304 19.3417 38.7721 189.786
18 26   Takuma Sato 19.3940 19.3796 38.7736 189.779
19 14   Carlos Muñoz 19.4935 19.3780 38.8715 189.301
20 4   Conor Daly 19.5375 19.4916 39.0291 188.536
21 20   Ed Carpenter 19.7062 19.7787 39.4849 186.360
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Source for individual Laps:[8]

Race

edit
Pos No. Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired Pit Stops Grid Laps Led Pts.1
1 1   Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Chevrolet 250 1:46:24.9473 3 5 116 53
2 12   Will Power Team Penske Chevrolet 250 +9.1028 3 2 59 41
3 21   J. R. Hildebrand Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 250 +9.3417 3 3 35
4 3   Hélio Castroneves W Team Penske Chevrolet 250 +16.5864 3 1 73 34
5 9   Scott Dixon W Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 249 +1 Lap 3 8 30
6 10   Tony Kanaan W Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 249 +1 Lap 3 6 28
7 20   Ed Carpenter Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 248 +2 Laps 5 21 26
8 83   Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 248 +2 Laps 3 14 24
9 2   Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 248 +2 Laps 6 4 2 23
10 14   Carlos Muñoz A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 247 +3 Laps 4 19 20
11 19   Ed Jones R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 247 +3 Laps 4 16 19
12 5   James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 246 +4 Laps 4 11 18
13 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 220 Mechanical 5 12 17
14 4   Conor Daly A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 180 +70 Laps 7 20 16
15 98   Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Autorsport Honda 141 Contact 4 15 15
16 26   Takuma Sato Andretti Autosport Honda 135 Contact 2 18 14
17 7   Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 0 Contact 0 7 13
18 27   Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Honda 0 Contact 0 9 12
19 18   Sébastien Bourdais Dale Coyne Racing Honda 0 Contact 0 10 11
20 8   Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 0 Contact 0 13 10
21 15   Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 0 Contact 0 17 9
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

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, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:[9]

Championship standings after the race

edit
  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

edit
  1. ^ Malsher, David (April 30, 2017). "Pagenaud declares Phoenix victory his "best win"". Motorsport.com. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  2. ^ Robinson, Mitch (April 29, 2017). "Castroneves remains Phoenix king of speed with new track record". IndyCar.com. Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Malsher, David (April 30, 2017). "Phoenix IndyCar: Pagenaud grabs his first oval win". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  4. ^ Wilson, Phillip B. (April 30, 2017). "Woes continue for Andretti Autosport at Phoenix". IndyCar.com. Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  5. ^ Malsher, David (April 30, 2017). "Hildebrand thrilled with first top-three finish for six years". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved May 1, 2017.
  6. ^ a b Robinson, Mitch (April 30, 2017). "Pagenaud dominates at Phoenix to collect first oval win". IndyCar.com. Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  7. ^ "IndyCar likely to return to Phoenix again in 2018".
  8. ^ "Race Report: 2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix". theapexracing.co. TheApex.racing LLC. April 25, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
  9. ^ "Indycar 2017 Phoenix". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
edit


Previous race:
2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
IndyCar Series
2017 season
Next race:
2017 IndyCar Grand Prix
Previous race:
2016 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix
Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix Next race:
2018 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix