2018 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix

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.

United States 2018 Detroit
Race details
7th and 8th round of the 2018 IndyCar Series season
DateJune 2 and 3, 2018
Official nameChevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear Corporation
LocationThe Raceway on Belle Isle
CourseTemporary street circuit
2.350 mi / 3.782 km
Distance70 laps
164.500 mi / 264.737 km
Race 1
Pole position
DriverUnited States Marco Andretti (Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian)
Time1:14.8514
Fastest lap
DriverUnited States Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)
Time1:15.8049 (on lap 40 of 70)
Podium
FirstNew Zealand Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
SecondUnited States Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)
ThirdUnited States Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport)
Race 2
Pole position
DriverAlexander Rossi (United States Andretti Autosport)
Time1:33.3143
Fastest lap
DriverUnited States Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)
Time1:15.0590 (on lap 59 of 70)
Podium
FirstUnited States Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)
SecondAustralia Will Power (Team Penske)
ThirdUnited Arab Emirates 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

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Results

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Icon Meaning
R Rookie
W Past winner
W1 Past winner of race 1 in doubleheader
W2 Past winner of race 2 in doubleheader

Qualifying

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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

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Pos No. Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired Pit Stops Grid Laps Led Pts.1
1 9   Scott Dixon W Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 70 1:39:24.6189 2 2 39 54
2 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 70 +1.8249 3 5 7 41
3 27   Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 70 +4.1771 2 4 35
4 98   Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda 70 +11.5191 2 1 22 34
5 30   Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 70 +11.8757 2 7 30
6 10   Ed Jones Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 70 +13.7649 2 11 28
7 12   Will Power W1 W2 Team Penske Chevrolet 70 +15.0733 2 6 26
8 6   Robert Wickens R Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 70 +21.4715 3 3 24
9 1   Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 70 +21.5622 3 14 22
10 21   Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 70 +21.9523 2 12 20
11 5   James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 70 +22.3158 4 9 19
12 26   Zach Veach R Andretti Autosport Honda 70 +23.0621 2 16 18
13 18   Sébastien Bourdais W2 Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda 70 +23.3441 2 17 17
14 14   Tony Kanaan W A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 70 +26.1877 3 15 16
15 4   Matheus Leist R A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 70 +26.5471 3 21 15
16 20   Jordan King R Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 70 +27.0156 3 20 14
17 22   Simon Pagenaud W2 Team Penske Chevrolet 70 +29.8038 3 13 13
18 88   Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Chevrolet 70 +33.7246 3 19 12
19 23   Charlie Kimball Carlin Chevrolet 70 +34.0911 3 22 11
20 59   Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet 70 +34.8584 3 10 10
21 32   René Binder R Juncos Racing Chevrolet 67 +3 laps 2 23 9
22 19   Santino Ferrucci R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 55 Contact 2 18 8
23 15   Graham Rahal W1 W2 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 45 Crash 2 8 2 8
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE[permanent dead link]

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

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Race 2 – Sunday, June 3

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Results

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Icon Meaning
R Rookie
W Past winner
W1 Past winner of race 1 in doubleheader
W2 Past winner of race 2 in doubleheader

Qualifying

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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

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Pos No. Driver Team Engine Laps Time/Retired Pit Stops Grid Laps Led Pts.1
1 28   Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda 70 1:33:50.5784 3 10 18 51
2 12   Will Power W1 W2 Team Penske Chevrolet 70 +11.3549 2 3 40
3 10   Ed Jones Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 70 +13.2291 2 4 35
4 9   Scott Dixon W W1 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 70 +13.7652 2 5 32
5 15   Graham Rahal W1 W2 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 70 +16.6280 2 9 30
6 6   Robert Wickens R Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 70 +34.9398 3 2 6 30
7 14   Tony Kanaan W A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 70 +41.6328 1 22 26
8 23   Charlie Kimball Carlin Chevrolet 70 +47.3553 2 21 24
9 98   Marco Andretti Andretti Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian Honda 70 +56.6293 3 12 22
10 22   Simon Pagenaud W2 Team Penske Chevrolet 70 +59.5891 2 8 20
11 59   Max Chilton Carlin Chevrolet 70 +1:04.6868 2 17 19
12 27   Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda 70 +1:06.6419 3 1 46 22
13 26   Zach Veach R Andretti Autosport Honda 70 +1:07.6438 1 7 17
14 4   Matheus Leist R A. J. Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet 70 +1:11.6742 2 18 16
15 1   Josef Newgarden Team Penske Chevrolet 70 +1:14.2820 2 19 15
16 5   James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Honda 70 +1:17.3729 3 6 14
17 30   Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda 69 +1 lap 2 20 13
18 20   Jordan King R Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 69 +1 lap 1 11 12
19 88   Gabby Chaves Harding Racing Chevrolet 69 +1 lap 2 14 11
20 19   Santino Ferrucci R Dale Coyne Racing Honda 69 +1 lap 3 13 10
21 18   Sébastien Bourdais W2 Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda 67 +3 laps 4 16 9
22 32   René Binder R Juncos Racing Chevrolet 66 +4 laps 2 23 8
23 21   Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet 21 Mechanical 2 15 7
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE[permanent dead link]

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

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  • Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Pace car incident

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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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ a b Bonkowski, Jerry. "GM exec who crashed Corvette before IndyCar race issues apology". NBC Sports. NBC Sports. Retrieved 17 June 2023.
  3. ^ 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.
  4. ^ 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.


Previous race:
2018 Indianapolis 500
IndyCar Series
2018 season
Next race:
2018 DXC Technology 600
Previous race:
2017 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix
Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Next race:
2019 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix