Tony Kanaan is coming off winning the Indianapolis 500 and leads the Izod IndyCar Series to Belle Isle for the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans. Marco Andretti leads the point standings after finishing in fourth at Indianapolis.
The First Doubleheader
This is the first of three doubleheaders this season for IndyCar. Two, 70-lap races will takes both starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday and Sunday. Friday will feature a practice session late in the morning with the Firestone Fast Six qualifying session happening at 3:00 p.m. ET on Friday setting the grid for the Saturday race. On Saturday morning, at 9:15 a.m. ET qualifying for race two with take place. This session will see two, twelve minute qualifying groups. Groups will be determined by combined times from practice with odd-numbered positions making up group one and even-numbered positions making up group two. The grid for race two will be set in order of fastest times, combined from the two groups.
Race one will take place Saturday. Sunday will feature a morning warm-up at 9:00 a.m. ET before race two. This year's race will take place on a recently repaved, 2.346 mile configuration instead of the 2.07 mile configuration used since the IndyCar Series returned to Belle Isle in 2007.
Driver Changes
Mike Conway returns for his second and third IndyCar races of the season at Belle Isle. Conway will join Dale Coyne Racing, replacing Ana Beatriz who finished 15th at Indianapolis. Conway raced Long Beach for Rahal-Letteman-Lanigan Racing where Conway started 5th and finished 25th. Last year, Conway finished 9th at Belle Isle driving for AJ Foyt. Conway teams with Justin Wilson for the second time in their careers. Wilson and Conway teamed for six races in 2010 at Dreyer and Reinbold Racing before Conway suffered a season-ending back injury at Indianapolis. Conway has only been announced for this weekend, although it would not be unlikely Conway could run the remaining road and street course races. Conway does have a conflict with possibly doing the Baltimore Grand Prix. Conway drives an LMP2 car for G-Drive Racing in the FIA World Endurance Championship which is scheduled to race in São Paulo the same day as Baltimore. Ana Beatriz is still trying to put together a sponsorship package to get back in the car.
The other possible driver change is Oriol Serviá stepping into the #4 National Guard Chevrolet currently driven by JR Hildebrand. This was mentioned last night on Trackside with Curt Cavin and Kevin Lee. Curt Cavin cited Hildebrand's accidents at St. Petersburg and Indianapolis as reasons for why Serivá may replace the 2009 Indy Lights champion. Serviá lost his ride at Dreyer and Reinbold Racing after the team closed up shop after Indianapolis. Serviá is currently 9th in points and Hildebrand is 19th in points. This possible change has yet to be confirmed.
Update: Ryan Briscoe has been announced as the driver of the #4 National Guard Chevrolet at Detroit after JR Hildebrand's contract was terminated with the team. Nothing has been announced beyond this weekend. In 37 races with Panther Racing Hildebrand had one podium, five top-fives, twelve top tens and an average finish of 14.4. Prior to Hildebrand, Dan Wheldon drove 34 races for Panther Racing where he collected four podiums, seven top-fives, nineteen top tens and had an average finish of 10.9.
Grid Penalties
Four Honda teams will be taking ten spot grid penalties for race one at Belle Isle due to engine changes made at Indianapolis. Dario Franchitti's and Charlie Kimball's team changed engines prior to Pole Day while Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden made engine changes on Bump Day.
Sweep Bonus
Should a driver sweep the weekend at Belle Isle, there team will win an additional $50,000 bonus from SONAX. Should no one be able to win the SONAX Perfect Finish Award this weekend, the $50,000 will roll over to Toronto where the prize for sweeping will be $100,000 and should no one sweep Toronto, the $100,000 will roll over to Houston where a driver has a shot to win $150,000. SONAX is the leading manufacture premium car care products worldwide.
Track Facts
The pole sitter has won at Belle Isle on three occasions, tied with fourth as the starting position to produce the most winners. Second and third has each had produced two winners. The farthest a winner has started from is tenth when Danny Sullivan won. It was Sullivan's final win of his American open-wheel racing career. The last American to win at Belle Isle was Michael Andretti in 1996 and the last Canadian to win at Belle Isle was Greg Moore in 1997. Helio Castroneves has the most wins at Belle Isle among active drivers with two.
Coverage
ABC will be covering both races at Belle Isle. Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET both Saturday and Sunday with the green flag scheduled for 3:50 p.m. both days.
Prediction
Last year Honda dominated Belle Isle, sweeping the podium while Scott Dixon led every lap from pole position. Takuma Sato and Justin Wilson give Honda the best shot at success. The Ganassi cars will be near the front but will not dominate either of these two races. Despite a terrible season opener, Simon Pagenaud has finished in the top ten in each of four races since St. Pete, only Marco Andretti shares that distinction. The Chevrolets will still be strong. The Andretti Autosport cars have been spot on at each event this season and has a combined three wins, one pole, seven podiums, eight top fives and twelve top tens. I think all three Penskes will be quick with Will Power being a threat to sweep the weekend. I am going to pick Simon Pagenaud and Ryan Hunter-Reay this weekend. Sleeper: Mike Conway.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
