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| A doubleheader follows 500 miles |
Coverage:
Time: Coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on Saturday June 2nd with green flag scheduled for 3:40 p.m. ET. On Sunday June 3rd, coverage begins at 3:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:40 p.m. ET.
TV Channel: ABC
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Scott Goodyear and Eddie Cheever will be in the booth. Rick DeBruhl and Jon Beekhuis will work pit lane.
IndyCar Weekend Schedule
Friday:
First Practice: 11:20 a.m. ET (45-minute session)
Second Practice: 3:10 p.m. ET (45-minute session)
Saturday:
Qualifying: 10:55 a.m. ET
Race: 3:40 p.m. ET (70 laps)
Sunday:
Qualifying: 10:45 a.m. ET
Race: 3:40 p.m. ET (70 laps)
Championship Shuffle
A lot of points were on the table for the Indianapolis 500 and that has flipped the championship on its head.
Will Power went from seventh in the championship to the championship leader on 248 points. It is the first time Power has led the IndyCar championship since he won the championship in 2014. Alexander Rossi entered Indianapolis 500 practice second in the championship two points out of the championship lead and he exits the month of May second in championship two points out of the championship lead. Josef Newgarden dropped two spots in the championship but the defending champion trails his Team Penske teammate by only ten points. Scott Dixon remained fourth in the championship and is actually six points closer to the championship lead than he was prior to the Indianapolis 500. Dixon is 25 points behind Power. Ryan Hunter-Reay jumped from ninth to fifth in the championship but he went from 53 points outside the championship lead prior to the Indianapolis 500 to 57 points back after the famed race.
Graham Rahal is still sixth in the championship but he trails Power by 60 points. Robert Wickens is up two spots in the championship and the rookie is five points behind Rahal. Sébastien Bourdais dropped five spots from third to eighth and the Frenchman has gone from 26 points out of the championship lead to 75 points outside the championship lead. Simon Pagenaud is the only driver to enter the top ten in the championship after Indianapolis, as he went from 12th to ninth but astonishingly Pagenaud is 88 points out of the championship lead, the same margin he had prior to the Indianapolis 500. Despite not qualifying for the Indianapolis 500, James Hinchcliffe is still in the top ten but he dropped from fifth to tenth and he went 34 points back to 99 points behind Power.
Marco Andretti fell outside the top ten but he is still 11th and he is three points behind Hinchcliffe. Ed Carpenter's pole position and runner-up finish in the Indianapolis 500 has the American 12th in the championship on 118 points despite having only contested two of six races this season. Tony Kanaan is 13th on 106 points, five points ahead of Spencer Pigot with Takuma Sato and Gabby Chaves tied for 15th in the championship on 100 points.
Zach Veach sits on 98 points, one point ahead of Ed Jones and three points ahead of Matheus Leist. Charlie Kimball rounds out the top twenty on 84 points, ten points ahead of his Carlin teammate Max Chilton.
Honda's Hopes
Chevrolet has won three consecutive races and four of six races this season but Honda remains in the manufactures' championship lead with 480 points to Chevrolet's 449 points.
The two Honda victories have come on the only street course races this season and dating back to last season Honda has won six of the last seven street course races. Four different Honda teams have won the six street course races over the last two seasons with Dale Coyne Racing, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and Andretti Autosport responsible for those victories.
Sébastien Bourdais and Graham Rahal are both responsible for two victories each but both won at the same track with Bourdais having won at St. Petersburg the last two years and Rahal sweeping the weekend last year at Belle Isle. James Hinchcliffe and Alexander Rossi each won at Long Beach the last two seasons.
While being Chevrolet's backyard, Honda has made Belle Isle its playground winning six of 11 races since 2012. All five current Honda teams have won at Belle Isle. Last year not only did Rahal sweep the weekend but Honda swept the podium in race one, took both pole positions and had four of the top five starters in each race.
Scott Dixon has the best average finish at Belle Isle among active drivers at 7.2, which coincidentally is also his average starting position at Belle Isle. He has ten top ten finishes in 13 starts but only two podium finishes and since he led all 60 laps in the abbreviated 2012 Belle Isle race, Dixon has only led five laps in ten races at this track. Dixon is still looking for his first laps led of this season.
Alexander Rossi has the second best average finish among active drivers at 8.5 with the American having three top ten finishes in four starts at the track. The results for his teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay have been a seesaw with the 2012 champion sporting an average starting position of 9.9, two podium finishes and six top ten finishes but Hunter-Reay has finished outside the top fifteen five times at this track. Marco Andretti has an average finish of 11.9 at Belle Isle.
James Hinchcliffe may have finished third last year in race one at Belle Isle but there might not be a worse place for the Canadian to go after his nightmare at Indianapolis 500. His average finish is 14.2 in nine starts and while he has three top ten finishes, Hinchcliffe has finished outside the top fifteen on five occasions. Ed Jones is another driver looking for a rebound. He has finished 20th or worse in four of six races this season. Takuma Sato finished 32nd in the Indianapolis 500 and he has three consecutive top ten finishes at Belle Isle and he won pole position for the second race last year.
While Chevrolet has won four of six races this season, the team did not have multiple cars in the top five of a race this season until Will Power and Ed Carpenter provided a 1-2 for the manufacture in the Indianapolis 500. Honda has scored 24 of 30 possible top five finishes this season.
Overall, Honda has won 12 of 23 Belle Isle races and Chevrolet has won seven Belle Isle races.
A New Nutmegger
The IndyCar grid will see a new face this weekend and for the second consecutive year Dale Coyne Racing gives a driver a debut in Detroit.
Twenty-year-old Santino Ferrucci will make his IndyCar debut driving the #19 Honda as Dale Coyne Racing shuffles its driver line-up in response to the injury sidelining Pietro Fittipaldi. Ferrucci hails from Woodbury, Connecticut and has spent the better part of the last four years in Europe.
In 2014, Ferrucci ran seven of 11 rounds of the FIA Formula Three European Championship. His best outing was at the Norisring where he finished fifth and fourth in two races finishing behind the likes of Esteban Ocon, Max Verstappen, Jordan King and Jake Dennis. He would finish eighth in the Macau Grand Prix that year.
He started 2015 in the Toyota Racing Series and Ferrucci only won one race in 15 starts but he had six podium finishes and finished third in the championship behind Lance Stroll and Brandon Maïsano. He would run the entire FIA Formula Three European Championship and he finished 11th in the championship with his lone podium finish being second at Spa-Francorchamps behind Dennis and he would return to Macau and pick up a sixth place finish.
The 2016 season saw Ferrucci move to the GP3 Series with DAMS and he signed a development deal with Haas F1. He scored 36 points that season, good enough for 12th in the championship and his best finish was a third at Spa-Francorchamps behind Jake Aitken and Antonio Fuoco. He returned to GP3 and DAMS for the 2017 season and he finished ninth and eighth in the first two races of the season at Barcelona but would not score another point in the next four races and despite the lack of scoring Ferrucci would move to Formula Two with Trident Racing. He scored on debut at the Hungaroring and he would pick up another points-paying finish at Spa-Francorchamps but he would go scoreless in the final seven races of the season. Despite only scoring four points, Ferrucci outscored his teammate Nabil Jeffri by two points.
Ferrucci returned with Trident Racing in Formula Two this season and through eight races his only finish in the points was sixth in the Baku sprint race, good enough for four points. His teammate and fellow Haas development driver Arjun Maini has scored 22 points this season and had a pair of fifth place finishes at Monaco.
Unfamiliar Territory
While Ferrucci is making his IndyCar debut, he is also one of six drivers making their Belle Isle debut this weekend.
Robert Wickens is seventh in the championship after four top ten finishes from the first six races of his career. He is coming off a ninth place finish in the Indianapolis 500 and it earned him the honor of Indianapolis 500 Rookie of Year. Wickens had started in the top ten of every race of his career before he started 18th in the Indianapolis 500.
Zach Veach has finished 23rd in the last two races but he finished fourth in the last street course race held, which was at Long Beach in April. Veach has been running at the finish of every race this season.
Matheus Leist is still looking for his first career top ten finish but he has finished on the lead lap in the last four races. In six street course starts between IndyCar and Indy Lights, Leist has finished outside the top ten five times.
Jordan King returns for his fifth and sixth starts this season. King has finished a lap down in three of four of his starts with the exception being his best finish this season, a 14th at Barber. René Binder returns for the first time since Barber. Binder has started second-to-last in each of his two starts this season and he has finished at least two laps down in each of his starts.
IMSA
Belle Isle marks the final of two weekends where IndyCar and IMSA share the bill and for the sixth consecutive year the two series provide a satisfying doubleheader on Saturday afternoon. This year sees only the Prototype and GT Daytona classes compete at Belle Isle.
The Portuguese duo of Felipe Albuquerque and João Barbosa lead the Prototype championship with 119 points. The drivers of the #5 Action Express Racing Cadillac has won two of four races this season at Daytona and Long Beach. Ten points behind the #5 Cadillac is the sister car, the #31 Cadillac of Eric Curran and Felipe Nasr. Curran and Nasr finished second and third in the first two races of the season at Daytona and Sebring but finished outside the top five in the last two races.
The #10 Wayne Taylor Racing Cadillac of Jordan Taylor and Renger van der Zande are third in the championship on 104 points. Wayne Taylor Racing has won the last two years at Belle Isle and has won four of six Belle Isle races. Hélio Castroneves and Ricky Taylor are fourth in the championship on 98 points after the #7 Acura won at Mid-Ohio the first weekend in May. The #54 CORE Autosport Oreca of Jon Bennett and Colin Braun are a point behind Castroneves and Taylor but a point ahead of the #7 Acura of Dane Cameron and Juan Pablo Montoya. The #77 Mazda of Oliver Jarvis and Tristan Nunez are tied on 95 points with the #99 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca of Misha Goikhberg and Stephen Simpson.
Sebring winners Pipo Derani and Johannes van Overbeek are ninth in the championship on 89 points in the #22 Extreme Speed Motorsports Nissan with the #85 JDC-Miller Motorsports Oreca of Robert Alon and Simon Trummer and the #52 AFS/PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports Ligier of Sebastián Saavedra and Gustavo Yacamán tied on 84 points. Ryan Dalziel and Scott Sharp sit on 80 points in the #2 Nissan.
Harry Tincknell is back in the #55 Mazda with Jonathan Bomarito after missing Mid-Ohio because of FIA World Endurance Championship duty. The #90 Spirit of Daytona Cadillac is back after missing the last two races because of crash damage from the 12 Hours of Sebring. Tristan Vautier and Matthew McMurry will share that car.
In GT Daytona, the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow lead the championship on 95 points after a third, a first and a third at Daytona, Sebring and Mid-Ohio respectively. Katherine Legge was a late addition to the grid in the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura. She is second in the championship on 87 points and she will share the Acura with Mario Farnbacher after Álvaro Parente was her co-driver for the first three races. The #33 Mercedes-AMG Team Riley Mercedes of Jeroen Bleekemolen and Ben Keating are third in the championship on 80 points.
The #63 Scuderia Corsa Ferrari of Alessandro Balzan and Cooper MacNeil are tied with the #15 3GT Racing Lexus of Jack Hawksworth and David Heinemeier Hansson on 76 points. Jeff Segal will replace Balzan in the #63 Ferrari this weekend. The #93 Meyer Shank Racing Acura of Justin Marks and Lawson Aschenbach are on 70 points, two points ahead of the Mid-Ohio winner #14 3GT Racing Lexus of Dominik Baumann and Kyle Marcelli. Andy Lally and John Potter of the #44 Magnus Racing Audi are on 64 points.
Kenny Habul sits on 63 points and Bernd Schneider joins him in the #75 SunEnergy1 Racing Mercedes. Christina Nielsen and Patrick Long are tenth in the championship on 61 points in the #58 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Michael Schein and Wolf Henzler are back in the #16 Wright Motorsports Porsche. Bill Auberlen will be in the #96 Turner Motorsport BMW with Robby Foley.
The 100-minute race will start at 12:40 p.m. ET on Saturday June 2nd.
Fast Facts
Saturday's race will be the ninth IndyCar race to take place on June 2nd and first since Simon Pagenaud picked up his first career IndyCar victory at Belle Isle in 2013.
Pagenaud is one of three drivers to pick up their first career victory at Belle Isle with the other two being Hélio Castroneves and Carlos Muñoz.
Mario Andretti won at Milwaukee on June 2, 1985 and Michael Andretti won on June 2nd in 1991 and 1996 with both races at Milwaukee.
Sunday's race will be the seventh IndyCar race to take place on June 3rd. Last year, Graham Rahal won the first race of the Belle Isle doubleheader on June 3rd.
Last year, Rahal became the first American to win at Belle Isle since Michael Andretti in 1996. He also became the first American to win a pole position at Belle Isle since Scott Pruett in 1996.
By sweeping last year's races Rahal became the third driver to win consecutive races at Belle Isle joining Hélio Castroneves in 2000 and 2001 and Sébastien Bourdais, who won the second race in 2015 and first race in 2016.
This is the first Belle Isle race not to feature Hélio Castroneves since 1997.
Will Power will be attempting to become the first Indianapolis 500 winner to win the succeeding race since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000.
Last year, Takuma Sato became the first Indianapolis 500 winner to finish in the top ten of both Belle Isle races.
Since Belle Isle became a doubleheader in 2013, each year has had at least three drivers score a top ten in each race with the most drivers to score top ten finishes in both races being six in 2013, 2014 and 2017.
Last year, Rahal became the third driver to finish on the podium in both Belle Isle races joining Mike Conway in 2013 and Will Power in 2014.
Since 2012, eight of 11 Belle Isle races have had one podium finisher start outside the top ten and three of those eight races have had the winner start outside the top ten.
The average starting position for a Belle Isle winner is 5.73 with a median of four.
The average number of lead changes in a Belle Isle race is 4.26 with a median of four.
The average number of cautions in a Belle Isle race is 4.34 with a median of four. The average number of cautions laps is 15 with a median of seven.
Last year's second Belle Isle race had one caution for two laps, the fewest cautions and fewest caution laps in event history.
Four consecutive Belle Isle races have had single-figure caution laps after only one of the prior 19 Belle Isle races had single-figure caution laps.
Possible Milestones:
If he takes the green flag for Saturday's race, this will be the 350th start of Tony Kanaan's career.
Ryan Hunter-Reay needs to lead 170 laps to reach the 1,500 laps led milestone.
Simon Pagenaud needs to lead 91 laps to reach the 1,000 laps led milestone.
Takuma Sato needs to lead 33 laps to reach the 500 laps led milestone.
Graham Rahal needs to lead 28 laps to reach the 400 laps led milestone.
Predictions
Alexander Rossi and Scott Dixon split the weekend but sweep the weekend for Honda. A Team Penske car finishes second in both races but two different drivers finish second. At least three drivers get their first top ten finishes of the season this weekend. Neither race has more than two caution periods. There will not be a first lap incident in either race. Santino Ferrucci qualifies outside the top fifteen in both races but he finishes at least two positions better than his starting position in both races. Sleeper: Zach Veach.
