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| Hunter-Reay tries to end drought in Detroit |
James Hinchcliffe was third fastest on Friday in his first on-track action after failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500. Hinchcliffe was 0.1241 seconds slower than Hunter-Reay. The Canadian could become the first driver to win the race following the Indianapolis 500 after failing to qualify for the Indianapolis 500 since Mike Nazaruk at Milwaukee in 1952. Josef Newgarden was the top Chevrolet on Friday as the defending champion was fourth fastest. Newgarden has three consecutive top five finishes at Belle Isle after having not picked up a top five finish in his first eight Belle Isle starts and his best finish being seventh. Marco Andretti rounded out the top five. Andretti has never started in the top five at Belle Isle with his best starting position being sixth in the 2007 race. Since Belle Isle returned to the schedule in 2012 Andretti has been running at the finish of every Belle Isle race. Graham Rahal was sixth quickest and Rahal looks for his third consecutive victory at Belle Isle. Rahal could tie Hélio Castroneves for most Belle Isle victories and he could be the first driver to win three consecutive victories at one track since Will Power at São Paulo from 2009-2011.
Simon Pagenaud was seventh fastest on Friday. Pagenaud has a great track record at Belle Isle with the Frenchman having finished on the lead lap in ten of 11 starts with the one exception being in the first race in 2014 when an accident ended his day after four laps. Despite his track record, Pagenaud has only scored consecutive top ten finishes once in his career at Belle Isle. Alexander Rossi followed Pagenaud on the timesheet. Rossi has finished on the lead lap in all four Belle Isle starts but he has only started in the top ten once and he has only led one lap. Robert Wickens was ninth on Friday ahead of fellow rookie Zach Veach, who made it perfect attendance for Andretti Autosport in the top ten. Wickens has been the top finishing rookie in four of six races this season with Veach being the top finisher in the other two, both being street course races and both being races where Wickens did not take the checkered flag.
Sébastien Bourdais was 11th fastest on the day but he did top the first Friday session. Despite having won twice at Belle Isle, Bourdais' best starting position at the track is seventh. He has three consecutive top five finishes at this track. Championship leader Will Power heads to Detroit looking for his third consecutive victory and the Australian was 12th quickest. Power is attempting to win three consecutive races for the third time in his career but it would be the first time he would win three consecutive races on each course type on the IndyCar schedule with his prior two victories having come on a road course and an oval. Takuma Sato found himself 13th fastest on Friday ahead of Carlin's Max Chilton. Since 2015, Sato has four top ten finishes at Belle Isle with his worst finish being 11th. In his five Belle Isle starts prior to 2015 Sato's best finish was 18th. In four Belle Isle starts Chilton has one lead lap finish and his best finish was 11th.
Tony Kanaan is on the verge of becoming the third driver in IndyCar history to make 350 starts but the Brazilian was 15th fastest on Friday. He has eight top ten finishes in 15 Belle Isle starts but he has not had a top five finish since the first race of the 2014 doubleheader and his best starting position at this track was fourth back in 2007, which coincidently is Kanaan's only street course victory. Mario Andretti and A.J. Foyt are the only other drivers to have made 350 IndyCar starts. Foyt did it in 1990 on the Renaissance Center street circuit in Detroit and he finished 17th after retiring for broken suspension. The following year, Andretti made his 350th start at Portland and finished fifth from seventh on the grid.
Spencer Pigot was 16th quickest and through six races this season Pigot's finishes have been 15th, 14th, 15th, 15th, 15th and 20th. Saturday's race occurs 364 days after Pigot's most recent top ten finish, a tenth place finish in the first race of last year's Belle Isle doubleheader. Ed Jones was 17th fastest. His only two top ten finishes this season have been on the street course races with Jones picking up an eighth at St. Petersburg and third at Long Beach. Debutant Santino Ferrucci was 19th fastest on Friday but he was sixth at the end of the first session of the day. Ferrucci's debut comes two days after his 20th birthday. Last year, Dale Coyne Racing gave Esteban Gutiérrez his IndyCar debut at Belle Isle and he finished 19th and 14th. Gabby Chaves is making his first appearance at Belle Isle since 2016. Chaves' first career top ten finish and so far only top ten finish on a street course came at Belle Isle when he finished ninth in the second race in 2015. Charlie Kimball rounded out the top twenty. After picking up four top ten finishes in his first five Belle Isle starts with an average finish of 8.2, Kimball has only two top ten finishes in his last six Belle Isle starts with an average finish of 14.333.
Matheus Leist was 21st fastest on Friday in what is his first Belle Isle appearance. After a rough start to his IndyCar career with two consecutive retirements to start the season Leist has finished on the lead lap in four consecutive races. Jordan King was 22nd fastest after his second practice session was cut short after a hard accident. King has had an accident in all five race weekends he has been a part of but he has started in the top five twice this season. René Binder was the slowest on Friday and he was not within the 105% of Hunter-Reay's fastest time of the day. The 105% limit of Hunter-Reay's lap is 80.17779 seconds and Binder's best time was 0.27991 seconds slower than that time.
Through the first six races of the season, there have been six different pole winners representing five different teams. An update will be provided after the qualifying session scheduled for 10:55 a.m. ET.
ABC's coverage of the first race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit will take place at 3:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:40 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 70 laps.
Qualifying Update
Marco Andretti picked up his first pole position since 2013 and his first career street course pole position with a lap of 74.8514 seconds. Andretti was the fastest car in his qualifying group by 0.4753 seconds. Andretti has one podium finish at Belle Isle, a second in the first race of the 2015 doubleheader. He has not led at this track since he led 23 laps that day before finishing second to teammate Carlos Muñoz. Scott Dixon joins Andretti on the front row after Dixon was the fastest car in group one of qualifying. It is Dixon's first front row start at Belle Isle since he won pole position in 2012.
Robert Wickens will start third after finishing second in group two's qualifying session. Wickens has started in the top three in four of seven races this season. Alexander Rossi sits next to Wickens on row two. This matches Rossi's best starting position at Belle Isle. He started fourth in the first race last year and finished fifth that day. Will Power was the top Chevrolet in qualifying in sixth. This is the fifth consecutive Belle Isle race where Power has started outside the top five.
Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal make it an all-Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing row four. This is the first time Sato has started in the top ten since he started fifth at St. Petersburg and this is Rahal's first top ten start since he started fifth at Long Beach. Rahal is the only driver to finish in the top ten in all six races this season. James Hinchcliffe's IndyCar return has him ninth on the grid, his seventh top ten start in ten Belle Isle races but he has only three top ten finishes at the track. Max Chilton rounds out the top ten in what is Carlin's first top ten start in an IndyCar race. This is Chilton's first top ten start since last year at Pocono. Ed Jones and Spencer Pigot start on row six with Simon Pagenaud and Josef Newgarden making it an all-Penske row seven.
Tony Kanaan's 350th start will come from 15th on the grid with rookie Zach Veach next to him in 16th. Sébastien Bourdais and Santino Ferrucci will start on an all-Dale Coyne Racing row nine. This is Bourdais' worst starting position of the season. Gabby Chaves and Jordan King will start on row ten with Matheus Leist and Charlie Kimball on row eleven. René Binder was the slowest qualifier and will start 23rd, however, Binder was not within 105% of Andretti's pole position lap and he could be disallowed from participating in today's race, as he is not within compliance with rule 7.9.1.
ABC's coverage of the first race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit will take place at 3:30 p.m. ET with green flag scheduled for 3:40 p.m. ET. The race is scheduled for 70 laps.
