Scott Dixon’s calculated risk to emerge from the chaos paid off at the 2024 Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit with his record fourth Grand Prix of Detroit victory.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Dixon decided to stay on the course with his No. 9 Honda on lap 65 while most of the field decided to make a pit stop under a caution flag, allowing the New Zealand driver to take the lead, which he did. did not let up in the final 35 laps for his fourth victory at Motor City and his second victory of the 2024 IndyCar season.
It’s Dixon’s first time winning at the new downtown street course, returning for the second year after recording three wins at Belle Isle between 2012 and 2019. He faced a dizzying amount of crashes and yellow warning flags caused by the challenging Detroit city streets and held off a late surge from second place Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Honda and third place Marcus Armstrong in the No. 11 Honda.
“Any win is special, but it’s cool to get two wins in different places,” Dixon said.
Ericsson finished 0.86 seconds behind Dixon and Armstrong 4.91 seconds behind the winning time. Kyle Kirkwood in the No. 27 Honda finished fourth and Alexander Rossi, No. 7, was the only Chevrolet driver in the top five, finishing fifth, 8.95 seconds behind Dixon.
“It felt good to spoil the party, that’s for sure,” Ericsson said of Honda’s podium victory at GM headquarters. “I think Honda did a great job this weekend.”
The 100-lap race around the 1,645-mile track, looping around the Renaissance Center in downtown Detroit, started with a green flag at 12:42 p.m. and ran until 2:47 a.m.
Runners arrived into the week with greater familiarity with the new downtown track, but bumpy roads, tight turns, narrow walls and a brief spell of rain meant most of the race was took place under the yellow warning flag. There were eight caution periods and a total of 1 hour and 5 minutes of racing spent under yellow flag compared to one hour under green flag. Tire choice in the rain, accident avoidance and ultimately fuel consumption during the 100-lap car marathon proved to be the most important factors in moving up and down the rankings.
“You’re on confined streets, it’s really tough if you make a mistake,” Dixon said.
Dixon was able to take a 3 second lead after staying on the course instead of refueling. He was able to maintain this lead throughout the sequence thanks in part to a crucial pass from pole winner Colton Herta, passing him and creating distance between him and Ericsson at the end. The racing down the stretch was certainly interesting, but it was impossible to ignore the chaos created by the bad weather and the narrow Detroit course.
“I think part of today was a little bit of luck,” Dixon said. “Today it went a little bit our way, but it was still very close. There were a lot of people on our strategy and they couldn’t make it.”
EARLIER THIS WEEKEND:IndyCar driver and Detroit native returns home for Detroit Grand Prix
At the first corner of the race, a few seconds after the green flag was waved, Will Power, winner of the 2022 Detroit Grand Prix, driving the No. 26 Chevrolet of Team Penske, was struck while he made the first turn in front of Hart Plaza with Theo Pourchaire at the wheel. the No. 6 Chevrolet inside, causing him to turn around and leading to a seven-car pileup. The first yellow caution flag came out immediately to clear the Turn 3 traffic jam.
“People drive recklessly during restarts,” Ericsson said. “Obviously there are opportunities in restarts, but I don’t know if we need to look at how we handle those kinds of races.”
Herta in the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda started the race in pole position after finishing Saturday’s qualifying with the fastest time, followed by 2023 Grand Prix winner Alex Palou in second in the No. 10 Honda. Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden started in third with Team Penske teammate and Chevrolet driver Scott McLaughlin in second.
Alex Palou, last year’s winner who started the race on alternate tires, began to fall from second place on lap 10, with McLaughlin climbing to second and Kyle Kirkwood, driving the No. 27 Honda, moving on to third. Palou had to search for a new set of alternative tires, falling into the 20s by the 11th lap.
On lap 16, Santino Ferrucci drove his No. 14 Chevrolet into the back of Helio Castroneves, causing him and Kyffin Simpson to hit the barriers, bringing out a second caution flag. The caution lasted until lap 22, with Herta, McLaughlin and Kirkwood in the top 3, and Ferrucci was given a stop-and-go penalty. On lap 25, Christian Rasmussen had to retire from the race after an engine failure, causing the No. 20 Chevrolet to go up in smoke.
The third caution flag came out on lap 32 when McLaughlin lost his grip and slid into the Turn 5 barrier while in second place, then Newgarden passed Kirkwood for third. When the caution flag was raised, rain began to fall, causing the track to slide, adding a layer of strategy to tire choice a third of the way into the race.
“I’m sure it was dramatic and fun to watch, but at some point too we have to have a bit better level,” Ericsson said.
Several cars pitted on lap 35 to put on wet tires, while others remained on the track on slick tires, splitting the field. Christian Lundgaard, who started from 11th place in the #45 Honda, jumped to first place while remaining on the track on slick tires. The rain drama continued on lap 38 with other cars pitting for fresh tires, but Lundgaard played on and stayed with the slicks.
The rain stopped a few minutes later, making the gamble pay off for Lundgaard, who remained first when the green flag waved again on the 41st lap restart. The green flag lasted for 30 seconds, as Rinus Veekay and Power collided in the first corner, causing another caution.
“It was very slippery,” Armstrong said. “For whatever reason, the tires this season have been very, let’s say, robust, and you can’t really generate temperature. Even towards the end of the stint, it’s not quite there in the right window. So I think a lot of the errors are also caused by the tires not working at the start of a run, especially when they are cold.
Just before the crash, Kirkwood passed Lundgaard on the inside to take first place. Lap 42 saw a lot of riders pit, but even that caused more problems. Lundgaard fell slightly after hitting a tire, and Newgarden nearly ran over one of Lundgaard’s pit crew after accidentally running over an errant pipe, causing his car to jerk toward the pit wall, also delaying his exit.
The next restart on lap 46 saw Kirkwood first with Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda behind, but Herta caused another caution trying to regain his lead. He attempted an inside pass on a corner but didn’t have the space and went into the barrier, bringing out the yellow flag.
Kirkwood remained in the lead on the Lap 52 restart, followed by Dixon and Marcus Ericsson in the No. 28 Honda. Another caution came out on lap 53 when Lundgaard attempted to pass Romain Grosjean, hitting him inside his car. The caution lasted until lap 60, which saw another crash between Pourchaire and Agustin Canapino, but both continued to race. The calm did not last long after the rare consecutive laps under green flags. McLaughlin and Sting Ray Robb collided on lap 64, forcing Robb into the wall, bringing out the caution.
Most of the race stopped on lap 65, but Dixon stayed on the course to take the lead. The top five after the pit stop were Dixon, Marcus Armstrong, Tristan Vautier, Kirkwood and Newgarden. But Newgarden caused the eighth caution on Lap 70 when he entered Kirkwood in Turn 3, spinning him into the wall, where Palou crashed sideways. The race resumed on lap 74, bringing another period of peace before Newgarden collided with the wall on lap 82 and had to leave the race, but no caution flags came out.
“We took a pretty bold strategy to take I don’t even know how many laps, with almost 40 laps to go,” Dixon said of his final pit stop on Lap 56. “But I told this round, a big warning, I I think it was, that we could make it from this point.
Dixon continued to extend his lead in the final 20 laps as Armstrong, Kirkwood and Ericsson battled between second and fourth place. Ericsson passed Kirkwood for third on lap 90, then passed Armstrong on lap 98 for second.
The checkered flag
Here are the top five finishers from Sunday’s IndyCar Series race, the 2024 Detroit Grand Prix, with car make, total time and lap lead where applicable:
1. Scott Dixon (Honda), 2 hours, 6 minutes, 7.9684 seconds (35 laps led)
2. Marcus Ericsson (Honda), 2:06:08.8251
3. Marcus Armstrong (Honda), 2:06:12.8813
4. Kyle Kirkwood (Honda), 2:06:14.0933 (24 laps led)
5. Alexandre Rossi (Chevrolet), 2:06:16.9216
He loves Detroit
Scott Dixon won the Detroit Grand Prix for the fourth time. Here is a list of drivers with the most race wins, in IndyCar, CART and Formula 1, dating back to 1982 (remember, there were two races per year from 2012 to 2019):
Scott Dixon: 4 (2012, ’18, ’19, ’24)
Hélio Castroneves: 3 (2000, ’01, ’14)
Will: 3 (2014, ’16, ’22)
Ayrton Senna: 3 (1986, ’87, ’88)