Graham Rahal uncompromising in Detroit

Starting from pole position, Graham Rahal had a clear race yesterday in Detroit, on the occasion of the first of the two races of the only double-header (two races in one weekend) of the 2017 season. of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, not in good spirits since the start of the year in question, led 55 of the 70 laps scheduled to score his fifth career victory, his first since that won last August at Texas Motor Speedway .

Honda offers itself a hat-trick, since the podium is completed by Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) and James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports), although they spun on the first lap. By finishing fourth, Josef Newgarden (Team Penske / Chevrolet) prevented the Japanese manufacturer from signing a quintuple, Takuma Sato (Andretti Autosport), recent winner of the Indy 500, having taken the checkered flag in fifth position.

Seventh on the starting grid, simon pagenaud could not do better than 16th. After quickly grabbing sixth place, his strategy, which did not prove to be optimal, caused him to fall to 17th place. In full recovery, he fell again to 20th place, before managing to gain four positions. “ It was a frustrating ride, recognized the reigning champion, now fourth in the general classification. There were so many different strategies today. The race interruption came at a bad time for us. I can't stand the idea of ​​losing places in the championship, but there is another race tomorrow. The team is strong and we will bounce back. »

In the championship, Dixon (275 points) regains his leadership position to the detriment of Castroneves (273 points), eighth yesterday. Takuma Sato is third, 15 points behind the Brazilian.