Scott Dixon claimed his first victory of the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series after an incident-filled second race of the 'Dual in Detroit' double-header event.
The race was filled with numerous cautions due to countless collisions, mistakes and close racing across the 70 lap race around the famous Belle Isle circuit.
Dixon was able to keep pace with the leaders in the opening stint of the race, this was until the red, softer Firestone tyres fell off a cliff and forced him to pit earlier than planned.
His race was salvaged when the caution period was called which swiftly followed thanks to Sebastien Bourdais getting airborne after colliding with the back of Ed Carpenter Racing's Spencer Pigot car, who was sent crashing into the pit wall entry. This allowed Dixon to limit his losses which proved vital to securing victory.
The reigning series champion led Arrow Schmidt Peterson Motorsport's Marcus Ericsson across the line in second place to take his first motorsport podium since the 2013 Abu Dhabi feature race in GP2. The Swede kept his nose clean and was able to withstand the pressure of Team Penske's Will Power in the latter stages of the race.
Power finished third, but it looked to be a tough afternoon for the Australian after coming to a stop under a caution period halfway through the race. Luckily, the AMR safety team was able to get his #12 Verizon-Chevrolet restarted and back into the race on the lead lap, allowing Power to reorganise his strategy.
Andretti Autosport's Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi crossed the line fourth and fifth respectively. Hunter-Reay was unable to maximise the best of his strategy to make any headway in the race.
Rossi lost his chance of fighting for the race win on lap 33 when he collided with championship leader Josef Newgarden and Arrow SPM's James Hinchcliffe, luckily the Californian escaped with no damage and swiftly returned to the field.
Graham Rahal maximised the most of his initial starting race strategy of starting on the harder, black Firestone tyres from the back of the field and finished seventh.
Zach Veach finished in eighth, making a comeback through the field after a slow pitstop dropped the 24-year old from third to deep into the midfield.
Bourdais was lucky to finish ninth after his airborne incident with Pigot earlier in the race which left the Frenchman with no front wing and at the back of the field after pitting for repairs.
Dale Coyne Racing team-mate Santino Ferrucci made up several positions as Rahal did after going on the same strategy. He led the second most laps of the race behind Dixon. The rookie's strategy allowed him to go deep into the race and not pit until 33 under caution from the race lead.
Felix Rosenqvist forced the race to be red-flagged with 5 laps to go after crashing out of the race in Turn 1, the Swede had broken suspension after touching the wall on the exit of Turn 11 and tried to carry it on. As he tried to make Turn 1, the #10 NTT Data-Honda turned around and crashed into the outside wall, destroying the rear end of the car.
IndyCar officials stopped the race to clear the wreckage to ensure the race would finish under green flag conditions.
IndyCar returns to action at Texas Motor Speedway on June 6-8.
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