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Detroit IndyCar: Will Power claims first victory for over a year

Will Power ended his 12-month IndyCar win drought with a decisive green flag manoeuvre on Penske team-mate Simon Pagenaud to win the second street race in Detroit

Pagenaud maintained a comfortable start from pole position in his Dallara-Chevrolet and looked set to dominate the pace from the front, maintaining first place during the opening pitstops.

But after changing onto the harder black Firestone tyres the championship leader couldn't maintain a race winning pace, first being hounded by Tony Kanaan, who brought the gap down to less than a second before Juan Pablo Montoya triggered a yellow flag with a kick of oversteer that bumped him into the Turn 8 wall.

On the restart Power had the warmer tyres and could make a decisive pass on Pagenaud on the outside of Turn 3.

It proved to be a race-deciding move, though with other cars having stayed out it initially left Power in fifth behind Detroit race one winner Sebastien Bourdais, Charlie Kimball, Graham Rahal and Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi, who all needed to pit for a splash of fuel in the dying laps.

Once the top four cycled out for their stops, Power was able to hold off Pagenaud and top Dallara-Honda driver Ryan Hunter-Reay to claim the chequered flag and a first win since last year's Indianapolis road course race.

Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon ran largely quiet races to bring home solid points in fourth and fifth.

Helio Castroneves had threatened to take his first win in two years when he passed Pagenaud on lap 41 of 70, but despite building a lead, an awkwardly timed yellow flag for the static Jack Hawksworth meant the 41-year-old was forced to pit under the yellow flags and exited into the pack.

Castroneves eventually finished 14th.

An opening-lap incident at the first corner took out James Hinchcliffe and former Marussia Formula 1 driver Max Chilton, when Kimball squeezing Carlos Munoz shunted Hinchcliffe into the wall, prompting a train reaction that also claimed Chilton's race.

Marco Andretti and Takuma Sato also suffered in the incident, but did well to recover to ninth and 10th respectively.

RESULTS - 70 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Car Gap
1 Will Power Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 1h42m22.2672s
2 Simon Pagenaud Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 0.9203s
3 Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 1.4711s
4 Josef Newgarden Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 2.4602s
5 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 3.1575s
6 Conor Daly Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 7.1263s
7 Tony Kanaan Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 11.3012s
8 Sebastien Bourdais KVSH Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 12.9361s
9 Marco Andretti Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 26.4201s
10 Takuma Sato AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda 27.7105s
11 Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Dallara/Honda 28.0410s
12 Alexander Rossi Andretti Herta Dallara/Honda 28.5507s
13 Gabby Chaves Dale Coyne Racing Dallara/Honda 29.2530s
14 Helio Castroneves Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet 29.6631s
15 Carlos Munoz Andretti Autosport Dallara/Honda 30.4879s
16 Charlie Kimball Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 30.6922s
17 Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda 1m10.5229s
18 Spencer Pigot Ed Carpenter Racing Dallara/Chevrolet 3 Laps
19 Jack Hawksworth AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara/Honda Mechanical
20 Juan Pablo Montoya Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet Contact
21 James Hinchcliffe Schmidt Peterson Motorsports Dallara/Honda Contact
22 Max Chilton Chip Ganassi Racing Dallara/Chevrolet Contact

LEADING CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Pos Driver Points
1 Simon Pagenaud 357
2 Scott Dixon 277
3 Helio Castroneves 271
4 Josef Newgarden 259
5 Alexander Rossi 242
6 Carlos Munoz 242
7 Will Power 240
8 Tony Kanaan 240
9 Juan Pablo Montoya 233
10 Charlie Kimball 227
11 James Hinchcliffe 226
12 Graham Rahal 225
13 Ryan Hunter-Reay 224
14 Sebastien Bourdais 210
15 Conor Daly 177
16 Takuma Sato 173
17 Marco Andretti 166
18 Mikhail Aleshin 155
19 Max Chilton 139
20 Jack Hawksworth 110

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