Detroit IndyCar: Mike Conway dominates race one for Dale Coyne
Mike Conway dominated the opening race of this weekend's IndyCar double-header in Detroit, the Briton taking an extraordinary win on his one-off appearance with Dale Coyne Racing
Conway, who was only confirmed as the driver of the second Coyne car a few days ago, crossed the line more than 12 seconds ahead of second-placed Ryan Hunter-Reay.
The pair had been fighting each other right from the start of the race, but the key moment came when Andretti driver Hunter-Reay switched to the red tyres for the middle stint and immediately began to struggle.
His drop in pace allowed Conway to open a huge lead, and when the Brit made his own stop to put the reds on with 18 laps to go, most of his work was already done.
All the racing action as it happens on AUTOSPORT Race Centre Live
Hunter-Reay was not able to get enough out of his final set of harder tyres to close the gap back down, and Conway was able to enjoy a pressure-free run to the flag.
Justin Wilson completed a great afternoon for the Coyne team by finishing third, although he had to hold off a charging Scott Dixon to earn his place on the podium.
A late crash by Ryan Briscoe, who is making his first appearance with Panther Racing this weekend, raised the prospect of a second finish under yellows in as many weekends, but on this occasion the situation was controlled with local yellows in the vicinity of the Australian's stricken car, and the race was completed under green conditions.
Other significant incidents included the first-lap accident that accounted for AJ Allmendinger, who tried to go three-wide with Dixon and Wilson, and instead found himself flying over the back of Dixon's car and into the wall.
Dixon was forced to pit under caution for repairs to his rear wing, but managed to remain on the lead lap.
Marco Andretti, who came into the weekend as the points leader, finished well down the order after losing several laps in the pits undergoing repairs to damage sustained in a clash with Charlie Kimball.
Andretti had earlier been involved in another accident that ended with Sebastian Saavedra's car hitting the wall.
Results - 70 laps: Pos Driver Team/Engine Time/Gap 1. Mike Conway Coyne/Honda 1h48m45.4309s 2. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Chevy + 12.9707s 3. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda + 25.2606s 4. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Honda + 25.3590s 5. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy + 26.0549s 6. Dario Franchitti Ganassi/Honda + 26.4918s 7. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda + 35.2019s 8. Will Power Penske/Chevy + 40.8273s 9. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda + 44.1836s 10. James Jakes Rahal/Honda + 47.3852s 11. Tristan Vautier Schmidt/Honda + 59.8249s 12. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda + 1m02.8527s 13. Tony Kanaan KV/Chevy + 1m03.6549s 14. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Honda + 1m03.9390s 15. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Chevy + 1m06.1779s 16. Simona de Silvestro KV/Chevy + 1m07.2644s 17. EJ Viso Andretti/Chevy + 1m10.1976s 18. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy + 1 lap 19. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda + 2 laps 20. Marco Andretti Andretti/Chevy + 3 laps Retirements: Ryan Briscoe Panther/Chevy 66 laps Sebastian Saavedra Dragon/Chevy 32 laps Alex Tagliani Herta/Honda 28 laps Sebastien Bourdais Dragon/Chevy 19 laps AJ Allmendinger Penske/Chevy 0 laps All drivers use Dallara DW12 chassis
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments