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| Simon Pagenaud, of France, raises his fist on his victory lap at the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix auto race on Belle Isle in Detroit, Sunday, June 2, 2013. The victory was Pagenaud's first. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio) |
bu George Pohly
DETROIT – The weekend wasn’t as bad for Chevrolet as it was for AJ Allmendinger.
But it was close.
Allmendinger failed to complete a lap in either of the 70-lap IndyCar Series races on Belle Isle, including the one Sunday won by Frenchman Simon Pagenaud for Schmidt Hamilton Motorsports.
That wasn’t what the former NASCAR driver who’s reviving his career
with Team Penske had in mind when he arrived in the Motor City after a
strong showing in the Indianapolis 500.
“Just a huge mistake by me,” a glum Allmendinger said after his
second first-lap crash of the weekend. “I don’t know what to say.”
Perhaps the same goes for Chevrolet.
What can anyone say?
At an event that carried the automobile maker’s brand in its name, the Bowtie bunch got shut out during the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit as first Mike Conway on Saturday and then Pagenaud drove Honda-powered cars to first-place finishes in the first “doubleheader” of racing by the IndyCar Series.
Honda drivers took the top five places, and six of the top seven, on Sunday.
On Saturday, Honda took three of the top four places.
“They’ve worked really hard since Indy,” James Jakes, the runner-up Sunday, said in reference to Honda.
Tony Kanaan, driving for KV Racing Technology and powered by the
Chevrolet IndyCar engine, scored an emotional victory in the
Indianapolis 500, Kanaan’s first in the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
But Chevy’s bounce from Indy was short-lived.
Dario Franchitti, whose Target Chip Ganassi Racing team is in the Honda camp, won the pole position for Saturday’s race.
Then Conway, a late fill-in for Dale Coyne Racing, won the pole for
Sunday before he prevailed in the Saturday race that featured only 14
caution laps.
It was a different story Sunday.
Well, sort of a different story.
There were six cautions before the race was 30 laps old.
The most dramatic caution came from a lap-28 accident that involved
10 cars and compelled Will Power, whose Team Penske Chevrolet was
damaged in the melee, to pitch his racing gloves at Sebastien Bourdais,
the driver Power blamed for the pileup.
“He once was a champ, and now he’s a chump,” Power said before the No. 12 crew got his car back on the track.
Once racing resumed, the balance of the weekend’s second race was competitive and entertaining.
It just did not end well for Chevrolet.
“It’s very sweet for Honda to win in General Motors’ city,” Pagenaud said. “I’m very proud of Honda.
“But I’m not going to bash General Motors. I thank them for putting on this event.”
Team Penske, run by Detroit champion and IndyCar icon Roger Penske,
had a tough Sunday.Allmendinger finished last, Power 20th and Helio
Castroneves eighth.
Perhaps the best that can be said for Chevrolet is that, as the
IndyCar teams packed up and left Detroit, Chevy drivers Marco Andretti
and Castroneves were tied for the season points lead with 206 markers
apiece.
“We leave here tied for the top of the points standings, which is
where we want to be, so overall it was a good weekend,” Castroneves
said.
A victory or two would have been better, of course.
But that’s racing.
Chevrolet had its day at Indianapolis, and Honda returned the favor in Detroit.
The IndyCar Series moves next to Texas.
It’s Chevy’s turn to answer back.
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