By Jim Pedley | Managing Editor
RacinToday.com

Will Power’s agony produced pure joy for Marcus Ericsson as the former Formula One driver took the lead when Power’s car refused to restart after a red flag stoppage with five laps to go.

Power sat helpless on pit road as his Team Penske crew worked furiously to get the engine of his No. 12 Chevrolet to turnover in the tortuous head and humidity on Belle Isle in the Detroit River.

Race officials finally ordered Power’s crew to move his then-leading car to the side and waved the drivers behind him past. At the head of that line of cars was the No. 8 Honda of Chip Ganassi Racing with Ericsson at the wheel.

Ericsson held on for the final three laps to get the win.

“For once, things fell my way,” Ericsson said. “It feels really good. For Will, I feel really bad for him with the way it ended for him. He did a tremendous job today. But it was my day today, and it was about time.”

For the fourth time in seven races this season, the IndyCar welcomed a driver to Victory Circle for the first time in his Series career.

The winner of the first event of the Detroit Grand Prix Saturday-Sunday double-header was ecstatic.

Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and Pato O’Ward of Arrows McLaren finished second and third respectively in their Chevrolet-powered cars. O’Ward started from the pole. VeeKay finished 1.7 seconds behind Ericsson.

Rounding out the to five were a pair of Rahal Letterman Lanigan drivers – Takuma Sato and Graham Rahal. A third RLL driver, Santino Ferucci, finished sixth.

Piers Phillips, president, of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, said, “On placing three cars in the top
six today: “Well, what a day. We definitely had some challenges in qualifying, so to bring all
three cars home fourth, fifth and sixth is a credit to the team. But now the focus is on tomorrow [and the second race] and the goal is to finish one-two-three rather than four-five-six.”

The race was marred by a horrendous crash on Lap 25 of the 70-lapper which saw Felix Rosenqvist of Arrow McLaren slam a barrier head on at high speed. Rosenqvist was extricated from his car, strapped to a gurney and transported to the a hospital. INDYCAR officials said the driver was doing well.

“The main point for me today is Felix is OK,” O’Ward said. “That was a nasty crash. Nothing he could have done there. He was just a passenger, it was out of his control. I’m really happy that he’s okay. He’s getting evaluated further. But he’s good from what we’re seeing.”

Sunday’s Race 2, is scheduled to begin at noon Eastern.

(This story will be updated shortly)

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Results Saturday of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit Race 1 IndyCar event on the 2.35 mile Streets of Belle Isle, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, chassis-engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):

1. (15) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 70, Running
2. (12) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 70, Running
3. (1) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 70, Running
4. (16) Takuma Sato, Honda, 70, Running
5. (20) Graham Rahal, Honda, 70, Running
6. (21) Santino Ferrucci, Honda, 70, Running
7. (2) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 70, Running
8. (11) Scott Dixon, Honda, 70, Running
9. (4) Ed Jones, Honda, 70, Running
10. (5) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 70, Running
11. (10) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 70, Running
12. (9) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 70, Running
13. (17) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 70, Running
14. (6) Colton Herta, Honda, 70, Running
15. (25) Alex Palou, Honda, 70, Running
16. (19) Jack Harvey, Honda, 70, Running
17. (13) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 70, Running
18. (24) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 69, Running
19. (23) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 67, Running
20. (7) Will Power, Chevrolet, 67, Running
21. (8) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 65, Running
22. (18) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 65, Running
23. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 63, Contact
24. (22) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 49, Mechanical
25. (14) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 23, Contact

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 93.509 mph
Time of Race: 1:45:33.1123
Margin of victory: 1.7290 seconds
Cautions: 2 for 9 laps
Lead changes: 10 among 8 drivers

Lap Leaders:
O’Ward 1-2
Rossi 3-4
Grosjean 5
Jones 6-7
Power 8-11
Dixon 12-27
Power 28-48
O’Ward 49
Rahal 50-53
Power 54-65
Ericsson 66-70

NTT INDYCAR SERIES point standings: Palou 263, O’Ward 248, Dixon 237, VeeKay 231, Pagenaud 219, Newgarden 204, Ericsson 189, Rahal 179, Herta 170, Sato 163.

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