Power wins from sixteenth position in a race where the red tires were decisive
Will Power has won in Detroit with a driving display, and the Australian has kept Alexander Rossi at bay in the last few laps despite being clearly inferior in terms of tires.
The Belle Isle circuit devoured the red compound, which went into free fall in just ten laps. But Power has finished the race with a run of 20 with that tire.
Somehow, in the fight for victory two riders have coincided who today have deployed opposing strategies: a Power who has linked two initial laps with hard to finish with soft, and a Rossi who has gotten rid of the soft following just four laps to attack then with the hard.
Rossi’s strategy was clearly the fastest, but Power held on and won the race by just a second. Had there been another turn, he would have fallen.
Alex Palou has come back from eighteenth to sixth position, although until his last stop he was fighting to be fourth.
The tires were one of the most determining factors in Detroit, as the demands of the track ate up the soft compound at a truly devilish speed.
The teams were not sure if this rubber might withstand a full stint and the truth is that it quickly proved that its performance plummeted in just regarding ten laps.
So much so that those who came out with hard ones made their way with amazing ease through the grid. One of them was Alex Palou, who went from eighteenth to third following his first stop.
The start was clean, although it had the peculiarity that the second half of the peloton had not yet been grouped properly when the green flag waved.
Josef Newgarden defended pole but Takuma Sato was less lucky and dropped from second to fourth to the benefit of Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves.
Alex Palou remained eighteenth, but it didn’t take him long to account for Santino Ferrucci.
The mystery regarding the red tires was cleared up even earlier than expected.
Several cars immediately brushed him off, and so Palou was already seventh by lap 10. From that point on, those still riding him suffered a dramatic drop in performance.
The big beneficiaries of this situation were Will Power, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou, who rode in tandem on the hard compound.
Their progression was such that on lap 11 they noticed Helio Castroneves, who was third. And on lap 13 they also overtook Simon Pagenaud, who was second.
The red tire debacle also took its toll on race leader Josef Newgarden, who succumbed to hard-charging cars on lap 15.
Power took the helm of the race with Dixon and Palou on the podium, and together they began to break away from the group to definitively consolidate their assault on the positions of honor.
Newgarden held on in his used reds until lap 19, but by then he had lost so much time that he lost sight of the cars fighting for the win.
Power came in on lap 25 to ride a second set of hards, while Dixon and Palou pitted on lap 26 to put on reds for strategic freedom late in the contest.
After this first refuelling, Will Power was 4.4 seconds ahead of Dixon and 7.9 over Palou. The fourth was Alexander Rossi, who was going hard and was at 17.2.
History repeated itself once more, and so Dixon and Palou began to fall into Rossi’s clutches, helpless due to the degradation of the red tire they were equipped with.
Rossi passed Palou on lap 40 and on lap 43 he also passed Dixon to take second, just behind a Power who had yet to ride softs.
Palou pitted fourth and Dixon came in third a lap later, but Alex lost out as he dropped to sixth behind Newgarden and O’Ward. Scott remained third.
Power finally entered lap 50. He returned to the track as the leader, but with the obligation to complete 20 laps on the red tire without being hunted down by Rossi. He was 16 seconds ahead.
Seen what was seen, nothing suggested that Power might hold out until the end. But the Australian got it. Rossi tried to make it to the finish line, but fell just a second short of victory.
DETROIT RACE RESULTS 2022
| POS. | PILOT | EQUIPMENT | WEATHER | V. |
|
01. |
W. Power |
Team Penske |
01:32’08″8183 |
70 |
|
02. |
A. Rossi |
Andretti Autosport |
+1″0027 |
70 |
|
03. |
S. Dixon |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
+7″1239 |
70 |
|
04. |
J. Newgarden |
Team Penske |
+10″6716 |
70 |
|
05. |
P. O’Ward |
Arrow McLaren SP |
+11″2348 |
70 |
|
06. |
A. Palou |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
+14″9056 |
70 |
|
07. |
M. Ericsson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
+40″8996 |
70 |
|
08. |
C.Herta |
Andretti Autosport with Curb-Agajanian |
+41″1286 |
70 |
|
09. |
S. Pagenaud |
Meyer Shank Racing |
+41″2942 |
70 |
|
10. |
F. Rosenqvist |
Arrow McLaren SP |
+42″8774 |
70 |
|
11. |
D. Malukas |
Dale Coyne with HMD |
+45″8916 |
70 |
|
12. |
C. Daly |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
+51″1769 |
70 |
|
13. |
T. Sato |
Dale Coyne with RWR |
+52″2162 |
70 |
|
14. |
C. Lundgaard |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
+1’12″7763 |
70 |
|
15. |
J. Harvey |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
+1’28″2411 |
70 |
|
16. |
R. VeeKay |
Ed Carpenter Racing |
+1 vuelta |
69 |
|
17. |
R. Grosjean |
Andretti Autosport |
+1 vuelta |
68 |
|
18. |
D. DeFrancesco |
Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport |
+1 vuelta |
68 |
|
19. |
S. McLaughlin |
Team Penske |
+1 vuelta |
68 |
|
20. |
D. I had to |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
+1 vuelta |
68 |
|
21. |
S. Ferrucci |
Juncos Hollinger |
+2 laps |
68 |
|
22. |
J. Johnson |
Chip Ganassi Racing |
+2 laps |
68 |
|
23. |
T. Calderon |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
+2 laps |
68 |
|
24. |
K. Kirkwood |
AJ Foyt Enterprises |
abandonment |
49 |
|
25. |
H. Castroneves |
Meyer Shank Racing |
abandonment |
21 |
|
26. |
G. Rahal |
Rahal Letterman Lanigan |
abandonment |
2 |
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