Power holds off Rahal to win Race One at Belle Isle
Will Power wins his second race of the 2014 IndyCar season.
Photo by: Chris Owens
DETROIT -- In the shadow of the three-cylinder Renaissance Center -- the headquarters of General Motors -- Will Power gave the Verizon IndyCar Series manufacturer and team owner/area resident/race promoter Roger Penske a signature victory.
Power, who started 16th in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske car, overtook race leader Ryan Briscoe on a Lap 60 restart and then held off Graham Rahal over the 10-lap sprint to win by .3308 of a second in Race 1 of the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans.
"(Rahal) was really pushing me at the end and it was a great victory for Roger, the (crew) guys and Verizon," said Power, whose 23rd Indy car victory tied Tommy Milton for 18th all time.
Rahal, driving the No. 15 National Guard car for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, started a season-best ninth and recorded his best finish since placing second at Long Beach in April 2013.
"We’ve been fighting awfully hard to just finish where we have been finishing and so to finally get a result like this it means more than words," said Rahal, who was the first to retire from the Indianapolis 500 six days earlier. "As we look forward to (Race 2 on June 1), I think we can do one better and we really learned a lot today and a lot that is going to help us."
Rahal's lone Verizon IndyCar Series win came in his series debut on April 4, 2008, at St. Petersburg, Fla., when he was 19 years old.
Tony Kanaan in third place -- his 66th career podium and best street/road course finish since Baltimore in 2011 -- posted his best finish of the season, as did Justin Wilson in fourth. Verizon P1 Award winner Helio Castroneves, who led a field-high 30 laps, finished fifth.
Sixth was James Hinchcliffe, then Carlos Munoz, Carlos Huertas, Charlie Kimball, and Marco Andretti.
Results
1. (16) Will Power, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
2. (9) Graham Rahal, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
3. (8) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
4. (19) Justin Wilson, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
5. (1) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
6. (2) James Hinchcliffe, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
7. (11) Carlos Munoz, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
8. (12) Carlos Huertas, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
9. (20) Charlie Kimball, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
10. (18) Marco Andretti, Dallara-Honda, 70, Running
11. (10) Scott Dixon, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
12. (6) Juan Pablo Montoya, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
13. (7) Sebastien Bourdais, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
14. (13) Sebastian Saavedra, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
15. (5) Ryan Briscoe, Dallara-Chevy, 70, Running
16. (21) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Dallara-Honda, 69, Running
17. (22) Mikhail Aleshin, Dallara-Honda, 68, Running
18. (15) Takuma Sato, Dallara-Honda, 66, Running
19. (3) Jack Hawksworth, Dallara-Honda, 65, Running
20. (14) Josef Newgarden, Dallara-Honda, 36, Contact
21. (4) Mike Conway, Dallara-Chevy, 14, Contact
22. (17) Simon Pagenaud, Dallara-Honda, 4, Contact
IndyCar Public Relations
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