2017 IndyCar Grand Prix

2017 IndyCar Grand Prix

Race details
5th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season
Date	May 13, 2017
Official name	IndyCar Grand Prix
Location	Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.439 mi / 3.925 km
Distance	85 laps 207.315 mi / 333.64 km
Pole position
Driver	Will Power (Team Penske)
Time	1:07.7044
Fastest lap
Driver	Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)
Time	1:09.3888 (on lap 68 of 85)
Podium
First	Will Power (Team Penske)
Second	Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Third	Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport)

The 2017 IndyCar Grand Prix, officially known as the 2017 IndyCar Grand Prix presented by Sea-Doo for sponsorship reasons, was the fifth round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. The race took place over 85 laps on the infield road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. Will Power, driving for Team Penske, won the race.^[1]

Qualifying was held on Friday, May 12. Will Power broke his own track record, setting a time of 1:07.7044 at an average of 129.69 mph (208.44 km/h). It was his 47th career pole, which moved him into fifth place on the all-time list of American open-wheel pole position winners. Alongside him on the front row was his teammate, Hélio Castroneves. Josef Newgarden qualified third, Scott Dixon fourth, and Juan Pablo Montoya, in his first race in an IndyCar since the 2016 season closer, qualified fifth.^[2]

The race was held on Saturday, May 13. The field was able to make its way through the first few corners cleanly, with Will Power holding his lead over Hélio Castroneves, while Scott Dixon moved into third. As the field moved through turn 7 for the first time, Marco Andretti made contact with Tony Kanaan, sending Kanaan into a spin and sending Andretti and Ed Jones into the grass. Kanaan was forced to pit with a punctured tire, while Andretti was assessed a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. However, the race resumed with no caution. The field continued on, though on lap four, Sébastien Bourdais pulled off course in at turn 1, an engine failure forcing him out of the race. Alexander Rossi moved into the top sixth following Bourdais' misfortune. By lap 17, however, both Ryan Hunter-Reay and Spencer Pigot moved around Rossi, while up front, Power still held the lead.

The first round of pit stops came around lap 20. During this sequence, Castroneves, who had stayed on the red alternate tires, was able to move ahead of Power, who had changed on the black primary tires. Dixon remained third after the stops, while Josef Newgarden, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and Simon Pagenaud rounded out the top six. Pigot, who had been making a charge toward the front, stalled his car during the stops, dropping him back down the order. Shortly after stops, Pagenaud came under fire from James Hinchcliffe, Rossi, and Max Chilton. Hinchcliffe, however, faded from the battle after both Rossi and Chilton made their way by him on the same lap. Pagenaud, however, maintained his sixth.

The second round of stops came just after lap 40. During this sequence, Power and Castroneves switched positions again, thanks to Power being on the alternate tires again. Besides this, the running order remained largely the same, though Chilton managed to move ahead of Rossi. Further down in the order, Graham Rahal, who had started 20th, managed to break into the top 10 with a considerably good run through the field, eventually bringing him up to sixth place. At the same time, Rossi began to drop back due to being on the primary tires, allowing him to fall into the clutches of Juan Pablo Montoya. At the end of this stint, Scott Dixon began to close in on the leaders; the first time he had been able to do so the entire race.

The final round of stops came at roughly lap 65. Power and Castroneves remained the top two, but Castroneves, now forced onto the primary tires, was now considerably slower on track. During the pit sequence, Newgarden was assessed a drive-through penalty for speeding on the pit-lane, removing him from his fourth place. He was then assessed another drive-through penalty for speeding on the pit-lane while serving the first penalty. With this, Hunter-Reay moved up to fourth and Pagenaud to fifth. Up front, Power began to pull away significantly from his teammate Castroneves, while Dixon rapidly gained on the Brazilian. On lap 69, Dixon was by into second place. Castroneves was then quickly dispatched by both Hunter-Reay and Pagenaud, dropping him all the way to fifth. However, this was not enough to stop Power, who was finally able to convert one of his dominant performances into a win on the 2017 season. For Power, it was his 30th IndyCar win, breaking a three-way time between himself, Castroneves, and Rick Mears for 11th all-time for most American Open-Wheel victories. The win also moved him into the top five in the championship after a disastrous start to the season. Simon Pagenaud maintained the points lead, holding a 10-point advantage over Scott Dixon.^[1][3][4]

For the first time in the race's history, the Grand Prix of Indianapolis saw no caution periods.

Pos	No.	Name	Grp.	Round 1	Round 2	Firestone Fast 6
1	12	Will Power W	2	1:08.1894	1:07.9823	1:07.7044
2	3	Hélio Castroneves	2	1:08.2619	1:08.1428	1:08.1169
3	2	Josef Newgarden	1	1:08.1223	1:08.1526	1:08.1622
4	9	Scott Dixon	2	1:08.3653	1:08.3560	1:08.2454
5	22	Juan Pablo Montoya	2	1:08.4167	1:08.0158	1:08.2478
6	18	Sébastien Bourdais	2	1:08.3497	1:08.3921	1:08.3973
7	1	Simon Pagenaud W	1	1:08.3435	1:08.4461
8	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	2	1:08.4490	1:08.5735
9	98	Alexander Rossi	1	1:08.6134	1:08.5824
10	5	James Hinchcliffe	1	1:08.9403	1:08.8668
11	27	Marco Andretti	1	1:08.6686	1:08.9151
12	10	Tony Kanaan	1	1:08.9358	1:08.9853
13	19	Ed Jones R	1	1:09.0025
14	8	Max Chilton	2	1:08.6675
15	4	Conor Daly	1	1:09.0557
16	20	Spencer Pigot	2	1:08.9484
17	7	Mikhail Aleshin	1	1:09.1777
18	14	Carlos Muñoz	2	1:08.9937
19	83	Charlie Kimball	1	1:09.1796
20	15	Graham Rahal	2	1:09.0985
21	21	J. R. Hildebrand	1	1:09.6123
22	26	Takuma Sato	2	1:09.3134
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Source for individual rounds:^[5]

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Status	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led	Pts.1
1	12	Will Power W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	1:42:57.6108	3	1	61	54
2	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+5.2830	3	4		40
3	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	+12.0296	3	8		35
4	1	Simon Pagenaud W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+17.0668	3	7		32
5	3	Hélio Castroneves	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+20.6072	3	2	24	31
6	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	85	+25.1039	3	20		28
7	8	Max Chilton	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	85	+25.7054	3	14		26
8	98	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Herta Autosport	Honda	85	+29.3214	3	9		24
9	20	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	85	+36.5878	3	16		22
10	22	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+41.8238	3	5		20
11	2	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	85	+48.3846	5	3		19
12	26	Takuma Sato	Andretti Autosport	Honda	85	+56.2212	3	22		18
13	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	85	+1:02.6805	3	10		17
14	21	J. R. Hildebrand	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	84	+1 Lap	3	21		16
15	14	Carlos Muñoz	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	84	+1 Lap	3	18		15
16	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	84	+1 Lap	4	11		14
17	4	Conor Daly	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	84	+1 Lap	3	15		13
18	7	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	84	+1 Lap	4	17		12
19	19	Ed Jones R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	84	+1 Lap	4	13		11
20	10	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	83	+2 Laps	5	12		10
21	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	32	Lost power	2	19		9
22	18	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	3	Engine	0	6		8
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

All cars ran Dallara chassis with aerokits supplied by their respective engine manufacturer.

This was Sébastien Bourdais last race until the August 26 race at Gateway due to suffering injuries in Indy 500 time trials

¹ Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:^[6]

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Simon Pagenaud 191 2 Scott Dixon 181 3 Josef Newgarden 152 2 4 Hélio Castroneves 149 2 5 Will Power 145

Manufacturer standings Pos Manufacturer Points 1 Chevrolet 410 2 Honda 388

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.