2012 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix

The Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix 2012 took place on 3 June at the Raceway at Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan, United States place and was the sixth race of the IndyCar Series season of 2012.

3.1 qualifying
3.2 race 3.2.1 guide sections
3.2.2 yellow phase

4.1 Drivers' Championship
4.2 Manufacturers' Championship

Reports

Background

After the Indianapolis 500 Will Power led the Drivers' Championship with 36 points ahead of Hélio Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe. At the engine manufacturers Chevrolet led with 9 points ahead of Honda with 22 points, ahead of Lotus.

In the week before the Grand Prix was IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard announced that some team bosses would try to secure his release. On Saturday before the race there was a meeting between Bernard and the team owners, in which the team owner Bernard finally signaled their support.

Since, due to its special position in the racing calendar no penalties for premature engine change had been imposed at the Indianapolis 500, this has been reflected in the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix. This was Graham Rahal and Simona de Silvestro.

Compared to the last race there were some changes in the starting field. The number of participants dropped from 33 to 25 riders. All pilots and teams who had gone to the start of the season only at the Indianapolis 500 were no longer there with. In addition, Dragon Racing had reduced his team. Instead of two cars, the team took off this event is only one thing a. Sébastien Bourdais should the non- oval courses and Katherine Legge deny the oval courses. The reason for the reduction to a vehicle was the change of the team by the engine manufacturer Lotus to Chevrolet, at the time of this race only had capacity for 13 vehicles outside of the Indianapolis 500. Lotus entered in this race for the first time only with a vehicle.

With Castroneves (twice), Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Justin Wilson (once each ) were four former winners of this Grand Prix.

Training

In the first session devoted only 9 of 25 pilots a time when it was very wet on the track. Takuma Satō the fastest lap ahead of Rubens Barrichello and Wilson. In the second session, which took place under dry conditions, Power posted the fastest time in front of Wilson and Ryan Briscoe. The training was interrupted twice after a spin Scott Dixon and after roll-out of de Silvestro.

In the third training Dixon took the lead position ahead of Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay. The meeting was interrupted three times. Twice because of rotator Briscoe and Franchitti and once because of a departure of Oriol Servia. Servia, his car damaged while so much that he no longer drove back onto the track.

Qualifying

The first part of the session was held in two groups. The six fastest drivers in each group came to the second segment. The remaining starting positions were determined from the result of the first Qualifyingabschnitts, where the drivers of the first group, the odd positions from 13, and the drivers of the second group were assigned to the even positions from 14. In the first group Dixon set the fastest lap in the second group was the fastest pilot power.

In the second segment of qualifying, the six fastest riders qualified for the final section. Power posted the fastest lap. In the last section, called the Firestone Fast Six, Dixon was the fastest before Power. The two drivers were separated 4.4 thousandths of a second of each other. This is the first time this season, scored no Penske pilot the pole position. The top six was completed by Alex Tagliani, Simon Pagenaud, EJ Viso and Hunter -Reay.

Final training

In the final training session on Sunday morning Graham Rahal was the fastest rider on the track. Second was his teammate Dixon before Power.

Race

At the start of Dixon kept the lead with power and Pagenaud. Tagliani, who was originally supposed to go from third place on the grid, remained with electrical problems in the box and are finally went behind the field. In the first round there was an accident of Wilson. He damaged the suspension. After a long repair stop he took the race on again. He scored the fastest lap of the race. After a total of 28 laps but he finally had to park the vehicle with technical problems.

In the initial phase, Dixon and Power dropped off at the top of the rest of the field. Pagenaud Dixon distanced approximately 14 seconds. Behind it there was a larger gap to Viso, who had at this stage up to 35 seconds behind Dixon. Since overtaking maneuvers were difficult on the track, Viso held at number four lying up to twelve vehicles behind on. Directly behind Viso was Hunter -Reay. In the tenth round Briscoe tried to walk past Hunter -Reay, but he blocked the overtaking. Hunter -Reay was for warned by the race organizers. In the 28th round, when Viso went to the box, Hunter -Reay, finally got past him. The leaders Dixon and Power went in the 32th round to the pits. They kept the first two positions in an unchanged order. At this time, Rubens Barrichello, Bourdais and James Jakes were eliminated with technical problems.

Shortly before the half- time it came in the 39th round to two independently incurred accidents that first triggered a yellow phase. Satō was driven into curve 12 aggressive over the curbs and lost control of his vehicle. He landed in the distance limitation. At the same time James Hinchcliffe had gone into turn 7 into the barriers. The trigger for this was be -solving track surface. Hinchcliffe was furious and commented: " This is something I 've never experienced. I came around the corner. Suddenly I saw that the track was broken. A piece of it fell under my car and I could not back down. Already in the previous round I met in turn nine a piece that was thrown by Graham Rahal. It's a joke. " Hinchcliffe also compared the situation with Russian Roulette.

The asphalt was in several sections similarly damaged as in the curve where Hinchcliffe had an accident. Race Director Beaux Barfield finally broke the race in the 45th round with the red flag. The trigger for the voiding track surface Franchitti suspected the high grip level of the Dallara DW12. The defective track surface was removed and replaced with new. After about two hours the race was resumed. The race distance was reduced from 90 to 60 rounds, so still 15 laps were to be completed. When the race resumed, put a light rain. Driving on slicks but still was possible.

Dixon led the field in front of the restart before Power, Pagenaud, Kanaan, Castroneves and Franchitti. Dixon kept when restarting the leadership, power was overtaken by Pagenaud. Franchitti improved to fourth place. In turn six finally collided Castroneves and Ed Carpenter. In addition, Josef Newgarden turned. It thus came to a final yellow phase. At the restart, Franchitti kept again the lead. His teammate Franchitti walked past power and Pagenaud and took second place. There was, however, again to a yellow phase, as Viso and Marco Andretti collided at turn five. At the next restart, the positions he peak remained unchanged.

Dixon finally achieved a start-finish victory in front of Franchitti and Pagenaud. After three second places in the previous race, it was Dixon's first win of the season. For Ganassi it was a double victory in the previous race. It is the first time that the first three pilots all used the same engine since the introduction of several engine manufacturers. At home race of three Chevrolet Honda engines lay ahead. Franchitti completed the race with a viral flu.

The top 10 was completed by Power, Servia, Kanaan, Hunter -Reay, Charlie Kimball, Mike Conway and Tagliani.

In the drivers' standings Power retained the lead. Dixon took over second place from Castroneves, who dropped to third place. Among the manufacturers of the positions remained unchanged.