DETROIT — Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global scored his second victory of the NTT IndyCar Series season in Sunday’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of Detroit.
Kirkwood, who one week ago was sixth at the checkered flag in the 109th Indianapolis 500, only to have his car fail post-race technical inspection and moved to 32nd, got redemption on Sunday.
Kirkwood’s No. 27 Siemens Honda defeated Santino Ferrucci’s No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet by 3.5931 seconds. Kirkwood’s Honda had a broken front wing from contact earlier in the race, but it didn’t slow his Honda.
“For some reason, the front wing was damaged but not really causing us an issue,” Kirkwood said. “There were some challenges out there, for sure, with the front wing damage, but the car felt fine.
“On restarts, the car came alive. I was comfortable when the red flag came out, because I thought we could still do this. The car felt phenomenal. I’m glad here today, we were able to win for Andretti. And for Colton, P3 is a great result for the team.
“Really good day. Really good day.”
Andretti Global’s Colton Herta was third followed by Team Penske’s Will Power and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson.
“I’m happy to finally get a good result, for sure,” Herta said. “It is disappointing to get the pole and not follow it up with a win, but this year has been really tough.
“I had a fast Honda and I’m happy to take it to Chevrolet here in Motor City.”
Alex Palou, the winner of the 109th Indy 500 last Sunday who came into the weekend having won five of the first six races this season, crashed on Lap 72 and finished 25th.
Palou continues to lead the championship standings, but his 112-point lead over Pato O’Ward is now 78 points over Kirkwood.
Ferrucci drove from 22nd to second.
“Huge shout to this entire team,” Ferrucci said. “Pit stops were phenomenal. Perfect strategy. I got lucky with that yellow. I was never more happy than when I saw that Red Flag (late in the race).”
Callum Ilott crashed when he went straight into the tire barrier after making a pit stop on Lap 67 for the third caution period of the race.
It came at a very strategic time as some drivers and teams were setting up for pit stops. Instead of cars making green flag stops over a period of laps, once the pits opened, most of the cars on the lead lap were expected to come down pit lane at once.
Leader Kirkwood had a good stop as both sides of pit lane were frantic with activity.
Ferrucci, who had pitted a few laps earlier, was scored as the leader ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson and Meyer-Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong.
“We should be able to make it the rest of the way on fuel,” A.J. Foyt Racing President Larry Foyt said. “It looks like the pace of the car has been OK.
“Let’s see what happens.”
The green flag waved on Lap 73, but further back in the field, Alex Palou crashed into the tire barriers after David Malukas’ No. 4 Chevrolet ran into the back of Palou’s Honda in Turn 1.
“For sure, someone hit me from behind,” Palou said. “It doesn’t feel great, but nothing we could have done there, I think.”
The yellow flag immediately flew without a full lap run under green.
The last 10 winners of the Indianapolis 500 have fared badly in the next race after the 500. Palou continued that trend on Sunday as his No. 10 DHL Honda was towed away by the AMR Safety Team.
With 25 laps to go, the green flag waved and Ferrucci sped away. Kirkwood passed Armstrong for third place.
Kirkwood passed Simpson for second place and there was slight contact between the two Honda drivers. The incident damaged the front wing on both cars.
With Kirkwood’s front wing dragging, he still had a fast car when he passed Ferrucci for the lead on the next lap.
Power passed Ferrucci with 17 laps to go and set his sights on race leader Kirkwood.
Further back in the field, Louie Foster and Felix Rosenqvist had a hard crash in Turn 3, the fastest part of the race course at the end of the longest straight.
“My (bleeping) leg,” Rosenqvist radioed to his crew after his car slammed hard into the tire barriers.
It appeared Foster’s front suspension collapsed at high-speed that triggered the massive crash.
“We were having a really good race, following our strategy, and the suspension failed and killed the race,” Foster said. “I don’t know how the heck this happens. This track is ridiculously bumpy. That had to be a reason why this happened.
“Just super disappointed.”
Rosenqvist was evaluated by the IU Health IndyCar Medical Unit and released.
The red flag waved, and the race was stopped as the field was brought onto pit road so the tire barrier could be repaired.
Crew members were not allowed to work on any car during the red flag.
“I know Kyle has a bit of a broken wing, and my car is very good,” Power said during the red flag. “We’ll give it a go and see what happens, but we want to be smart.
“I’m looking for a nice, clean pass if we can do that, otherwise, we won’t go for it.”
Herta was back in fourth place when he spoke about his prospects on the final laps.
“We’ve got a good shot,” Herta said. “We’ll have to wait and see, but we’ve got a good shot here in Motor City.”
After 12 minutes and 25 seconds, the red flag was lifted. The cars drove off pit lane, made one formation lap and racing resumed on Lap 89.
Kirkwood had a brilliant restart and was able to pull away from Power’s No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet.
Power brushed the wall further down the track and that appeared to affect the performance of the car.
Kirkwood continued to build up his lead over Ferrucci as it great to 3.1152 and 3.9951 over teammate Herta.
On Lap 190, Ferrucci drove to the outside of Power’s Chevy, and Herta closed up to make the pass over Power further up the track.
Power rallied back to have a great battle with Herta in the fight for third place, but Herta was able to maintain the position at the checkered flag.
