The 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season continues this weekend with the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit doubleheader at The Raceway at Belle Isle, a temporary 2.35-mile, 13-turn track just outside downtown Detroit.
Here’s a quick look at some interesting statistics and tidbits regarding the races.
IndyCar Racing – Ties to Detroit/Chevrolet Dual in Detroit at The Raceway at Belle Isle
- This weekend’s races mark the 24th and 25th races at the temporary track for IndyCar racing, and 14th and 15th for the Verizon IndyCar Series. The first 10 races at the track, from 1992-2001, were sanctioned by CART.
- Since IndyCar racing’s return at Belle Isle in 2007 (and subsequent return 2012 after a three-year layoff), 10 different drivers have won in 13 races. Only Will Power (2014 Race 1, 2016 Race 2); Sebastien Bourdais (2015 Race 2, 2016 Race 1); and Graham Rahal (2017 Races 1 and 2) have multiple victories.
- Doubleheaders at Belle Isle began in 2013. All races prior to 2013 came during one-race weekends.
- Overall, Helio Castroneves has three victories at Belle Isle to lead all drivers. Castroneves’s win in 2000 was his first IndyCar victory and propelled him into stardom as he climbed the fence for the first time.
- Between CART and the IndyCar Series, 18 drivers have won at least once at Belle Isle.
- Graham Rahal is the last driver to win a race at Belle Isle, when he captured both ends of the doubleheader in 2017. It marked the first time a driver won both races in a weekend at Belle Isle, and the first time a driver had won back-to-back races at the track since Sebastien Bourdais won the second race of the 2015 event and the first race of the 2016 event.
- Rahal became the first driver to sweep an IndyCar doubleheader since Scott Dixon scored both victories at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Canada, in 2013.
- Of the previous 23 IndyCar races at Belle Isle, only four have been won from the pole position and seven from the front row. Robby Gordon (1995 CART); Helio Castroneves (2001 CART); Scott Dixon (2012 IndyCar Series); and Graham Rahal (2017 IndyCar Series, Race 1) have won from the pole.
- Carlos Munoz won the 20th position in Race 1 of the 2015 event, the furthest back a driver has started and won at Belle Isle. Only three races have been won from outside the top five rows.
- The average starting position for a race winner at Belle Isle is 5.74 (6.92 in 13 IndyCar Series races).
- Bobby Rahal (1992), Alex Zanardi (1998) and Will Power (2014 Race 1) have won at least one race at Detroit en route to winning the series championship later in the season.
- Helio Castroneves has led eight races for a total of 268 laps at Belle Isle, both records among all drivers at the Detroit track. Will Power leads all drivers entered in this weekend’s races, with seven races led, while Graham Rahal leads all drivers in laps led with 107 (one of only three drivers with more than 100 laps led at Belle Isle).
- A total of 43 drivers have led at least one lap at Belle Isle in IndyCar competition.
- Race 2 of the 2013 event, as well as both of the 2014 races, featured a record seven different race leaders.
- The first race of 2014 featured a race-record 10 lead changes.
- Honda leads all manufacturers with 12 victories at Belle Isle, including each of the last two. Chevrolet has seven wins in the race it sponsors, both recently with Will Power in Race 2 of 2016.
- Helio Castroneves is the only driver to win at Detroit after winning the Indianapolis 500. Castroneves won the Indy 500 in 2001 in the IndyCar Series, then three weeks later won the CART-sanctioned race at Belle Isle.
- Dario Franchitti has the best finish of a driver at Belle Isle a week after their Indianapolis 500 win, with a second-place effort in 2012.
- Since 2013, the Indianapolis 500 winner has an 11.4 average finish in the first race at Belle Isle, as well as an 11.4 average finish during the 10 races at the track. Takuma Sato’s eighth-place finish in 2017 marks the best finish of an Indy 500 winner in Race 1 at Belle Isle in 2013.
- Michael Andretti led only seven laps in the 1996 race, the fewest laps led by a race victor.
- Helio Castroneves and Scott Dixon are the only drivers to lead every lap of a race at Belle Isle. Castroneves led all 72 laps of the 2001 race, while Dixon led all 60 laps of the abbreviated 2012 race, shortened by 30 laps due to extensive track repair.
- The largest field in an IndyCar race at Belle Isle was 28 cars on four different occasions, all in CART (1993, 1994, 1995 and 1998). The smallest field is 18, in the 2007 race (part of the IndyCar Series).
- Graham Rahal averaged a race-record 105.442 mph in Race 2 of the 2017 event, which featured a race-record for fewest cautions (one) and fewest caution laps (two).
- All 23 races at Belle Isle have featured at least one caution for two laps. The race-record for most cautions is eight (1999 and 2015 Race 2) and caution laps is 24 (1996).
- Takuma Sato set the pole speed record on the current Belle Isle configuration at 114.831 mph for Race 2 of the 2017 event.
2018 IndyCar Series Season
- Four drivers have won races in the first six races this season: Sebastien Bourdais (St. Petersburg, Florida); Josef Newgarden (ISM Raceway and Barber Motorsports Park); Alexander Rossi (Streets of Long Beach); and Will Power (Grand Prix of Indianapolis and Indianapolis 500).
- Alexander Rossi has a season-high five top fives and is tied with Will Power with three podiums. Graham Rahal is the only driver to finish in the top 10 in all six races.
- Will Power leads all drivers in laps led this season, having led 201 of 812 laps. Second is Robert Wickens, with 135 laps led. Wickens is the only driver, among the five drivers with the most laps led this season, still seeking his first victory.
- Alexander Rossi has the best average finish of all drivers this season, with 4.5.
- A total of 37 drivers have competed in at least one race this season. Santino Ferrucci, a Formula 2 regular, will become the 38th, as he makes his series debut this weekend. He celebrated his 20th birthday on Thursday, May 31.
- Graham Rahal has showed qualifying has meant little, as he’s made up 61 positions this season in six races – an average of 10.17 positions per race. He’s made up at least 20 positions in a race twice this year – 22 in the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and 20 in the Indianapolis 500. He’s made up at least three positions in five of six races, and started and finished fifth in the Grand Prix of Long Beach, therefore not finishing worse than he’s started this season.
- Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon have completed all 812 laps this season.
Chevrolet Dual in Detroit – 2018 Entry List
- Eleven countries/nationalities are represented in this weekend’s race: United States (9), Canada (2), United Kingdom (2), Brazil (2), France (2), New Zealand (1), Australia (1), United Arab Emirates (1), Japan (1), Colombia (1), and Austria (1).
IndyCar Series Random Statistics – Current Drivers
- Tony Kanaan has gone 163 consecutive races without a pole position. His last pole position was at Richmond International Raceway in 2008.
- Will Power is the last driver to win back-to-back races in the IndyCar Series, as he swept the races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last month (Grand Prix of Indianapolis on May 12 and Indianapolis 500 on May 27). Simon Pagenaud is the last driver to win three consecutive IndyCar races, when he did so in 2016 at Long Beach, California; Birmingham, Alabama; and the Grand Prix of Indianapolis.
Upcoming Milestones
- Scott Dixon is 44 laps in the lead away from leading 5,000 laps in IndyCar Series competition (between CART and ICS, has led 5,030) and one victory behind Michael Andretti for third all-time in IndyCar victories (has 41 to Andretti’s 42).
- Tony Kanaan is making his 350th IndyCar race start in Race 1. He has 256 starts in the Verizon IndyCar Series and 93 races in CART for a total of 349 races.
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