Detroit — No. 9 Scott Dixon was the winner of the IndyCar Race at the 2024 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear. It was a race filled with eight cautions and lots of penalties were given to several different drivers.
“It was a wild race with great conditions. I’m sure it was dramatic and fun to watch. It was raining on turn two, then rain on turn three, then on turn eight, it was very wet. I thought it was really gonna be rough. We tried stopping the wheel spin, it was just wearing out the tires, so I eased up on it. We shouldn’t be driving on top of each other every single rain start. I was just praying that we didn’t get hit,” says Dixon.
“You are on confined streets. Honda has a lot of power on bumpy street courses. Sometimes today it was just a lot of luck. I think for us as a team, we take it as it is. I was happy to get the trophy from Jim Campbell, I knew he didn’t want to do that.”
Dixon finished ahead of second place finisher Marcus Ericsson by 0.8567 of a second. Marcus Armstrong finished in third followed by Kyle Kirkwood in fourth and Alexander Rossi finished in fifth. Rossi was the best finishing Chevrolet in General Motors hometown. There were six different lap leaders during the race. Dixon led 35 laps, Colton Herta led 33, Kyle Kirkwood led 24, Christian Lundgaard led 6 laps while Alex Palou and Josef Newgarden each led one lap.
No. 28 Marcus Ericsson finished second. “The month of May was tough. We had to work hard, press the reset button and get our season going. We are proud of our team; it wasn’t an easy race. Pretty much every restart, I was praying not to get hit. I aged five years during the month,” says Ericsson.
“You can lay down and feel sorry for yourself or you can get up, work hard and deliver. Honda did a great job this weekend. Honda won first, second, third and fourth (place). It couldn’t be better for us. With 15 laps to go, my car was ready to go. I had no concerns. Scott Dixon is the best and he’s hard to beat. We tried. We gave it everything. The track was challenging. It had some great characteristics with bumps and all. Then again, it’s Michigan right?” added Ericsson.
On the first lap, Pato O’Ward, Alexander Rossi, Linus Lundqvist, Will Power, Santino Ferrucci, Jack Harvey, and Tristan Vautier were involved in a crash in turn three. The second caution was on lap 16 when Kyffin Simpson and Helio Castroneves hit each other in turn five. Next on lap 33 Scott McLaughlin hit the turn one wall. The fourth caution came out on lap 41 when Will Power hit Rinus VeeKay in turn three. On lap 46, Colton Herta hit Tristan Vautier in turn five. The sixth caution came on lap 53 when Linus Lundqvist, Marcus Armstrong, Christian Lundgaard and Romain Grosjean all collided in turn three. Next on lap 63, Scott McLaughlin hit Sting Ray Robb in turn five. The final caution was on lap 70 when Josef Newgarden hit Alex Palou in turn three.
No. 11 Marcus Armstrong ended up in third place. “The season has been very robust and we really can’t generate temperature. The mistakes were on the tires; they were not working early on the run. There were a lot of moves that were very ambitious. I liked the circuit layout and race distance with the bumps,” says Armstrong.
“I think having been in this race last year, I think anything is on the table. It’s a wild race, conditions were very tough.” A member of the media asked, there were eight cautions in 87 laps, where is the line on being action packed vs. embarrassing? “I don’t think it was embarrassing. I think most people go to races to watch crashes. I don’t, you know. From my perspective, it was pretty calm up front. The back was pretty calm also,” added Armstrong.
A total of 12 penalties were issued during Sunday’s IndyCar race on the streets of Detroit. The first penalty was for Will Power for emergency service in a closed pit on lap three. The second penalty was given to Santino Ferrucci for avoidable contact on lap 22. The third penalty was for Marcus Armstrong for blocking on lap 27. The next penalty was given to Will Power for failure to pack up under yellow on lap 39. Power also received penalties for avoidable contact on lap 44 and full service in a closed pit on lap 60.
The next penalty was given to Christian Lundgaard for avoidable contact on lap 60. Helio Castroneves received a penalty for failure to follow the directions of Indy car on lap 60. Josef Newgarden received a penalty for hitting personnel/hitting own equipment on lap 60. Romain Grosjean was penalized for full service in a closed pit on lane 60. Theo Pourchaire received a penalty for avoidable contact on lap 65. The final penalty was given to Scott McLaughlin for avoidable contact on lap 68.
Dixon was asked how the race was different from being on Belle Isle Park? “There was no fountain to jump into,” as he laughed.
Pole winner Colton Herta finished the race in 19th place. Last week’s winner Josef Newgarden, finished the Detroit race in 26th place.
The 2024 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix IndyCar race lasted two hours, six minutes and about eight seconds. The average speed during the race was 78.251 miles per hour. Colton Herta had the fastest lap during the race with a speed of 94.436 miles per hour on lap 14.
Dixon earned 53 points, Ericsson earned 40 points, and Armstrong earned 35 points. After Sunday’s race, Dixon leads in driver points with 216, Alex Palou has 198 points and Will Power has 185.
The next NTT IndyCar Series race will be the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America on Sunday, June 9.
Champagne celebration with podium finishers (Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong) 
Scott Dixon is interviewed after winning the race 
The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix IndyCar race 
Marcus Ericsson finished in 2nd 
Marcus Armstrong finished in 3rd 
IndyCars lined up on pit road before start of the race