With his win at the second race of the Dual in Detroit doubleheader, Graham Rahal becomes the first two-race winner in IndyCar this season.
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal took the checkered flag for the second race of the Dual in Detroit doubleheader at Belle Isle Park on Belle Isle in Detroit, Michigan by 1.172 seconds over Josef Newgarden.
Rahal became the first driver to win multiple IndyCar races this season in the eighth race, and he did it as the most recent first-time 2017 winner. He delivered Honda its fifth victory of the season and fourth in four street course races. The win was the sixth of Rahal’s IndyCar career and the fifth since 2015.
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Despite not winning the race, Chevrolet drivers, particularly Team Penske drivers, took two of the top 3 spots with Josef Newgarden leading the way and three of the top 5 spots. The highest finishing non-Team Penske Chevrolet driver was Carlos Munoz in 11th place after he started way back in 22nd.
The series lone full-time rookie Ed Jones finished in 22nd place after a mechanical failure. In his second career IndyCar race, Esteban Gutierrez finished in 14th.
Other Notable Statistics
The race featured a total of five lead changes among three different drivers. Graham Rahal led the most laps, leading 41 of the race’s 70, giving him 96 laps led of the 140 laps this weekend.
The race featured one caution flag periods for a total of two laps, and that caution period was ultimately shortened due to a red flag. The caution flag came out on lap 66 when James Hinchcliffe had an engine failure, and it turned into a red flag when Spencer Pigot had a turbo failure during the caution flag period.
See full race results from the eighth race of the 2017 season at IndyCar.com.
Next Race
The next IndyCar race is on the high banks of Texas Motor Speedway. Last year’s Texas winner is, you guessed it, Graham Rahal, this season’s only two-time race winner, and he’s coming in on a two-race winning streak. That race takes place on Saturday, June 10th, 2017 at 8:30 PM ET, and will be broadcast live on NBC Sports Network starting at 8:00 PM ET.
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