Just last weekend, Chevrolet was riding high after a podium sweep of the Indianapolis 500. But in its home town of Detroit, it suffered back-to-back losses to Honda in the Izod IndyCar Series, after the Dual in Detroit concluded on historic and beautiful Belle Isle. The first race went to Dale Coyne Racing driver Mike Conway in a Honda-powered car on Saturday, pulling away from the competition a full 12 seconds over the 70-lap race.
Then yesterday, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud finished in the No.77 Schmidt Hamilton Honda/Dallara more than five seconds ahead of the rest of the field, which seemed to be too busy crashing and fighting with each other to notice. The win also marked the first IndyCar win ever for Pagenaud. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver James Jakes took second in a Honda-powered car, and Conway placed third. Oh, the drama.
Curiously, Chevrolet dominated the large, banking oval that is Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But for the rough, complicated road course that was this year’s Belle Isle race track, Honda had the edge. Something to think about as the racing season continues…
Comments
Well, I guess they have to win occasionally…
I hate that Chevy can’t win them all, but parity is good for fan interest and the overall health of the series. It would be great if they could get Ford back in the series, or a European brand serious about competing.
Did you people really think Honda was going to roll over and die? Anybody can slap a badge on an Ilmor engine (even Honda did it) and win. What really counts is when you design your engine from scratch in-house as Honda is doing now and win. The Ilmor powered teams better be prepared for more spankings as the season progresses.
Banzai!
Considering Chevrolet had to crawl to Ford Cosworth for an engine in the 2004 IRL season after the failure of its Gen III 3.5L V8, it’s not surprising they didn’t bother manufacturing their own engine this time around and decided to re-badge an Ilmor engine like they’ve done in the past.