Taking advantage of a late-race mechanical problem for Will Power, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson leapt to the front of the field following the second of two red flag race stoppages to win the opening round of the Detroit Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES weekend. The victory is the first for Ericsson, now in his third season of Indy car competition, the third for Chip Ganassi Racing this season and the fifth for Honda.
The 70-lap contest was stopped twice, first on Lap 24 for a single-car crash that sent Felix Rosenqvist hard into the Turn 6 retaining wall. Rosenqvist was alert and conscious following the impact, but was transported to a local hospital for additional evaluation.
Running a close second to race leader Power in the closing laps, a second red flag – for Romain Grojean’s single-car crash – stopped the race with just seven laps remaining. A mechanical issue for Power prevented him from taking the restart, and Ericsson led the rest of the way to take the checkers by 1.7 seconds over Rinus VeeKay.
Following Ericsson, the Rahal Letterman Lanigan trio of Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal and Santino Ferrucci finished fourth through sixth, respectively.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES racing activities on Belle Isle Park continue tomorrow with the second round of the doubleheader weekend. Sunday’s 70-lap closer starts at 12 p.m. EDT with live television coverage again on NBC.
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