2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

2017 Alabama
Race details
	3rd round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season
Date	April 23, 2017
Official name	Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Location	Barber Motorsports Park
Course	Permanent racing facility; 2.38 mi / 3.83 km
Distance	90 laps; 214.2 mi / 344.7 km
Pole position
Driver	Will Power (Team Penske)
Time	1:06.9614
Fastest lap
Driver	Will Power (Team Penske)
Time	1:08.2763 (on lap 86 of 90)
Podium
First	Josef Newgarden (Team Penske)
Second	Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Third	Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)

Last updated March 20, 2019

The 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was the third round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. The race was held on April 23, 2017 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. Australian Will Power qualified on pole for the event,^[1] while American Josef Newgarden took victory.^[2]

The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 22nd season of the Verizon IndyCar Series and the 96th official championship season of American open wheel racing. The premier event was the 101st Indianapolis 500 won by Takuma Sato. Josef Newgarden, the 2011 Indy Lights champion, in his sixth full-time season in the IndyCar Series, won the championship. It was Newgarden's first season as part of Team Penske, and he collected four wins, one pole position, and ten top-five finishes. It was Team Penske's 15th Indy car season championship, and third in four years.

Barber Motorsports Park is an 880-acre multi-purpose racing facility located in Birmingham, Alabama. It was built by Alabama native George W. Barber, and includes the 230,000-square-foot Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum. It has been the site of the IndyCar Series' Grand Prix of Alabama since 2010. The Annual Barber Vintage Festival has taken place at the park each October since 2005. Barber is also the home of the Porsche Track Experience.

Birmingham is a city located in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. With an estimated 2017 population of 210,710, it is the most populous city in Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous and fifth largest county. As of 2017, the Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 1,149,807, making it the most populous in Alabama and 49th-most populous in the United States. Birmingham serves as an important regional hub and is associated with the Deep South, Piedmont, and Appalachian regions of the nation.

Report

Qualifying

Qualifying was held on Saturday, April 22. Team Penske dominated the session, taking the top three spots with Will Power starting from pole position with a time of 1:06.9614 at an average speed of 127.95 mph (205.92 km/h). Behind him were his teammates Hélio Castroneves and Simon Pagenaud. Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and James Hinchcliffe rounded out the top six.^[1]

Team Penske is an American professional motorsports organization which has teams involved in open wheel, stock car, and sports car racing. These teams currently compete in the NTT IndyCar Series; the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series; and the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship, IMSA, and WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona, the organization has also competed in various other types of professional racing such as Can Am, Trans Am and Formula One. Altogether, Team Penske has earned over 500 victories in all of auto racing. Team Penske is a division of Penske Corporation, and is owned and chaired by Roger Penske. The team president is Tim Cindric.

William Steven Power is an Australian champion motorsports driver who currently competes in the IndyCar Series, driving for Team Penske. He was the 2014 IndyCar Series champion, and as of 2015 the most successful road and street course race winner in the series' history with 19 wins tied with Scott Dixon. Power won the 2018 Indianapolis 500.

Hélio Castro-Neves, better known as Hélio Castroneves, is a Brazilian auto racing driver competing in the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Prior to IMSA, Castroneves competed in the IndyCar Series, gaining 23 wins and 38 poles, and placed second in the season standings four times, third three times, and fourth five times. Castroneves also competed in the CART championship, with a highest championship points finish of fourth; he recorded six wins and seven pole positions in the series.

Race

The race was held on Sunday, April 23 with a threat of rain through the duration of the event. Prior to the green flag, Marco Andretti suffered issues starting the car, resulting in him falling three laps behind before even turning a lap. At the start of the race, Will Power and Hélio Castroneves maintained their positions, while Scott Dixon was able to pass Simon Pagenaud for third place. Behind them, Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe made contact coming out of turn three, casing a piece of Hunter-Reay's front wing to break off and hit the front wing of Ed Jones, breaking his front wing as well. During the incident, Josef Newgarden was able to slip by both to move up to fifth place. The debris from the incident resulted in the first caution period of the race. During this period, Hunter-Reay and Jones both pitted for repairs.

Marco Michael Andretti is an American auto racing driver who drives the No. 98 car for Andretti Herta Autosport in the IndyCar Series. He is the third generation of the famous Andretti racing family.

Scott Ronald Dixon is a New Zealand professional racing driver. Competing for Chip Ganassi Racing since joining IndyCar, Dixon has won the championship five times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, and 2018. He also won the 92nd Indianapolis 500 in 2008 from pole position. With 44 wins, Dixon has the third highest winnings in American Championship Cars history, and is the leading active driver in the current IndyCar Series with 43 wins. He is also a two-time overall winner and one-time GTLM winner at the 24 Hours of Daytona.

Simon Pagenaud is a French professional racing driver. He currently races in the IndyCar Series with Team Penske. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the top class championship title in the 2010 American Le Mans Series, he moved to Formula Racing in the Indycar Series where he became the 2016 IndyCar champion.

Racing resumed on lap 6, with the running order up front remaining unchanged. However, Newgarden began to gain ground and, only a few laps after the restart, was able to pass Pagenaud for fourth. Hinchcliffe managed to move into fifth in the same move after Pagenaud lost momentum from being forced out wide by Newgarden. The first round of green flag pit stops followed, during which Newgarden was able to jump up to second thanks to quick pit work from his team and the slowing pace of Castroneves and Dixon, who had gone the farthest on their first stint. Dixon was also able to get around Castroneves during the sequence, allowing him to maintain his third position. Further back in the field, Alexander Rossi, despite a poor qualifying result, had managed to move into the top ten and was continuing to improve.

The second round of green flag pit stops came just after lap 40. Just before their stops, Dixon was able to get around Newgarden for second place. However, a slow pit stop from his team meant that Dixon emerged behind Newgarden once again following the pit sequence. Behind them, Castroneves fell back even further, as both Pagenaud and Hinchcliffe were able to make faster pit stops than the Brazilian veteran. After the stops, Newgarden began to close in on Power, reducing the gap to roughly 1 second before Power responded a pulled the gap back out to nearly 2 seconds by lap 60.

On lap 62, just before the opening for the final round of stops, the second caution of the race came when Spencer Pigot, who had been running eighth, spun coming out of turn 5 and stalled just off course. Nearly the entire field pitted during the caution, with Power emerging from pit lane first, while Dixon managed to leapfrog Newgarden. However, the race lead belonged now to Charlie Kimball, who elected to stay out during the caution. With Kimball's final pit stop still coming, however, Power was essentially still the leader of the race.

Spencer James Pigot is an American racing driver, currently driving the #21 car for Ed Carpenter Racing in the IndyCar series.

Charles Newton Kimball is an American racecar driver currently competing in the IndyCar Series with Carlin Motorsport. He has scored a win, six podiums and 13 top 5s. His best season result was ninth in 2013 and 2016. In addition, he won the 2013 24 Hours of Daytona.

Racing resumed with 22 laps to go. Kimball and Power maintained their positions, but Newgarden was able to get back around Dixon in less than one lap. On lap 75, Kimball pitted, handing the lead back to Power. However, Power's car had developed a puncture in one of the rear tires, forcing Power to pit and dropping him well down the running order. Newgarden inherited the lead and, despite pressure from Dixon behind, took his fourth career victory.^[3] Pagenaud came across the line third, Castroneves fourth, and Rossi a respectable fifth. Power was only able to recover to 14th; a disappointing end to a day he dominated.

For Newgarden, the victory was his first driving for Team Penske and his first since Iowa of the previous season. It was also his second win at Barber in three years. For Dixon, it was his seventh podium finish at the track without a victory. Sébastien Bourdais managed an eighth place finish on the day, allowing him to maintain his points lead.^[4]^[5]

For the third consecutive year, no cars retired from the event.

Results

Key	Meaning
R	Rookie
W	Past winner

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Name	Grp.	Round 1	Round 2	Firestone Fast 6
1	12	Will Power W	2	1:06.9311	1:07.3392	1:06.9614
2	3	Hélio Castroneves W	2	1:07.4333	1:07.2877	1:07.1429
3	1	Simon Pagenaud W	2	1:07.4536	1:07.3214	1:07.3817
4	9	Scott Dixon	2	1:07.1954	1:07.5380	1:07.5817
5	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	2	1:07.6055	1:07.5207	1:07.6851
6	5	James Hinchcliffe	1	1:07.3014	1:07.5459	1:07.8710
7	2	Josef Newgarden W	1	1:07.4628	1:07.5941
8	7	Mikhail Aleshin	1	1:07.4983	1:07.9467
9	8	Max Chilton	1	1:07.5374	1:07.9788
10	10	Tony Kanaan	1	1:07.3070	1:08.0305
11	19	Ed Jones R	1	1:07.5360	1:08.2034
12	18	Sébastien Bourdais	2	1:07.6287	1:08.2726
13	27	Marco Andretti	1	1:07.5405
14	26	Takuma Sato	2	1:07.6928
15	83	Charlie Kimball	1	1:07.7033
16	14	Carlos Muñoz	2	1:07.7007
17	20	Spencer Pigot	1	1:07.9211
18	98	Alexander Rossi	2	1:07.7483
19	21	Zach Veach R	1	1:08.4681
20	4	Conor Daly	2	1:08.0104
21	15	Graham Rahal	2	1:08.0499
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Source for individual rounds:^[6]

Race

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led	Pts.¹
1	2	Josef Newgarden W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	1:54:08.7076	3	7	14	51
2	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+1.0495	3	4	3	41
3	1	Simon Pagenaud W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+2.5706	3	3		35
4	3	Hélio Castroneves W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+11.1592	3	2	2	33
5	98	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Herta Autosport	Honda	90	+12.0469	3	18		30
6	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	90	+12.5905	3	6		28
7	10	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+15.4105	3	10		26
8	18	Sébastien Bourdais	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	90	+16.0651	3	12		24
9	26	Takuma Sato	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+20.1764	3	14		22
10	7	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	90	+20.7064	5	8		20
11	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+22.2061	4	5		19
12	8	Max Chilton	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+22.9713	3	9		18
13	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	90	+24.3457	4	21		17
14	12	Will Power W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+26.3177	4	1	60	20
15	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	90	+35.4868	4	15	11	16
16	19	Ed Jones R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	90	+39.5644	6	11		14
17	14	Carlos Muñoz	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	90	+50.3679	6	16		13
18	4	Conor Daly	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet	90	+51.2029	3	20		12
19	21	Zach Veach R	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	90	+56.2545	6	19		11
20	20	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	89	+1 Lap	3	17		10
21	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	87	+3 Laps	4	13		9
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Notes: ¹ Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:^[7]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings

	Pos	Driver	Points
	1	Sébastien Bourdais	117
2	2	Scott Dixon	111
2	3	Josef Newgarden	110
1	4	Simon Pagenaud	106
3	5	James Hinchcliffe	102

Manufacturer standings

Pos	Manufacturer	Points
1	Honda	255
2	Chevrolet	226

Note: Only the top five positions are included.

Related Research Articles

The 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 19th season of the IndyCar Series and the 103rd season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 98th Indianapolis 500, held on Sunday, May 25. Scott Dixon entered the season as the defending IndyCar Champion, while Chevrolet entered as the reigning Manufacturers' champion.

The 2013 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio, the 35th running of the event, was an IndyCar Series race held at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on August 4, 2013. It was the 14th race in the 2013 IndyCar Series season. The pole position was held by Ryan Hunter-Reay of Andretti Autosport, while Chip Ganassi Racing's Charlie Kimball won the race.

The 2013 GoPro Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma was an IndyCar Series race held on August 25, 2013 at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. The race was the fifteenth of the 2013 IndyCar Series season, and was won by Will Power of Team Penske.

The 2015 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 20th season of the IndyCar Series and the 104th season of American open wheel racing. Its premier event was the 99th Indianapolis 500, which was held on May 24. Will Power returned as the reigning champion, while Ryan Hunter-Reay was the defending Indy 500 champion. Chevrolet entered the season as the reigning Manufacturers' champion. Indianapolis 500 and the season finale counted for double points.

The 2016 Honda Indy Toronto was a scheduled open-wheel motorsport event held at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on the weekend of July 15–17, 2016. The event marked the 30th annual edition of the Toronto Indy, and the twelfth round of the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series season. The race was the only event on the 2016 IndyCar season outside of the United States. The headline race was the 32nd IndyCar race to be held at the 1.755-mile (2.824 km) street circuit.

The 2016 Firestone 600 was the 14th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series season, contested over 248 laps at the 1.5-mile (2.4 km) Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. The race was originally scheduled as the ninth round of the series and originally began on June 12, 2016, following an extended series of delays caused by rain. After 71 laps, the race was suspended due to further rainfall, and re-scheduled to continue on August 27, 2016.

The 2016 Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans was the only doubleheader event of the 2016 IndyCar Series, consisting of both the seventh and eighth rounds of the championship. The event took place at the Raceway at Belle Isle, a temporary street circuit in Detroit, Michigan. Both races were contested over 70 laps. The race marked the seventh time that the course had been used for IndyCar Series racing and the fourth time that the venue had featured a doubleheader weekend with two races.

The 2016 ABC Supply 500 was the 13th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series. The event took place at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. It was the fourth consecutive year that the Verizon IndyCar Series had visited the track. The race also marked roughly one year since the fatal accident of Justin Wilson in the previous year's edition of the event. The race was originally scheduled to be run on Sunday, August 21, but heavy thunderstorms forced it to be moved to the following day.

The 2016 IndyCar Grand Prix at The Glen presented by Hitachi was the 15th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series. The race was scheduled Labor Day weekend and occurred on September 4, 2016. It marked the first time that the series had visited the course since 2010 and the 10th time the series had visited the circuit in its history.

The 2016 GoPro Grand Prix of Sonoma was the 16th and final round of the 2016 IndyCar Series season. The race was contested on September 18, 2016, on the IndyCar layout of Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California. It marked the 12th time that the series had visited the circuit. For the second year in a row, the event served as the season finale for the IndyCar Series.

The 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach was the second round of the 2017 IndyCar Series and the 43rd annual running of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race was contested over 85 laps on a temporary street circuit in Long Beach, California on April 9, 2017. Hélio Castroneves won the pole, while James Hinchcliffe won the race.

The 2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season and the first oval race of the season. It took place on April 29, 2017 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. The race was won by Simon Pagenaud for Team Penske, his first ever victory on an oval.

The 2017 IndyCar Grand Prix, officially known as the 2017 IndyCar Grand Prix presented by Sea-Doo for sponsorship reasons, was the fifth round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. The race took place over 85 laps on the infield road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. Will Power, driving for Team Penske, won the race.

The 2017 Rainguard Water Sealers 600 was the ninth round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season, contested over 248 laps at the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas. Charlie Kimball started from the pole position, the first of his career. Will Power of Team Penske won the race, leading 180 of the 248 laps. The race was marred by numerous crashes that left only six undamaged cars and by issues with blistering tires that forced the series to call for competition cautions and mandatory tire stops every 30 laps in the latter stages of the race.

The 2017 Kohler Grand Prix was an IndyCar Series event held at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The race served as the 10th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. Hélio Castroneves qualified on pole position for the race, while Scott Dixon took victory.

The 2017 Iowa Corn 300 was an IndyCar Series event held at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa on July 9, 2017. The event served as the 11th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. Will Power qualified on pole, while Hélio Castroneves snapped a three-year winless streak by taking victory.

The 2017 Honda Indy Toronto was an IndyCar Series event held on July 16, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The race served as the 12th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. Frenchman Simon Pagenaud qualified on pole position, while American Josef Newgarden took victory in the race.

The 2017 Honda Indy 200 was an IndyCar Series event held on July 30, 2017, at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio. The race served as the 13th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. Australian Will Power started on pole position for the race, while his American teammate Josef Newgarden took victory.

The 2017 ABC Supply 500 was the 14th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. The race was held on August 20 at Pocono Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Takuma Sato qualified on pole for the race, while Will Power managed to take victory despite being over a lap down at one point.

The 2017 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was the 15th round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season. The race was held on August 26 at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri. Will Power qualified on pole for the race, while Josef Newgarden won the race after gaining the lead on lap 217.

References

1 2 Robinson, Mitch (April 22, 2017). "Power, Penske potent in pole qualifying at Barber once again". IndyCar.com. Birmingham, Alabama: Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
↑ Ayello, Jim (April 23, 2017). "Insider: Suddenly it's Josef Newgarden at the top for Team Penske". The Indianapolis Star . Birmingham, Alabama: Gannett Company . Retrieved April 23, 2017.
↑ Zenor, John (April 23, 2017). "Newgarden wins for Team Penske at Alabama". Associated Press. Birmingham, Alabama: AP Sports. Associated Press . Retrieved April 24, 2017.
↑ Malsher, David (April 23, 2017). "Barber IndyCar: Power puncture hands Newgarden the win". Motorsport.com . Birmingham, Alabama: Motorsport Network . Retrieved April 23, 2017.
↑ Robinson, Mitch (April 23, 2017). "Newgarden drives to second Barber win, first victory with Team Penske". IndyCar.com. Birmingham, Alabama: Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2017.
↑ "Race Report: 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama". theapexracing.co. TheApex.racing LLC. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.
↑ "Indycar 2017 Birmingham". Motorsport.com . Motorsport Network . Retrieved April 24, 2017.

External links

Official Pit Stop Data

Official Race Broadcast

Previous race: 2017 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	IndyCar Series 2017 season	Next race: 2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix
Previous race: 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama	Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama	Next race: 2018 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[Penske_Potent-1] 1 2 Robinson, Mitch (April 22, 2017). "Power, Penske potent in pole qualifying at Barber once again". IndyCar.com. Birmingham, Alabama: Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2017.

[2] Ayello, Jim (April 23, 2017). "Insider: Suddenly it's Josef Newgarden at the top for Team Penske". The Indianapolis Star . Birmingham, Alabama: Gannett Company . Retrieved April 23, 2017.

[3] Zenor, John (April 23, 2017). "Newgarden wins for Team Penske at Alabama". Associated Press. Birmingham, Alabama: AP Sports. Associated Press . Retrieved April 24, 2017.

[4] Malsher, David (April 23, 2017). "Barber IndyCar: Power puncture hands Newgarden the win". Motorsport.com . Birmingham, Alabama: Motorsport Network . Retrieved April 23, 2017.

[5] Robinson, Mitch (April 23, 2017). "Newgarden drives to second Barber win, first victory with Team Penske". IndyCar.com. Birmingham, Alabama: Brickyard Trademarks, Inc. Retrieved April 23, 2017.

[6] "Race Report: 2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama". theapexracing.co. TheApex.racing LLC. April 19, 2017. Retrieved April 24, 2017.

[7] "Indycar 2017 Birmingham". Motorsport.com . Motorsport Network . Retrieved April 24, 2017.

1

1

2017 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

Contents

Report

Qualifying

Race

Results

Qualifying

Race

Championship standings after the race

Related Research Articles

References

External links