Oilpressure

The fifth edition of the IndyCar Grand Prix is now complete. I wouldn’t go so far as to say it was one for the ages, but it was enjoyable – at least in person; but it was definitely the best of the five Grand Prix races here. Will Power won the Grand Prix for the second year in a row and for the third time in four races. He broke the pattern of he and teammate Simon Pagenaud alternating years. but after five races on the IMS road course – those are still the only two that have ever won on it.

This was the 200th IndyCar victory for Team Penske. It was the thrity-third for Will Power, and the thirtieth for Team Penske. All three are incredible records.

There were some good passes and some intriguing track action. We started out watching the race overlooking Turn One from one of the berms.  After that we met some friends on another berm overlooking Turn Four. Each vantage point offered a different perspective.

While Power won for the pole, Scott Dixon moved from starting eighteenth to finish second. Rookie Robert Wickens started second, but then took the lead from Power in the second stint when he was on the alternate red tires while Power was on the Firestone blacks. But in the final stint, Wickens was a sitting duck when the situation was reversed. After a restart for Josef Newgarden’s spin on Lap 56, Dixon caught and passed Wickens relegating Wickens to a third place finish.

After starting third, Sébastien Bourdais finished fourth, while Alexander Rossi rounded out the top five, after starting eighth.

There was more passing in this race than in years past,especially at the end of the front-stretch. That bodes well for what kind of action we can expect in the Indianapolis 500 in two weeks.

On another note, I was able to find the true classic jumbo tenderloin. At least we know they are located in the last concession stand underneath the North Tower Terrace. That’s the good news. The bad news is they now cost $10. Ouch! But taking that first bite was like a little bit of heaven.

I will close with a series of photos that we took on the grid before the race. In keeping with longtime reader Ron Ford’s request, I got a couple of pictures of, not wives but girlfriends of drivers. The first is the girlfriend of James Hinchcliffe, and the second is Josef Newgarden’s girlfriend. But the rest are a hodgepodge of cars, drivers, Victory Lane, the post race press conferfences and one of Team Penske’s Tim Cindric relaxing on the pit wall just before the start of the race.

There will be no post here tomorrow, Mother’s Day Sunday. But I will be here on Monday with my Random Thoughts post on this race. I want to wish every mother out there (including my own) a Happy Mother’s Day! Thanks to everyone for following along this weekend. Enjoy the photos and please come back on Monday.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 12, 2018 at 5:56 pm and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.