Josef Newgarden took pole position ahead of Takuma Sato and the two Meyer Shank Racing drivers, Simon Pagenaud and Helio Castroneves, while Patricio O’Ward and rookie David Malukas were on the third row. Romain Grosjean was 12th at the start.
Newgarden kept the lead at the start, while Pagenaud and Castroneves passed Sato. Behind, Alexander Rossi showed great form. The future McLaren driver gained several positions, as did Felix Rosenqvist, who started from the back of the grid.
Graham Rahal’s race was cut short after RLL Letterman driver crashed into the wall.
Pagenaud quickly appeared threatening on Newgarden thanks to its soft tyres, but it was the drivers on the hard tires who shone after the tenth lap.
Chip Ganassi Racing drivers, Scott Dixon and Alex Palou came back to the benefit of their tyres, as did Will Power, who took second place on lap 12 behind Newgarden. Kyle Kirkwood, another rookie, was also back in the top 10 at this point in the race, thanks to the first stops by the drivers on soft tyres.
Power leads the race
Power took the lead on lap 14, and Dixon quickly took advantage of it to take second place at the expense of Newgarden, who was making his first stint on soft rubber last. Rossi was also in full recovery, at the rate of three seconds per lap on Newgarden.
Palou and Kirkwood passed Newgarden on lap 15, and Rossi grabbed fifth position on lap 16. Scott McLaughlin went off the track on lap 18 and damaged his Dallara trying to leave the escape route. Newgarden stopped, as did O’Ward.
Kirkwood pitted on lap 24 and emerged in the top 10, while Rossi changed tires on the following lap. After a battle with Conor Daly, he took over the track eighth, ahead of Kirkwood.
Power went through the pits and came out third, well behind Dixon and Palou, who still had to stop. Castroneves suffered electrical problems on the steering wheel. The Brazilian dismounted after attempting a change of steering wheel, which did not improve anything.
Dixon and Palou stopped on lap 27, and they came out in that order, behind Power. Rinus VeeKay, Malukas and Daly then made their save, as did Jack Harvey. Rossi and Kirkwood therefore inherited fourth and fifth places, ahead of Newgarden and Sato.
Rain threatens but stays away from Detroit
At the halfway point, Power was leading ahead of Dixon and Palou, Rossi and Kirkwood. Newgarden followed ahead of O’Ward, Pagenaud, Ericsson and Colton Herta in the top 10. Grosjean was 16th. Rain was near but the showers seemed to stay away from the Belle Isle circuit.
Dixon and Palou were on soft tires for this second stint, and it was from the 39th lap that the “crossover point”, i.e. the moment when the hard rubbers became more efficient, took place. .
Rossi took the opportunity to take third place in Palou, and set off in pursuit of Dixon. The three men were 13 seconds behind Power who, like Rossi, still had to put on the soft tires.
Palou stopped, but not Dixon, who held one more lap. Rossi had already passed second, and Newgarden and O’Ward stopped at the same time as Dixon, as did Herta. These drivers had left to put on the hard tires one last time, 25 laps from the end of the race.
Rossi stopped and was able to get back on track ahead of Dixon. Power was still leading but still had to stop and put on the hard tyres, which made it the relay of all the dangers for the Penske driver.
Kirkwood slammed into the wall after his car stalled out of the corner, and it broke his left rear wheel. Driver AJ Foyt was forced to retire, while Power pulled out for his final stop.
The Australian emerged clearly ahead of his rival, with a margin of 16 seconds, and Rossi was stuck behind Dalton Kellett. But the strategy was to the advantage of the driver Andretti, who saw Dixon threatening at 1.5 behind him.
A powered limit switch for Power
With 16 laps to go, Rossi was 13.9 behind Power, and Dixon 16.9. No yellow flag had yet come out, and a neutralization would be fatal to the Penske pilot. The rain seemed to be receding, however, as the sun returned to Detroit.
Six laps from the goal, Rossi had moved up to 9 seconds behind Power. The pace of the Australian was sufficient at that time, but the last laps were going to be crucial with the deterioration of the soft rubber.
Four laps from the finish, Rossi was still eight seconds behind, because of the stragglers. He then had to take two seconds from his rival on each lap. Gaps that we had however seen earlier in the race, when Rossi came back to Newgarden in the first stint.
The gap began to collapse at the start of the last three laps, since there were only 6.5 seconds between the two drivers. Power was stuck behind Harvey, and the gap was still 4.5 at the start of the penultimate lap.
Last year, O’Ward passed Newgarden in the final loops, but the mission seemed more difficult for Rossi with less than two laps to go. The pace remained good for Power as he still had a 2.5 lead over Rossi at the start of the last lap.
He certainly missed a lap for Rossi to get his first victory since June 23, 2019, and it was Will Power who won ahead of Rossi. Dixon completes the podium ahead of Newgarden and O’Ward.
VeeKat hit the wall on the last lap. Pagenaud finished in the top 10, two places behind former championship leader Marcus Ericsson, who gave way to Power for three points. For his part, the French will surely be disappointed with a strategy that did not work, while Grosjean finished 17th.