Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama - Two in a row for Pagenaud as Frenchman wins a thriller
- Col Dixon (@ColDixon78)
- Apr 25, 2016
- 4 min read
For the second race in a row, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud goes to victory lane, winning a thrilling Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama and cementing his lead in the 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series Championship.
Very much the man in form, with two second place finishes and a victory in his last outing at Long Beach already this season, the #22 Team Penske driver started on the pole and dominated the first two-thirds of the race at Barber Motorsports Park.
Other than a false start, the 90-lap race stayed caution-free – the second race in a row to stay green for its entirity.
The race was a very tactical affair, with tyre strategy seemingly having a significant influence on proceedings.
After the third round of green-flag pit-stops, last year’s second-place finisher Graham Rahal managed to get ahead of Australian Will Power and mount a late challenge on Pagenaud.
Rahal opted for new red Firestone tyres on his last stint which brought him up to the back of Pagenaud, who in turn found himself stuck behind back-marker Connor Daly who was desperately trying to stay on the lead lap.
On lap 82, in a slightly controversial move, Rahal tried to pass Pagenaud just as he was turning into a tight right-hander and the two collided, sending the Frenchman off the track. However, the race officials deemed it as merely a racing incident.
But four laps later it was Rahal’s turn to get stuck behind backmarkers, allowing Pagenaud to close back up. The Rahal Letterman Lannigan Racing driver then misjudged an overtaking manoeuvre on backmarker Jack Hawksworth and broke his front wing.
Pagenaud saw his opportunity. He passed Rahal and disappeared down the road to take his second win of the season.
Rahal clung on with a damaged car to take second place two years running at Barber.
The 31-year-old Frenchman Pagenaud was winless in his first season with Penske, and finished 11th in the championship in 2015. He said after the race that in his second year with Team Penske he now feels at home and that all of the pieces are fitting into place and he is currently driving the best he has ever driven.
Last year’s Barber winner Josef Newgarden was impressive throughout the day, passing Will Power in turn thirteen on the last lap of the race to claim the final spot on the podium, leaving Power to rue his team’s decision to use the slower harder compound tyres on their last stint, with the Australian finishing fourth.
Target Chip Ganassi’s #9 car, driven by Scott Dixon, had a disappointing day, falling victim to a mistake by Sebastian Bourdais on the restarted third lap.
Bourdais locked his tyres and hit Dixon, spinning him dangerously around in the middle of the corner. He escaped any real damage and did well to work his way back up to tenth place, but it was a long way short of what the New Zealander wanted, having finished on the podium at Barber the previous six years in a row.
Columbian Juan Pablo Montoya enjoyed the most overtakes of any driver in the race. After qualifying in last place, he finished the race fifth largely due to an excellent start, good strategy and aggressive overtaking.
There was some really bad luck for the British boys this weekend. Yorkshireman Jack Hawksworth in the #41 AJ Foyt car had a great start to the weekend, being at the top of the timesheets in the early practice sessions. However, others caught up and Hawksworth could only qualify in 14th position.
His race was ruined before it even began though, when the field were about to take the green flag, Columbian Carlos Munoz shunted into the back of Russian Mikhail Aleshin, who was alongside the Yorkshireman at the start. This caused Aleshin to spin straight into Hawksworth who had to take evasive action and go off-course to avoid major damage.
But, what was perplexing, was that the start of the race was yellow flagged. This should have allowed Hawksworth to cycle back to his original starting position. However, the race officials told Hawksworth, Aleshin and Munoz to all go to the back of the grid for the restart.
Aleshin and Hawksworth must have been angered at this decision as, through no fault of their own, their chances of a good finish at Barber was effectively ruined on a tight track with few passing opportunities. Hawksworth eventually finishing in 19th position.
Max Chilton also sustained damage in an incident on the first lap and consequently struggled all race with an ill-handling car, finishing 21st.
Honda showed some improvement this weekend, with Rahal giving them their highest finish of the season so far. But Rahal said after the race that the Honda still lacked the top-speed of the Chevrolets.
The iconic ‘Month of May’ is up next for the championship, with the series moving to Indianapolis. Firstly for the Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis on Sunday May 14th, a road course utilising much of the infield at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway… followed by the big one!
The 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place on Sunday May 29th, with 33 drivers attempting to qualify for the one they all want to win, and get their face carved onto that historic Borg-Warner trophy.
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