Round 7. Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit, June 2 - 4.
On November 3, 2021, Detroit City Council and Penske Entertainment reached an agreement to move the Detroit Grand Prix back to downtown Detroit and the streets around the Renaissance Center, making last year's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix the final race at Belle Isle and ending a 30 year association with AOWR, which began with CART in 1992. It was also a single race event, ending the series of double headers, which had been held since 2013.
This season's return to the Renaissance Center, will introduce a new feature to IndyCar and to motorsport in general, the dual pit lane, with some cars pitting to the left and some to the right. The pit lane needs to be 1000 feet long and this video clip explains how the idea for a dual pit lane came about.
https://youtu.be/F3x7nH8Jkxo
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History
Detroit was originally the venue for the F1 Detroit Grand Prix, held from 1982-1988. However, it was dropped from the F1 calendar after the 1988 season, when F1's governing body FISA declared the temporary pit area sub standard and because of the drivers dislike of the event due to track disintegration, which was particularly bad that year. It was planned to move the F1 Grand Prix to Belle Isle in 1989 but no agreement was finalised and F1 went to Phoenix instead from 1989-1991. Detroit became a CART event, with the race held on a slightly modified version of the F1 track. The winner of the first race and last race to be held there was Emerson Fittipaldi, driving a Penske PC-18/Chevrolet for Patrick Racing and later a Penske PC-20/Chevrolet for Penske Racing.
In 1992, the event was moved to Belle Isle, where it became a perennial fixture on the CART calendar, up to and including 2001, during which time the track was extended from 2.1 mi (3.4 km), to 2.36 mi (3.80 km) in 1998. The inaugural 1992 CART race was won by Bobby Rahal, driving a Lola T9200/Chevrolet for Rahal/Hogan Racing. The final CART race was won by Hélio Castroneves, driving a Reynard 01i-Honda HR-0 V8t, for Marlboro Team Penske.
The race was revived from 2007-2008, as part of the IRL's IndyCar Series, using the original CART layout but with Turn 8 tightened and was won by Tony Kanaan, driving a Dallara IR-05-Honda V8, for Andretti-Green Racing. However, the race was cancelled from 2009-2011, due to the downturn in Detroit's automotive industry and the city's economic problems. The race was revived again in 2012 and since 2013 the track held the first in a series of double headers, as well as reverting to the 1998-2001 CART layout, with changes to Turns 3, 7 and The Strand. In 2020 the Detroit Grand Prix was cancelled because of the Covid-19 pandemic, returning to the IndyCar calendar last year but as a single race.
The return to the Renaissance Center was due to a number of issues, that had gradually arisen over the years: it was difficult to access on race weekend, there was not enough space to expand seating and the residents of Detroit did not appreciate the section of the park on which the circuit was on, being shut down for the length of time it took to construct and disassemble the circuit facilities.
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Track Layout:
1982 - 1988 F1 Renaissance Center layout:
1992-1997 Original CART Belle Isle layout:
1998-2000 CART and 2013-2022 IndyCar Belle Isle layout:
2023 - onwards new Renaissance Center layout:
Length: 1.700 Miles (2.736 km)
Turns: 9
Race distance: 100 laps, 170 Miles
Lap record:
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Some Trivia:
Driver with the most wins, 3
Will Power. 2014, 2016, 2022
Hélio Castroneves 2000, 2001, 2014.
Scott Dixon 2012, 2018, 2019
The team with the most wins, 9.
Team Penske: 1991, 1994, 2000, 2001, 2014 Race 1 and 2, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022.
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Last Year's Race.
https://www.indycar.com/news/2022/06/06-05-detroit-race
Pole:
Josef Newgarden,
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.
Winner:
Will Power,
Team Penske
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet Indy V6.
Laps: 70
Distance: 164.5 Miles (162.624 km)
Race Time: 1:32:08.8183
Average Speed: 107.111 Mph (172.378 Km/h)
Fastest lap: David Malukas - Dale Coyne Racing w/ HMD Motorsports. Lap 52. 76.4034 sec, 110.728 Mph (178.199 Km/h)
Caution periods: 1
Laps: 70 - 70,
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Practice and Qualifications
Friday, Jun 3 - Practice 1, 3:00 PM - 4:30 PM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Practice 2, 9:05 AM - 10:05 AM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 1 Group 1, 1:20 PM - 1:30 PM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 1 Group 2, 1:45 PM - 1:55 PM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Round 2, 2:10 PM - 2:20 PM ET
Saturday, Jun 4 - Qualifications - Firestone Fast 6, 2:35 PM - 2:50 PM ET
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Race broadcast:
Sunday, Jun 4.
NBC, 3:00 PM ET, 7:00 PM UTC
Sky Sports F1, 8:00 PM BST