Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix revved up Detroit

New general manager, Charles Burns, III had a stellar weekend as the Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix returned to the Motor City over the weekend with three days of world-class auto racing, live music, interactive games and displays all on beautiful Belle Isle Park. The fastest weekend of the summer features cars from the IZOD IndyCar Series, the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series and the Pirelli World Challenge Championship Series.
Spectators were able to catch the race on the newly configured 2.3 mile street course at the Raceway at Belle Isle Park. This year, Belle Isle hosted the first IndyCar doubleheader race weekend with full championship races on both Saturday and Sunday in the Chevrolet Indy Dual in Detroit.

Race winner Scott Dixon, who held on to finish 1.9628 seconds ahead of Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Dario Franchitti, also was joined on the stage by Simon Pagenaud as Honda swept the top three in Chevy’s home race.

The Results
A week earlier, it was Franchitti leading Dixon across the start-finish line at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to win his third Indianapolis 500.

Dixon, the pole sitter, led all 60 laps in the race shortened from 90 laps because of a two-hour red flag for crews to repair three sections of patched asphalt on the 14-turn course. Dixon earned his 28th Indy car victory, passing Johnny Rutherford for 11th on the all-time list. Rick Mears (29) is next up.

“I am super happy for the team – a 1-2 finish for the Target boys for the second week in a row,” Dixon said. “Hats off to the fans who stuck around through something that was totally unexpected. If I could have gotten my gloves off I’d have chewed my nails for sure on those final laps.

“I’d like to give a lot of credit to everyone at INDYCAR and the Detroit staff for getting the track back in shape so we could race. The final 15-lap shootout was exciting for me, so I sure hope the fans liked it. It is great to be back in Detroit and I hope we are here for many years to come – great fans, volunteers and staff. In the end, it was a good week for everyone.”