LESS TALK, MORE POWER

Chevrolet Indycar programme manager Rob Buckner told Autosport pre-season that orders had come from ‘on high’ to prioritise Indianapolis Motor Speedway and GM’S home track, Belle Isle in Detroit, when developing its 2018-spec engine.

Chevy was at a 6-5 disadvantage to Honda in terms of Motown wins since the Grand Prix was revived in 2012, its engine just not having a power curve quite compatible with the 2.35-mile 14-turn course. While Chevy engine builder Ilmor responded magnificently for the Indy 500 this year, its Detroit tally versus Honda is now 8-5, as for the second straight season Honda swept both races.

It was a walkover in race one, Honda runners occupying the top six places. Team Penske’s Will Power, showing no ill effects from his whirlwind media tour following his Indy triumph, was the best of the Chevy drivers in qualifying (sixth) and race (seventh) on Saturday. He felt he couldn’t have done much more; at the start of the race his engine hit the rev-limiter hard enough to trigger the spec ECU into burping an overboost penalty, which allowed both Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda cars past him.

But having dropped from first to third in the championship behind Scott Dixon and Alexander Rossi, Power (above) fought back on Saturday. Again, he was Chevy’s top rep by qualifying third and, when Rossi made his late-race blunder, Power was able to take second, and go back to the top of the points table.

The contrast with his Penske teammates was striking. Josef Newgarden rose from 14th on the grid to finish ninth in the Saturday race, but a dearth of yellows on Sunday meant his strategist Tim Cindric had no room to pull a tricky strategy to help the reigning champion recover from his qualifying gaffe. Understeering into the tyre wall at Turn 11 and causing a red flag cost him his two best laps, which meant he started 19th. Simon Pagenaud was barely more visible, although on Sunday, happier with his car’s handling, he started eighth but fell to 10th at the finish.