The 2007 Detroit Indy Grand Prix presented by Firestone was an IRL IndyCar Series open-wheel race that was held on September 2, 2007 at the Raceway at Belle Isle in Belle Isle Park, Michigan. It was the 16th and penultimate round of the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series and the 21st running of the event (first under Indy Racing League (IRL) sanctioning). Originally scheduled for 90 laps, the race was shortened to 89 laps because of a time limit. The race was won by Tony Kanaan for the Andretti Green Racing team. Danica Patrick finished second, and Dan Wheldon clinched third.
Hélio Castroneves earned his seventh pole position of the season in qualifying, a record-high for the series, and led the race for the first 26 laps. Dario Franchitti look over the lead when Castroneves pitted, and maintained it until lap 49 when he made a pit stop and relinquished the position to Buddy Rice. Rice held the lead for seven laps before it passed to Patrick, and then back to Franchitti. Kanaan took the lead on lap 70, staying on the track while most of the field pitted during a caution, and remained at the front for the rest of the race. Behind him, Rice was running in second position, but on the penultimate lap of the race, he ran out of fuel and slowed suddenly, causing Scott Dixon to collide with him, and spin the pair into the barriers. Franchitti, who was running just behind the pair, collided into Dixon, but kept running and finished in sixth.
There were six cautions and five lead changes among five drivers during the race. It was Kanaan's 12th win in the IndyCar Series and his fifth (and final) win of the 2007 season. The final result gave Franchitti the lead in the Drivers' Championship by three points over Dixon with one race remaining in the season.
Background
The Detroit Indy Grand Prix had not been held since 2001 because the contract between event promoter International Management Group and Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART), the organization that sanctioned the race since 1989, had expired that year and attendance rates were dwindling. In September 2006, team owner Roger Penske and Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick announced that the event would debut on the IRL IndyCar Series schedule on September 2, 2007, with an American Le Mans Series race being held the day prior. Penske spearheaded the efforts to bring the race back following the successes of the 2005 MLB All-Star Game and Super Bowl XLI in the city. The race was to be held over a distance of 90 laps and on the 14-turn, Raceway at Belle Isle, a street circuit in Belle Isle Park, Michigan, United States, which had been slightly altered to give drivers more passing opportunities. It was the 16th of 17 open-wheel races for the 2007 IRL IndyCar Series and the last non-oval track race of the season. The 18 cars that were entered for the race used Honda Indy V8 engines, Firestone tires, and Dallara IR-05 chassis.
Heading into the Detroit Indy Grand Prix, Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) driver Scott Dixon led the Drivers' Championship with 560 points, four more than second-place Dario Franchitti. Tony Kanaan trailed Dixon by 62 points, while Dan Wheldon and Sam Hornish Jr. rounded out the top-five with 414 and 409 points, respectively. The season's previous round, the Motorola Indy 300 at Infineon Raceway, saw controversy erupt between Andretti Green Racing (AGR) teammates Franchitti and Marco Andretti. As Andretti accelerated out of pit road on the 68th lap, Franchitti collided into the rear of his car in the second turn. Franchitti opted not to repair the damage that he sustained to his front wing, which caused his pace to diminish and allowed Dixon to pass him for the win and the championship lead shortly after a late restart. Days after the race, Franchitti revealed he had not yet talked to AGR team owner Michael Andretti because he "wasn't impressed" with how Andretti blamed him for the collision.
Hélio Castroneves, who won the last two CART races in Detroit, took part in a compatibility test conducted by the Indy Racing League (IRL) at Belle Isle on July 24. He was pleased with the alterations that were made to the circuit and predicted: "You're not going see someone get out in front and fly away. The race is going to be awesome to watch." Dixon acknowledged that some sections of the track surface had been smoothed out and wanted to begin the weekend "with an open mind and race it as if it was any other event." 1999 Detroit Grand Prix winner Dario Franchitti felt that his and AGR teammate Tony Kanaan's experience at the track would provide them an advantage over other drivers at the beginning of the first practice session, but by the end of the session, everyone would become acquainted to the circuit.
Practice Three practice sessions preceded the race on Sunday; the first session on Friday morning lasted 120 minutes, while the second session on Friday afternoon and the third session on Saturday morning lasted 60 minutes. Additionally, the 18 drivers were split into two groups for the last two sessions, with each group being allowed 30 minutes of track time. The groups were determined by the lap times of the first session.
Franchitti lapped the quickest time of the first practice session at 1 minute and 13.3447 seconds, with Castroneves, Kanaan, Dixon, and Sam Hornish Jr. completing the top five. The start of the session was delayed by seven minutes because of repairs to the track. The session was stopped three times, the first for Kanaan spinning in turn three, the second for debris in turn four, and the third for Buddy Rice crashing into a wall in turn two. Dixon spun into the tire barrier in turn three and damaged the rear of his car ten minutes into the session, though no caution flag was issued because he drove away without stalling his car.
In the second practice session, Castroneves set the fastest overall lap on Friday with a time of 1 minute, 13.3130 seconds, beating Franchitti, Dixon, Kanaan, and Marco Andretti. The session ended under caution as Hornish Jr. contacted the turn-three wall. Dixon was the fastest driver of the third practice session with a 1 minute, 12.4039-second lap; Castroneves, Kanaan, Franchitti, and Andretti took the remaining top-five spots. Dixon and Rice were allotted ten extra minutes of practice because of their incidents the previous day. In the first group, Sarah Fisher's car stopped on-course in the ninth turn, while in the second group, Franchitti wrecked into the turn-six barrier.
Qualifying The qualifying session was held on Saturday, two hours after the third practice session concluded, and featured two rounds. In the first round, each driver was to complete one timed lap around the circuit. The six fastest drivers would advance to the second round, named Firestone Fast Six, in which they were given ten minutes to set their fastest laps. With a lap time of 1 minute and 12.0688 seconds, Castroneves earned his 23rd career pole position in the IndyCar Series and his seventh of the season, breaking a series record set by Billy Boat in 1998 for the most poles in a single season. Franchitti qualified in second place with a time that was 0.0742 seconds slower than Castroneves'. Dixon took third, Kanaan fourth, and Ryan Hunter-Reay fifth, while the remaining top-ten drivers were Andretti, Hornish Jr., Darren Manning, Tomas Scheckter, and Vítor Meira. The starting grid was completed by Danica Patrick, Ed Carpenter, A. J. Foyt IV, Kosuke Matsuura, Rice, Dan Wheldon, Scott Sharp, and Fisher. After qualifying, Castroneves attributed his speed to his team and was anticipatory for the race.
Qualifying classification + Final qualifying results Driver Team Time 13 Hélio Castroneves Team Penske 1:12.0688 103.4011 227 Dario Franchitti Andretti Green Racing 1:12.1430 103.2952 39 Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing 1:12.5830 102.6693 411 Tony Kanaan Andretti Green Racing 1:12.8451 102.2994 517 Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman Racing 1:13.3434 101.6045 626 Marco Andretti Andretti Green Racing 1:13.3840 101.5486 76 Sam Hornish Jr. Team Penske 1:13.6224 101.2197 814 Darren Manning A. J. Foyt Racing 1:14.1814 100.4568 92 Tomas Scheckter Vision Racing 1:14.2015 100.4299 104 Vítor Meira Panther Racing 1:14.2889 100.31110 117 Danica Patrick Andretti Green Racing 1:14.4061 100.15311 1220 Ed Carpenter Vision Racing 1:15.1738 99.13012 1322 A. J. Foyt IV Vision Racing 1:15.5708 98.61013 1455 Kosuke Matsuura Panther Racing 1:15.5998 98.57214 1515 Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:15.7886 98.32615 1610 Dan Wheldon Chip Ganassi Racing 1:15.8588 98.23516 178 Scott Sharp Rahal Letterman Racing 1:16.2611 97.71717 185 Sarah Fisher Dreyer & Reinbold Racing 1:20.8682 92.15018 Sources:
Warm-up A 30-minute warm-up session was held early Sunday morning ahead of the race. Castroneves' 1 minute, 13.5251 second-lap was the fastest of the session, ahead of Dixon, Franchitti, Kanaan, and Scheckter. Six minutes into the session, Scheckter caused the first of three cautions when he spun in the third turn. Castroneves later hit the rear of Dixon's car at the third turn, sending him spinning into the tire barrier. The session ended with Wheldon crashing into the turn-eight tire barrier, sustaining damage to the left-rear of his car and the rear wing.
Race Live television coverage of the race in the United States was aired on ABC and began on Sunday at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−04:00). Weather conditions at the start of the race were warm and sunny, with air temperatures recorded at and track temperatures at . Larry Jutte, the vice president of Product Purchasing for American Honda Motor Company, commanded the drivers to start their engines, three-time Indianapolis 500 winner Johnny Rutherford drove the pace car, and Detroit Pistons president Joe Dumars waved the green flag to start the race. Castroneves maintained his pole position advantage to lead the first lap, while Kanaan overtook Dixon for third and Andretti contacted the barrier in the sixth turn as he passed Ryan Hunter-Reay for fifth. Over the next ten laps, Castroneves extended his lead over Franchitti to 1.3 seconds. Wheldon, meanwhile, made an early pit stop for fuel on the eighth lap, as did Rice three laps later. Castroneves' lead was condensed by the 13th lap as he lapped Sarah Fisher.