Belle Isle Race Report

The Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix went green on Sunday under clear blue skies as fans packed the stands. Midway through the race things took a turn as pieces of the track began to come loose causing a debris littered racing surface, eventually leading to a red flag and rain clouds. Safety crews and track worked worked to repair the track surface and after nearly two hours under the red flag, the cars restarted for a 15-lap finish (the race distance was shortened from 90 laps to 60) on a rain speckled racetrack.

Ryan Hunter-Reay spent much of the first 30 laps of the race trying to get past the No. 5 car of EJ Viso while still trying to save fuel to make the 90 laps on only two pit stops. On Lap 18, Hunter-Reay gave a foreshadowing of what was to come by reporting “I just ran over something big.” That “something” was the track sealer beginning to come loose from the track surface.

Hunter-Reay finished Sunday’s race in the seventh position, he ran as high as fourth in the No. 28 Chevy.

“Unfortunately, we got really hung up behind Viso in the whole first stint and couldn’t get by him. We ended up finding out that we had some mechanical problems that haunted us all day. We were kind of fighting with one arm behind our back. It is good to still be able to salvage points, even after a day like today. Thanks to my Andretti Autosport team for their work and also to DHL, Sun Drop and Circle K.”