2012 Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix

The IndyCar series had not visited Detroit since 2008, when Justin Wilson won the race after taking the lead in the last 20 laps when Hélio Castroneves was penalized for blocking him. The following year's scheduled race was cancelled due to lack of funding, and the failure to secure sponsorship for the event. In September 2011, the Detroit City Council approved plans for the race to be held on the weekend of June 1–3, 2012. A month later, it was confirmed that the race would be run in 2012, sponsored by the Chevrolet arm of Detroit-based manufacturer General Motors. was instrumental in the return of IndyCar to Detroit. Roger Penske was one of the main advocates of the series returning to Detroit, and his company provided $6 million to improve the course on Belle Isle Park. and the lighting and drainage were both repaired in the lead up to the event. The race was scheduled for the weekend after the Indianapolis 500, a slot that had previously been held by the Firestone 550 at the Texas Motor Speedway. The move created tension with Eddie Gossage, the track director in Texas. Prior to the race, Will Power was the points leader, with 200 points, while Castroneves and James Hinchcliffe each had 164 points to place second and third respectively. The configuration was the long track used in 2007 and 2008. It is a tight street course on which overtaking is difficult, and previewing the race, Tony DiZinno claimed it had "often been a mundane race." Four racers participating in the 2012 event were previous winners on the course: Castroneves, Dario Franchitti, Tony Kanaan and Wilson. In contrast, 11 of the 25 drivers had not previously participated in an IndyCar race at Belle Isle, and four of the drivers had only competed once: in the 2008 race. and provided a boost to the series, with the race receiving its highest Nielsen rating since 2008. The series hoped to maintain that momentum into the Detroit race, but instead focus shifted to off-track issues when the series' CEO, Randy Bernard posted a message on Twitter claiming that some of the team owners were trying to oust him. The coup was based upon the owners' disgruntlement with the increasing cost of the Dallara DW12 chassis, and fines given out for the use of unapproved parts in races earlier in the season. Bernard spoke to the team owners on the Saturday prior to the Detroit race, and reported that the matter was settled, in an attempt to place attention back on the race, but by that stage, the media had spent Friday and Saturday investigating the coup, rather than previewing the race and the track. ==Practice and qualifying==

Two practice sessions were held on the Friday before the race: each lasted for an hour. A third session, also an hour long, took place on the Saturday morning prior to qualifying. The first session provided limited opportunities to the drivers due to heavy rain and standing water on the course. As a result, only 11 of the 25 entrants participated in the session, of which Takuma Sato set the fastest time. Conditions improved during the second practice, and all 25 drivers set times. Will Power was quickest; marginally over a tenth of a second faster than Wilson. Ryan Briscoe, Simon Pagenaud and Tony Kanaan completed the top five, all recording times within half a second of Power. In the third practice, Scott Dixon recorded the fastest time, trailed by Power and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Briscoe and Wilson also lapped the track in under 72 seconds to finish among the five quickest drivers. missed out on reaching the Firestone Fast Six by just four thousandths of a second.Qualifying took place over three rounds: the drivers were split into two groups for the first round, in which the top six from each group progressed to the next round. Dixon was the fastest from the first group, followed by Pagenaud and Hunter-Reay within half a second of his time. Wilson, Sébastien Bourdais and Sato were the other drivers to advance to the second round. In the second group, Power set the fastest overall time in the first round, and Alex Tagliani was close behind him, also setting a faster time than Dixon. Graham Rahal, E. J. Viso, Hélio Castroneves and Briscoe also qualified for the next stage. Power was once again the fastest driver in the second round, leading Dixon and Tagliani. The top-three drivers were separated by less than a tenth of a second. The other three drivers to continue to the third round, the "Firestone Fast Six", were Pagenaud, Viso and Hunter-Reay. Rahal, who finished in seventh was just four thousandths of a second behind Hunter-Reay. The top six drivers were split evenly by engine; half running Honda engines, and the other half Chevrolet. It was also the first time in the 2012 season that six different teams were represented in the third qualifying round. Hunter-Reay and Power traded fastest times early in the session before Pagenaud and Viso went quicker. Power and Dixon then set times under 71 seconds, and then improved upon their own laps to finish as the top-two. Dixon set the fastest time; 1:10.3162: just four thousandths of a second quicker than Power. Tagliani was third, joined on the second row by Pagenaud, while Viso and Hunter-Reay qualified on the third row of the grid. Rubens Barrichello was also given a ten-place penalty for changing his chassis between qualifying and the race, placing him 24th. Qualifying classification qualified first, and led the race throughout to record his first win of 2012. ==Race==

The race, the sixth of the season, began at 3:30 p.m. EST, Scott Dixon held his lead from pole position, with Will Power behind him. Justin Wilson made light contact with a wall during the first lap of the race, and pitted shortly after due to a flat right-rear tire. The team discovered additional damage to the suspension that required lengthy repairs, but he was able to return to the race. During the fifth lap, some teams reported that parts of the track were deteriorating, but it was not felt that any action needed to be taken. Three laps later, Rubens Barrichello, who had gained four places started suffering mechanical problems, which forced him to retire from the race after eleven laps. Wilson set the fastest lap of the race during the ninth lap, completing a circuit in 1 minute 12.0651 seconds. Sébastien Bourdais, who, along with Alex Tagliani and Oriol Servia, was running his first street race of the season without a Lotus engine, had made it to seventh before suffering mechanical problems which curtailed his race after 24 laps. struck track debris on lap 39, forcing his retirement and a red flag. On lap 39, James Hinchcliffe fell victim to the deteriorating track. Going through turn six, he struck a large piece of asphalt that had lifted from the track. After hitting his front wing, it then went under the car and propelled it into the air. With no traction, Hinchcliffe was unable to control his car and was sent into the tire wall. Hinchcliffe was angry after the race, and claimed that the track should have been fixed earlier: "The fact that (race control) let it go as far as they did, essentially waiting for someone to crash as a result of it before they did something, is very unsafe." He said that the track had lifted much earlier in the race, but that the drivers had been forced to keep avoiding the debris, which was on the racing line. The two crashes drew a full track caution, and the cars drove behind the safety car for six laps before a red flag was given on lap 45. The track had been patched up prior to the weekend's racing using a synthetic rubber compound, and it had remained secure throughout the practice and qualifying sessions, as well as the Grand-Am and Indy Lights races. However, the Dallara DW12's aerodynamic ground force effects acted to pull the compound out. After assessing the track conditions, the decision was made to attempt to repair the track and restart the race. Marshalls and track workers started to pull the loose strips up from the track, Rahal suffered clutch problems on the restart, which placed him two laps down, while the other drivers ran behind the safety car, during which the marshalls showed the areas in which repair work had been conducted. Just prior to the restart, there was a short rain shower which made the track slightly slippery. Power lost one position on the restart, dropping to third. Franchitti, who was the closest driver to the front to have the softer compound red tires fitted gained two positions on the restart, moving up to fourth. The restart only lasted for six corners, before Castroneves spun in the wet conditions, and was then struck by Ed Carpenter. On the next corner, Josef Newgarden had slid into the wall and stalled, and a full-track caution was again called. Race results Notes: Points include 1 point for pole position and 2 points for most laps led. ==Post-race==

The race, which was moved from ABC to ESPNEWS because of the red flag delay, averaged 843,189 viewers, earning a 0.6 Nielsen rating. The final ten laps were significantly lower, averaging just 157,137 viewers. Bud Denker, the chairman of the Detroit Grand Prix Association announced shortly after the race that the track would be improved and lengthened for 2013. He suggested that most of the track around turn ten would be removed and relaid, and significant work would be carried out in turns five, six, seven, eleven and twelve. The track would be extended between turns two and five, using a long straight which would allow cars to reach 175–180 miles per hour. The result of the alterations would be an additional of track, creating a circuit. ==Standings after the race==

• Note: Only the top five positions are included for the driver standings. ==References==