Newman-Haas-Lanigan's Justin Wilson took his first victory today at the Belle Isle circuit in Detroit after Helio Castroneves was penalized after allegedly blocking the Briton earlier in the race.
Before that controversial call by the officials, Castroneves looked as though he was about to take his second win of the season and his third at Detroit. Right from the start, Scott Dixon and Castroneves had pulled away distancing themselves from the rest of the field until Dixon decided to make an early visit to the pit under a yellow while the majority stayed on the track. By the time the Ganassi driver came back out on the track, he had fallen down to the 18th spot, a long way out from Castroneves. Wilson had passed Servia for second in the pits and he launched an immediate attack on Castroneves when racing resumed. The Brazilian held on to the lead, but his defensive tactics attracted the ire of the race officials, and he was ordered to allow Wilson past. He duly obeyed the instruction, allowing Wilson to sweep past on lap 73. Wilson and Castroneves finished way up in front of third place Tony Kanaan, followed by KV Racing's Oriol Servia, Scott Dixon and Rahal Letterman's Ryan Hunterreay in sixth. Bruno Junqueira had another great race for Dale Coyne with seventh, in front of Wilson's teammate Will Power. Bad luck for Tomas Scheckter after his Luczo Dragon car broke a half-shaft on the opening lap and also for returnee Alex Tagliani, whose Conquest Dallara had gearbox problems in the early stages. Race Results: Pos Driver Team Time 1. Justin Wilson Newman/Haas/Lanigan 87 laps 2. Helio Castroneves Penske + 4.4058 3. Tony Kanaan Andretti Green + 17.6815 4. Oriol Servia KV + 26.5468 5. Scott Dixon Ganassi + 27.7185 6. Ryan Hunter-Reay Rahal Letterman + 28.2688 7. Bruno Junqueira Dale Coyne + 28.6815 8. Will Power KV + 28.8776 9. Ryan Briscoe Penske + 35.5244 10. AJ Foyt IV Vision + 38.1040 11. Hideki Mutoh Andretti Green + 38.3811 12. Darren Manning Foyt + 44.4662 13. Graham Rahal Newman/Haas/Lanigan + 47.8028 14. Ed Carpenter Vision +1:01.2770 15. Mario Moraes Dale Coyne + 1 lap 16. Danica Patrick Andretti Green + 1 lap 17. Vitor Meira Panther + 4 laps 18. Marco Andretti Andretti Green + 6 laps 19. Buddy Rice Dreyer & Reinbold + 11 laps 20. Dan Wheldon Ganassi + 23 laps 21. Tomas Scheckter Luczo Dragon + 31 laps 22. Alex Tagliani Conquest + 33 laps 23. Milka Duno Dreyer & Reinbold + 41 laps 24. EJ Viso HVM + 55 laps 25. Jaime Camara Conquest + 71 laps
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