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Pagenaud and Aleshin make it double for Schmidt Peterson in Houston

Simon Pagenaud and Mikhail Aleshin have completed a historic double for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports on the street circuit in Houston, Texas. After starting from the third and second place respectively, the abandon of Castroneves has facilitated the double. Hawksworth completed the first podium of the category that includes a Russian driver after Power abandoned with two laps to go.

The race started with all drivers using soft tires, everyone but Bourdais – who started fifth – and Charlie Kimball, who started nineteenth.

The start this time would be launched and Castroneves kept the lead, meanwhile Aleshin went down to third place being overtaken by Pagenaud. The two leaders had escaped and Aleshin defend himself from attacks by Rahal; at the moment that Huertas, the winner of the yesterday’s race, abandoned. As the laps passed Will Power was gaining ground, up to the eleventh from the eighteenth on lap seventeen when Hunter-Reay made ​​his first pit stop. Two laps later Kanaan would do the same.

The drivers were stopping in boxes but no one moved forward and continued keeping their soft tires. Dixon instead would have to abandon due to mechanical problems. Disastrous season for the champion. Bourdais began to be pressured by Power, already sixth, and Montoya. Aleshin took advantage in lap 26 and made the first pit stop, coming out just ahead of Kanaan. Two laps later did so Rahal; the move turned out well, he left the lane getting ahead of the Russian, who was forced to pit stop after breaking his front wing in the touch with Rahal. A shame for the driver of Schmidt Peterson Motorsports and for the runner with the colors of the National Guard. On lap 32 and Castroneves and Pagenaud made ​​their stops.

After completing the first pit-stop, Castroneves was leading the race followed by Pagenaud, Bourdais and Power. Filippi, who returns this weekend to IndyCar, was fifth and at that time the first rookie. The first three went into battle for the first place. A first position mantained by Castroneves from the first corner of the race.

Almost reaching the middle of the race on lap 41, Muñoz left it after puncturing the right rear wheel while he was sixth. This caused the first pace car of the day. The pit lane opened three laps later and Filippi went in for the pit stop, as did Hunter-Reay who was already in his third stop. Meanwhile, most of the drivers raised their hands for the air to flow, as the weather was hot today in Houston was scorching.

The green flag came again on lap 48, returning the competition. This was used by Bourdais to overtake Will Power, who was beginning to suffer tire problems. Pagenaud exceeded Castroneves on lap 49 and Bourdais also tried overtaking the Brazilian, who would left the race after having led throughout. With Castroneves out of the race the pace car was back on track. Castroneves had to settle for two additional bonus points for leading more than half the race. The situation of the race on lap 53 was: leader Pagenaud and Bourdais second followed by Power, Montoya and Kimball.

The green flag came back in lap 55 with Andretti overtaking Sato for seventh place. Andretti continued to improve and overtook Kimball during the next lap. The American was unstoppable and surpassed Power thanks to Push to Pass. Power was suffering with hard tires, they were already on their last laps of life. The same happened to Bourdais but with the soft tires; the Frenchman was overtaken by Montoya on Lap 58. The driver from KVSH Racing was in trouble and would be the next to be overtaken by Andretti. One lap later Power and Kimball would do the same. While Bourdais did not change tires Montoya did it for around lap 61. Bourdais, Kanaan and Briscoe would do it two laps later when Josef Newgarden slammed into protections losing his brakes. This would also react to the leaders of the race, Pagenaud, Andretti, Power and Kimball, who would stop on lap 64 when the yellow flag was declared.
This benefited many drivers, including Aleshin, climbing back to second position behind his teammate. Wilson was third with Hawksworth fourth and Power fifth. Hunter-Reay climbed back to eighth.
The green flag again missing 33 laps to go and Hawksworth took the opportunity to beat Wilson. So did Andretti by impacting the driver from Dale Coyne Racing into the barriers and cause back another pace car.
The race on lap 73 opened many struggles with many exchanged positions. The biggest loser was Andretti, coming down many positions. At the front Power managed to overtake Montoya, with Hawksworth trying to do the same but the British resisted so masterfully that Kimball would be the one who overtook the Colombian. After an impact against the wall of Sato the yellow flag stop the fighting.
When racing again, the race had nine laps to finish. This time the drivers were not so aggressive and did not overtake as in the first instance. Montoya became the fifth place by beating Kimball, but he returned this position two laps later. With only five laps to go Bourdais overtook Hunter-Reay and climbed to seventh. When it seemed that the podium was completed, Power left the race two laps and also Luca Filippi impacted against protections causing another yellow flag. It was the second victory of the season for the French Pagenaud, followed by Aleshin, his teammate, and the Russian driver Hawksworth, making history for the country being the first time of a Russian in an IndyCar podium.
Results:
Pos. Car Driver Team Gap
1 77 Simon Pagenaud FRA Schmidt Peterson Motorsports 90 Laps
2 7 Mikhail Aleshin RUS Schmidt Peterson Motorsports + 7,262
3 98 Jack Hawksworth GBR BHA / BBM with Curb-Agajanian + 17,028
4 83 Charlie Kimball USA Novo Nordisk Chip Ganassi Racing + 18,592
5 11 Sebastien Bourdais FRA KVSH Racing + 20,236
6 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay USA Andretti Autosport + 25,392
7 2 Juan Pablo Montoya COL Team Penske + 30,231
8 8 Ryan Briscoe AUS NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing + 30,591
9 25 Marco Andretti USA Andretti Autosport + 31,325
10 10 Tony Kanaan BRA Target Chip Ganassi Racing + 50,309
11 12 Will Power AUS Team Penske + 72,773
12 19 Justin Wilson GBR Dale Coyne Racing + 1 Lap
13 20 Mike Conway GBR Ed Carpenter Racing + 1 Lap
14 27 James Hinchcliffe CAN Andretti Autosport + 1 Lap
15 16 Luca Filipi ITA Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing + 2 Laps
16 15 Graham Rahal USA Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing + 3 Laps
17 17 Sebastien Saavedra COL KV AFS Racing + 6 Laps
18 9 Scott Dixon AUS Target Chip Ganassi Racing + 12 Laps
19 14 Takuma Sato JAP A.J. Foyt Enterprises + 16 Laps
DNF 67 Josef Newgarden USA Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing Mechanical
DNF 3 Helio Castroneves BRA Team Penske Contact
DNF 34 Carlos Muñoz COL Andretti Autosport – HVM Racing Contact
DNF 18 Carlos Huertas COL Dale Coyne Racing Off Course