IndyCar Phoenix Grand Prix Results: Simon Pagenaud wins

Simon Pagenaud capitalized on the bad luck of his competitors to win IndyCar’s Phoenix Grand Prix in dominating fashion. Here are the full race results.

Defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud launched himself back into the 2017 conversation with a surprising win in Saturday’s Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix, after everything seemed to go his way.

Simon Pagenaud qualified in fifth place for IndyCar’s first oval course race of the year. But when Mikhail Aleshin spun in the second turn of Lap 1 and collected four other cars with him, including points leader Sebastien Bourdais, everything blew wide open.

The No. 1 Team Penske Chevrolet lurked quietly in the Top 5, but it was Simon Pagenaud’s decision to stay out when the leaders made their second round of green flag pit stops that won him the Phoenix Grand Prix.

As he assumed the lead, Takuma Sato slammed into the wall and brought out another caution, which put Simon Pagenaud a lap ahead of everyone else still in the field. He remained in control for the rest of the night and by virtue of Bourdais’ DNF, is the new IndyCar championship leader.

Second-place starter Will Power finished second as well, but the real story of the night was the success of third-place JR Hildebrand. Driving with a broken bone in his hand, Hildebrand qualified third and was charging forward all night long for his first podium finish since returning to IndyCar full time.

Only four cars finished the Phoenix Grand Prix on the lead lap. Polesitter Helio Castroneves came in fourth, followed by defending race winner Scott Dixon in fifth. Oval specialist Ed Carpenter, who began the night at the rear of the field, also took advantage of the breaks to come in seventh.

Below are the complete results from the 2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix:

1 – Simon Pagenaud
2 – Will Power
3 – JR Hildebrand
4 – Helio Castroneves
5 – Scott Dixon
6 – Tony Kanaan
7 – Ed Carpenter
8 – Charlie Kimball
9 – Josef Newgarden
10 – Carlos Munoz
11 – Ed Jones
12 – James Hinchcliffe
13 – Ryan Hunter-Reay
14 – Conor Daly
15 – Alexander Rossi
16 – Takuma Sato
17 – Mikhail Aleshin
18 – Marco Andretti
19 – Sebastien Bourdais
20 – Max Chilton
21 – Graham Rahal

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The Verizon IndyCar Series now heads to Indianapolis to begin the Month of May. The next race is the Grand Prix of Indianapolis at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 13. For the latest IndyCar news throughout the league, follow the Motor Sports category at FanSided here.