IndyCar: Simon Pagenaud wins second race of Detroit weekend
Simon Pagenaud followed Mike Conway into victory lane when he won the second race of the Indy Dual in Detroit.
Last Updated: 03/06/13 5:25pm
Pagenaud's victory was his first in the IZOD-sponsored series and the 100th for Honda as an Indy Car manufacturer.
The Frenchman becomes the sixth different winner - from six different countries - in seven races and the third first-time winner this season.
Multiple cautions made the race something of a lottery but Pagenaud led the last 12 laps after James Jakes made a late pit-stop, eventually having to settle for a career-best second place finish, less than a second behind the winner.
Race one winner Mike Conway finished third ahead of Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti.
"It's unbelievable. I don't know how we did it," said Pagenaud. "It's a great feeling. One I hope of more to come. I started karting when I was eight so it's been 21 years of hard work to finally win an IndyCar race.
"It was the toughest race of my life (in Race 1 on June 1 when he started eighth but finished 12th) and my engineers improved everything. The car was just super fast and strategy was awesome. Every restart we just went forward."
