2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama

The 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama was the 4th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series. The race was contested over 90 laps at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. It was the 7th time that the IndyCar Series had raced on the circuit. In qualifying, Simon Pagenaud took pole position with a time of 1:06.7762, beating out his teammate Will Power. Sébastien Bourdais set a new track record during the second round of qualifications with a time of 1:06.6001, but was unable to match that pace in the third round of qualifying, relegating him to a fifth place start. Championship contender Juan Pablo Montoya struggled heavily in qualifying, placing 21st and last.[1]

2016 Alabama

Race details
4th round of the 2016 IndyCar Series season
Date	April 24, 2016
Official name	Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Location	Barber Motorsports Park
Course	Permanent racing facility 2.38 mi / 3.83 km
Distance	90 laps 214.2 mi / 344.7 km
Pole position
Driver	Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)
Time	1:06.7262
Fastest lap
Driver	Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Time	1:08.4533 (on lap 66 of 90)
Podium
First	Simon Pagenaud (Team Penske)
Second	Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing)
Third	Josef Newgarden (Ed Carpenter Racing)

The race opened with an incident before it even started. As the field came off the final turn to prepare to take the green flag, Carlos Muñoz tipped Mikhail Aleshin into a spin, sending Aleshin and Jack Hawksworth off into the outside grass. All involved escaped major damage, while the rest of the field ran an extra lap under yellow before the start. It would be the only caution flag of the day. Simon Pagenaud held the lead when the race started, with Power slotting in behind him. Further back in the field, Sébastien Bourdais and Scott Dixon made contact in turn five, sending Dixon into a spin and causing front wing damage to Bourdais' car. Both would continue, but their races were both greatly hampered due to the incident.[2]

Pagenaud dominated the majority of the race. However, in the closing laps, Pagenaud was held up in lap traffic, allowing Graham Rahal to catch up and set a thrilling duel for the lead. On lap 82, Rahal and Pagenaud made contact entering turn seven, sending Pagenaud off course and handing Rahal the lead. The lead would be short lived, as four laps later, Pagenaud caught back up and attempted to make a pass at the exit of turn six. In the middle of the move, Rahal made contact with back-marker Jack Hawksworth, damaging Rahal's front wing and ending any chance of holding off Pagenaud. Pagenaud would extend his lead and take victory by 13.7 seconds. It was Pagenaud second consecutive victory of the season. Despite his damaged wing, Rahal managed to hang on and finish second. Josef Newgarden finished third. Despite his terrible starting position, Juan Pablo Montoya was able to charge through the field and finish in a respectable fifth place.[2] The highest finishing rookie was Alexander Rossi, who came across the line in 15th, the last car on the lead lap.

Report

Key	Meaning
R	Rookie
W	Past winner

Qualifying

Pos	No.	Name	Grp.	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3
1	22	Simon Pagenaud	2	1:06.7630	1:06.8665	1:06.7262
2	12	Will Power W	2	1:06.7274	1:06.7742	1:06.9421
3	21	Josef Newgarden W	2	1:06.7668	1:06.9900	1:07.0283
4	9	Scott Dixon	1	1:06.8810	1:06.6522	1:07.2083
5	11	Sébastien Bourdais	1	1:06.9427	1:06.6001	1:07.2965
6	15	Graham Rahal	1	1:07.1635	1:06.8166	1:07.6388
7	3	Hélio Castroneves W	1	1:07.0125	1:07.0129
8	5	James Hinchcliffe	2	1:07.2048	1:07.0955
9	10	Tony Kanaan	2	1:07.1972	1:07.1715
10	83	Charlie Kimball	1	1:07.1954	1:07.3020
11	8	Max Chilton R	1	1:07.2408	1:08.0728
12	19	Luca Filippi	2	1:07.2243	1:08.3655
13	7	Mikhail Aleshin	1	1:07.2417
14	41	Jack Hawksworth	2	1:07.2360
15	26	Carlos Muñoz	1	1:07.2435
16	14	Takuma Sato	2	1:07.2385
17	18	Conor Daly R	1	1:07.2974
18	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	2	1:07.4449
19	27	Marco Andretti	1	1:07.6570
20	98	Alexander Rossi R	2	1:07.5612
21	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	2	1:07.5627
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Source for individual rounds:[3]

Race Results

Pos	No.	Driver	Team	Engine	Laps	Time/Retired	Pit Stops	Grid	Laps Led	Pts.^1
1	22	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	1:48:42.3334	3	1	84	54
2	15	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda	90	+13.7476	3	6	6	41
3	21	Josef Newgarden W	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	90	+15.8039	3	3		35
4	12	Will Power W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+16.7315	3	2		32
5	2	Juan Pablo Montoya	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+21.1160	3	21		30
6	5	James Hinchcliffe	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	90	+23.6222	3	8		28
7	3	Hélio Castroneves W	Team Penske	Chevrolet	90	+25.5391	3	7		26
8	10	Tony Kanaan	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	90	+27.9007	3	9		24
9	83	Charlie Kimball	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	90	+31.8726	3	10		22
10	9	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	90	+39.0603	3	4		20
11	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay W	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+40.7485	3	18		19
12	27	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+53.3648	3	19		18
13	14	Takuma Sato	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Honda	90	+55.2122	3	16		17
14	26	Carlos Muñoz	Andretti Autosport	Honda	90	+1:03.5214	3	15		16
15	98	Alexander Rossi R	Andretti Herta Autosport	Honda	90	+1:04.8861	3	20		15
16	11	Sébastien Bourdais	KVSH Racing	Chevrolet	89	+1 Lap	5	5		14
17	7	Mikhail Aleshin	Schmidt Peterson Motorsports	Honda	89	+1 Lap	3	13		13
18	19	Luca Filippi	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	89	+1 Lap	3	12		12
19	41	Jack Hawksworth	A. J. Foyt Enterprises	Honda	89	+1 Lap	3	14		11
20	18	Conor Daly R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	89	+1 Lap	3	17		10
21	8	Max Chilton R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Chevrolet	89	+1 Lap	3	11		9
OFFICIAL BOX SCORE

Notes

¹ Points include 1 point for leading at least 1 lap during a race, an additional 2 points for leading the most race laps, and 1 point for Pole Position.

Source for time gaps:[4]

Championship standings after the race

Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Simon Pagenaud 188 2 Scott Dixon 140 3 Juan Pablo Montoya 136 4 Hélio Castroneves 118 5 Tony Kanaan 106

• Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

1. Malsher, David (April 23, 2016). "Pagenuad beats Power to pole at Barber". Motorsport.com. Birmingham, Alabama: Motorsport Network, LLC. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
2. Pruett, Marshall (April 24, 2016). "INDYCAR: Pagenaud holds off Rahal at Barber". Racer.com. Birmingham, Alabama: Racer Media & Marketing, Inc. Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
3. "Race Report: 2016 Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama". theapexracing.co. TheApex.racing LLC. April 19, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
4. Malsher, David (April 24, 2016). ""Pagenaud survives Rahal bump-'n'-run to win at Barber"". Motorsport.com. Birmingham, Alabama: Motorsport Network, LLC. Retrieved July 19, 2016.

External links

Official Pit Stop Data

Official Race Broadcast