2022 NTT Indycar TAG Heuer Award Standings after Detroit Grand Prix [7/17]

After the final race for IndyCar on Detroit’s Belle Isle, we can recap the big movers of the Detroit Grand Prix. Three drivers were able to secure double digit gains in the race led by, the winner, Team Penske’s Will Power – who on a two-stop strategy was able to hold onto his red alternate tires to fend off Alexander Rossi. Tying Power was Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist with an impressive climb from 25th after a tough qualifying session to finish P10 at the end of the race. Last person in the double digits was the 2021 IndyCar Champion Alex Palou who gained 12 spots from his 18th place starting position to recover to a P6 on the Day

The unfortunate big losses on the day were incurred by the 4-time Indy 500 Champ Helio Castroneves who had a gearbox failure just 21 laps into the race saw him drop 21 positions. And Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing’s Takuma Sato who was caught in the middle of the 2 and 3 stop strategies that left him finishing P13 after an impressive front row starting position.

On the year, the Points leader Will Power and rookie Christian Lundgaard are tied for P1 in the Aggregate position standings which counts the overall change in positions from beginning to end of race. Both drivers have gained an impressive 26 positions which is about 3.7 average positions gained per race.

NTT IndyCar Series uses a calculation for the TAG HEUER Award by only counting the positive positions gained over the course of the year. The leader of that category is Meyer Shank Racing’s Simon Pagenaud who has gained 46 positions on the year over the course of four plus position races.

As we look ahead to the next race at Road America we can look at who had been trending in the right direction on natural terrain road courses. Simon Pagenaud (+31), Scott Dixon (+21) and Will Power (+19) are all drivers to keep an eye on as we head to Road America as they have been the biggest movers over the course of the season on the two road courses so far.