Harvey and Vautier Survive Caution-Filled Detroit Grand Prix
DETROIT (Sunday, June 2, 2024) – Dale Coyne Racing’s Jack Harvey (#18 INVST Honda) and Tristan Vautier (#51 Falcon Motosports Honda) put in solid performances at the Detroit Grand Prix on Sunday and survived what was a caution-filled race to take the checkered flag 17th and 18th, respectively.
Jack Harvey, #18 INVST, Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Started: 26th
Finished: 17th
• Harvey took advantage of the first caution period to make his first stop on Lap 2 and switch to the alternate Firestone tire.
• He then made his way up the field and was in 21st by the time he entered pit lane for his second stop on Lap 34, once again under caution.
• With rain coming down and the track getting slick, he returned to pit lane two laps later for rain tires.
• Once the rain let up, the track dried quickly, and Harvey took advantage of another caution period to return to slick tires during a Lap 42 caution.
• He was sitting 19th when the race returned to green flag conditions on Lap 46 and he would climb another two positions to 17th when another caution came out later that lap.
• The driver of the #18 INVST car made his final stop on Lap 65, under yellow, and went on to cross the finish line in 17th.
Post Qualifying Quote
“I think we did very well today all things considered. Scoring points was the important thing. We started 26th and finished 17th which is a good result. The guys did a good job in pit lane, I think we beat a couple of cars out every time we were racing with people. There’s a lot of good pieces to this puzzle. We were lacking speed all weekend, that was no secret. I thought the race was going to be tough, it was, but ultimately, we did what we needed to do today, which was stay on the lead lap and stay out of most of the trouble. I was aggressive when I needed to be, I wasn’t aggressive when I didn’t see the risk and reward in the right way and in the end we’re leaving Detroit not satisfied with the pace, maybe a little bit with the result but hoping for a lot more at Road America next weekend.”
Tristan Vautier, #51 Falcon Motorsports, Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
Started: 24th
Finsihed: 18th
• Vautier made his first pit stop during the second caution of the 100-lap race, heading to pit lane on lap 17 from 25th.
• The Frenchman then elected to stay out and on dry weather tires when others headed to pit lane for rain tires during an 8-lap caution that started on Lap 34.
• Unlike a good portion of the field, Vautier didn’t switch to rain tires when the track got slippery.
• The call to not pit for wet weather tires put him in eighth place to take the green flag on Lap 46.
• Unfortunately for the driver of the #51 Honda, he fell to 22nd after the restart when he got pushed into the Turn 5 run off when avoiding contact with another car that dove into the turn.
• Vautier and his team then took a gamble and pit for fuel only on Lap 56 during another caution period.
• With the amount of caution laps up until that point, the team was hoping to make it to the end on fuel while double stinting the tires.
• The gamble placed him third and while he held off his competitors for a handful of laps, the waning alternate tires caused him to lose positions as the race went on.
• Additionally, with the race remaining green from a Lap 74 restart to the end, Vautier had to pit for fuel and tires on Lap 96.
• He crossed the finish line in 18th, right behind his teammate.
Post Qualifying Quote
“It was a tough day. It was chaos out there and I tried to stay out of trouble. The guys took a big gamble on strategy, it almost worked. Unfortunately, we couldn’t make it to the end on fuel and doing the double stint on the tires was tough on the alternate tire. It didn’t work out, but we gave it a good go. It was great to be back. I felt we were solid. We lacked a bit of pace over the weekend but overall positive. We almost got a top 10 had we managed to pull off that strategy call.”
Next up: The XPEL Grand Prix at Road America, June 9, 2024.
