Detroit---Colombian Carlos Munoz won his first IndyCar victory Saturday in the opening race of the IndyCar Dual in Detroit, a storm-halted event that went only 47 of 70 scheduled laps.
The 23-year-old South American's best prior finish came in 2013 when he was runner-up at the Indianapolis 500 as a rookie.
American Marco Andretti, Munoz's teammate, led 23 laps but settled for second with France's Simon Pagenaud third followed by Australian pole sitter Will Power and New Zealand's Scott Dixon.
Rainy conditions greeted drivers at the start of the feature on Belle Isle's 2.35-mile, 14-turn street course, leading to four caution periods for crashes over eight of the first 15 laps.
Japan's Takuma Sato took the early lead but Andretti gambled and switched from rain tires to regular rubber ahead of the field and took the lead when rivals pitted later to switch tires.
Andretti, in his 66th start since his last IndyCar win in 2011 at Iowa, was among the last to switch back to rain tires when drizzle returned, waiting until he needed to refuel on lap 41.
The only rival who waited later to make the switch was Munoz, who had six more laps in clear conditions before pitting. Munoz came back on the track with a 22-second edge on Andretti and kept it when the rain returned.
But this time, lightning came with it and officials stopped the race with 23 laps remaining, then later decided not to resume competition, giving Munoz the triumph.
"It feels OK," Munoz said. "I wanted to win the whole thing, the full laps, but I'm happy for the win.
"I had the fuel to go the extra laps and I was lucky. I'm really happy to have my first win."
AFP
