Veekay battles his way to twelfth place despite chaos in Detroit

Just one week after the most important race of the year, Rinus VeeKay and his IndyCar colleagues were back in action. Barely having recovered from a memorable edition of the Indianapolis 500, the IndyCar field was already facing its next challenge. For the fourth consecutive year, a three-kilometer stretch of asphalt was laid out in Motor City, characterized by bumps, tight corners, and steep sections.

After a solid 11th-place grid position and an impressive sixth-place finish, VeeKay and his team, Juncos Hollinger Racing, headed to Detroit full of confidence. However, the duo suffered a major setback early in the race weekend: during one of the practice sessions, the Chevrolet engine in VeeKay’s #76 JHR car failed. To make matters worse, VeeKay had to watch helplessly as a red flag situation ruined his best lap during qualifying.

As a result, VeeKay could do no better than an 18th-place starting position, from which he began the race on the hard Firestone compound. After just eight of the scheduled 100 laps, Juncos Hollinger Racing decided to implement an alternative strategy by bringing VeeKay in early for the soft tires, but due to a slightly premature neutralization, this tactical gamble did not pay off.

VeeKay had no choice but to keep his cool. While others lost control—with no fewer than six safety car periods—VeeKay managed to stay out of trouble for a long time. Just before his final pit stop, however, VeeKay was tapped from behind while battling Ferrucci, causing the Dutchman’s white-and-green race car to spin out. As a result, he lost valuable time and several positions. It was a major setback: VeeKay had already climbed up to thirteenth place.

A strong final pit stop and a determined driver ensured the race still took a more positive turn. After the final series of pit stops, VeeKay overtook several competitors, even briefly running in the top ten. At the very end of the race, two rivals turned out to have slightly fresher tires, forcing VeeKay to settle for twelfth place. With that, VeeKay limited the damage after a weekend in which virtually everything seemed to go wrong. Moreover, he moves up one spot in the IndyCar standings: VeeKay is now thirteenth.

“A chaotic race, which is actually to be expected here,” VeeKay said afterward from Detroit. “Unfortunately, both my teammate and I had to deal with an engine issue during practice, which cost us a lot of time. To make matters worse, the red flag came out during qualifying just as I was on a fast lap—that was really frustrating. I had to start in eighteenth place and did everything I could from there to move up.”

“Strategically, the race didn’t go our way. Later in the race, I struggled to find grip, and we lacked the speed to move up any further. It became more a matter of making sure the car stayed intact. I got bumped by Ferrucci and ended up facing the wrong way for a moment, but luckily the car wasn’t badly damaged. The race was incredibly chaotic; I’m glad I still managed to make up quite a few positions from that eighteenth starting spot.”

“Of course, I always want more, but if you look at the weekend as a whole, we got the most out of it. A sixth-place finish in Indianapolis and a twelfth in Detroit isn’t bad at all. The next race is at the Gateway oval: a track that suits me—and Juncos Hollinger Racing—well. We’re back in action this Sunday; I can’t wait,” VeeKay concludes with determination.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES season continues with a race at the Gateway oval in Madison, Illinois. Dutch fans will have to stay up late: the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 will start around 3:00 a.m. on the night of Sunday, June 7, to Monday, June 8, and will be broadcast live on Ziggo Sport.