The 2016 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix was the second round of the

2016 IndyCar Series The 2016 Verizon IndyCar Series was the 21st season of the IndyCar Series and the 105th season of American open wheel racing. It included the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500. Scott Dixon entered as the reigning Drivers' Champion, while Ch ...

season and the first oval race of the season. It took place on April 2, 2016 at

Phoenix International Raceway Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...

in Avondale,

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

. The race marked the return of open wheel racing to the course, as IndyCar had not visited Phoenix since

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

Team Penske Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...

driver

Hélio Castroneves Hélio Castroneves (; born Hélio Alves de Castro Neves; 10 May 1975) is a Brazilian auto racing driver. He has won the Indianapolis 500 a record-equalling four times: in 2001, 2002, 2009, and 2021. He won the 2021 24 Hours of Daytona wit ...

grabbed pole position for the race with a two lap time of 38.2604 seconds. In the process, he set a new single lap track record with a time of 19.0997 seconds. One incident occurred in qualifying when Carlos Muñoz spun and crashed in turn one during his attempt. Two other drivers,

James Hinchcliffe James Douglas Meredith Hinchcliffe (born December 5, 1986) is a Canadian race car driver and commentator best known for competing in the IndyCar Series. Hinchcliffe won six races for Andretti Autosport and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. In 2015, ...

and

Takuma Sato , nicknamed "Taku", is a Japanese professional racing driver. Sato is a two time winner of the Indianapolis 500, having won the event in 2017 and 2020. He was the first Asian driver to win the Indianapolis 500, and the twentieth driver to win th ...

, made no qualifying attempts due to damage sustained in practice incidents.

led the opening 39 laps of the race before a right-front tire puncture ruined his race.

Juan Pablo Montoya Juan Pablo Montoya Roldán (; born September 20, 1975) is a Colombian racing driver. He won the International F3000 championship in 1998, the CART FedEx Championship Series in 1999 in his debut year in the series, and the IMSA WeatherTech S ...

inherited the lead and led to lap 95 before suffering the same fate as his teammate Castroneves. From there,

Scott Dixon Scott Ronald Dixon (born 22 July 1980) is a professional racing driver from New Zealand, who competes in the NTT IndyCar Series for Chip Ganassi Racing. Dixon has won the IndyCar championship six times: in 2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 202 ...

inherited the lead and led the remaining 155 laps, giving Dixon his 39th win and tying

Al Unser Alfred Unser (May 29, 1939 – December 9, 2021) was an American automobile racing driver, the younger brother of fellow racing drivers Jerry and Bobby Unser, and father of Al Unser Jr. He was the second of four men ( A. J. Foyt, himself, Rick ...

for 4th in most career IndyCar victories.

Simon Pagenaud Simon Pagenaud (born 18 May 1984) is a French professional racing driver. He is contracted to drive the No. 60 Honda for Meyer Shank Racing in the IndyCar Series. After a successful career in sports car racing that saw him taking the top class ...

finished second, moving him into the lead of the championship standings.

Graham Rahal Graham Robert Rahal (born January 4, 1989) is an American race car driver and small business owner. He currently participates in the IndyCar Series with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, a team partially owned by his father Bobby Rahal, the winner ...

would prove the biggest mover in the race, charging up from a lowly 19th place start to finish in fifth place. Rahal was also the highest placed

Honda is a Japanese public multinational conglomerate manufacturer of automobiles, motorcycles, and power equipment, headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, reaching a product ...

in the race. Despite having little oval experience,

Max Chilton Maximilian Alexander Chilton (born 21 April 1991) is a British racing driver who last competed for Carlin Motorsport in the IndyCar Series, before announcing his retirement from IndyCar in February 2022. Prior to IndyCar, he competed in Formula ...

surprised as the highest finishing rookie, coming across the line in 7th. A total of six caution flags flew during the race, all due to spins or contact. The first came on lap 50 when

Luca Filippi Luca Filippi (born 9 August 1985 in Savigliano, Italy) is an Italian auto racing driver. He competed in GP2 Series from 2006 to 2012, and the IndyCar Series from 2013 to 2016. In 2008 he was the official Honda Racing F1 test driver. Career Formu ...

spun coming off of the first turn. He did not make contact with the barriers. The second came on lap 120, when Carlos Muñoz hit the wall at the exit of turn four. Muñoz would retire from the race due to the damage to his car. Shortly after the restart from the second yellow, the third caution came on lap 134 when

Josef Newgarden Josef Nicolai Newgarden (born December 22, 1990) is an American race car driver who competes in the IndyCar Series full-time for Team Penske. He is the 2017 and 2019 IndyCar Series Champion and 2011 Indy Lights champion. Career Karting Newga ...

and

Charlie Kimball Charles Newton Kimball (born February 20, 1985) is an American race car driver currently competing in the IndyCar Series with A. J. Foyt Enterprises He has scored a win, six podiums, and 13 top 5s. His best season result was ninth in 2013 and 201 ...

made contact in the first turn, sending Kimball into a spin. Kimball was given a drive through penalty for avoidable contact for the incident. Lap 146 saw the next caution when

Sébastien Bourdais Sébastien Olivier Bourdais (born 28 February 1979) is a French professional racing driver. He is one of the most successful drivers in the history of American open-wheel car racing, having won 37 races. He won four successive championships ...

went wide in turn three and brushed the outside wall in turn four. After finally having another significant green flag period, caution waved again for the fifth time of the race on lap 198, when Ed Carpenter drifted wide and slapped the outside wall in turn four, making him the second retirement of the race. The final yellow would come out on lap 248 and force the race to finish under yellow flag conditions after

Alexander Rossi Alexander Michael Rossi (born September 25, 1991) is an American professional racing driver and podcast host. He currently competes full-time in the IndyCar Series, driving the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP. Rossi is best known for winning ...

brushed the wall in turn four.

Report

Qualifying

Race Results

;Notes: 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. Race finished under caution Source for time gaps:

Championship standings after the race

;Drivers' Championship standings * Note: Only the top five positions are included.

References

External links

Official Pit Stop Data

Official Race Broadcast
{{IndyCar Series race report , Name_of_race =

Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix The Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix was an IndyCar Series race held at the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, United States. USAC moved the fall race and added a spring race to the newly built Phoenix International Raceway in 196 ...

, Year_of_race = 2016 , Previous_race_in_season = 2016 Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg , Next_race_in_season = 2016 Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach , Previous_year's_race = 2005 XM Satellite Radio Indy 200 , Next_year's_race =

2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix The 2017 Desert Diamond West Valley Phoenix Grand Prix was the fourth round of the 2017 IndyCar Series season and the first oval race of the season. It took place on April 29, 2017 at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Arizona. The race ...

2016 in sports in Arizona