Colombia continues its racing reign as Carlos Muñoz claims his maiden victory in the Verizon IndyCar Series, just weeks after Juan Pablo Montoya won the prestigious Indy 500
THE 23-year old Bogota-born driver, competing in his third season in the IndyCar, beat the entire field in the first race of the Grand Prix Chevrolet Dual in Detroit. On the rainy track in Detroit, Muñoz took the top spot ahead of Marco Andretti and Simon Pagenaud. Montoya came in an unimpressive tenth place.
Muñoz started at the back of the field in 20th place but, clearly comfortable in the rain, by lap 40 he had found his way to pole position. Quickly outpacing his contenders, Muñoz finished with a comfortable 30 second lead.
In the post-race press conference the team Andretti Autosport racer dedicated the win to his engineer. “My engineer is very good, he studied this kind of stuff in university, the weather.” Finishing ahead of his experienced teammate Marco Andretti didn’t create problems. “You see my face, I am more happy for my crew than for myself with the win. It is my first win in IndyCar, not the way I wanted to win. I want to win all the laps completely, but a win is a win.”
The second race of the weekend on Sunday didn’t go so well for Muñoz who was forced into the pits in lap five with a mechanical problem. Racing will continue on June 27 in Fontana with the MAYTV 500.
