Castroneves Wins the Detroit Grand Prix

It’s a case of déjà vu for Helio Castroneves

The 39-year-old Brazilian auto racer and former Dancing with the Stars champion easily won the second Detroit Grand Prix race of the weekend on Sunday, finishing 1.6836 seconds ahead of Penske Racing teammate Will Power.

Helio Castroneves

Castroneves celebrated in his signature style, climbing a fence, in the same place where he did it for the first time many years ago.

It was in Detroit where Castroneves raced to the first of his 29 victories in 2000 and scaled the safety fence.

Helio Castroneves

And he’s still winning and climbing with more composure.

“I was able to hold my emotions better,” he said. “I guess I’m getting older.”

Castroneves’ lead was so large that when he made his final pit stop on Lap 49 he still was ahead when he got back on the track.

The competition got closer after cautions led to restarts with seven and three laps left, but Castroneves could not be caught in part because Power did not want to risk ruining his teammate’s path to victory by possibly hitting him.

“Because of Roger, I definitely wasn’t going to race him hard,” Power said.

Castroneves has 29 IndyCar victories, tying Rick Mears for 11th on the career.

“Oh, really?” Castroneves asked. “Wow. What an honor.”

Castroneves finished 0.060 seconds behind Ryan Hunter-Reay last week in the Indianapolis 500 in his bid to join Mears as a four-time winner in open-wheel racing’s signature event.

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