DETROIT -- The Chevrolet Dual in Detroit presented by Quicken Loans offered two opportunities over the weekend to make gains on the racetrack and in the Verizon IndyCar Series standings.

First-year AJ Foyt Racing driver Jack Hawksworth was the biggest overall mover in the doubleheader with 19 positions gained on the 2.35-mile, 14-turn street course on Belle Isle.

Hawksworth, driving the No. 41 ABC Supply Honda, advanced seven positions relative to his qualifying spot to finish a season-high seventh in Race 1. He matched that result in Race 2 by gaining 12 positions from his starting position that was based on entrant points after qualifications were canceled because of a downpour.

“We ended up getting punted off twice by the same guy," Hawksworth said of the changing track conditions from wet to drying in Race 2. "It was disappointing. Not too good in the wet, and then at the end we got the slicks on and we were quick and were able to make up positions but we needed more green time. We pitted and hoped there’d be some more green (flag racing) because the guys at the front would have had to come in, but it didn’t happen for us. But I’m happy to recover for a seventh.”

In Race 2, Tristan Vautier advanced 19 positions to fourth -- his best finish in 22 Verizon IndyCar Series races -- in the No. 19 Dale Coyne Racing Honda.

“Hats off to the team for making the perfect calls today on strategy. It really paid off for us," said Vautier, the 2012 Indy Lights champion who competed in the 2013 Verizon IndyCar Series season for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. "It was chaos out there but you couldn't be too conservative because if you were too conservative you would just get passed by everyone. It was a fine line between aggressive and keeping the car in one piece, but we found it so it is amazing."

Vautier drove a Dale Coyne entry in the Indianapolis 500 on May 24 in place of Carlos Huertas, who was not medically cleared by INDYCAR because of an inner ear condition.

Also in the back end of the doubleheader, AJ Foyt Racing's Takuma Sato gained 13 spots to finish second, and series rookie Gabby Chaves earned his first top-10 finish by moving up nine positions in the Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb-Agajanian entry.

“We kind of stayed out of trouble the whole time and it kind of paid off for us at the end," he said. "(We) had a decent car, so we’re improving every time out.”