Formula one cars on race track. IndyCar

Elisa Vicencio

Despite the change in engine regulations this IndyCar season, Team Penske continue to prove their success on the Iowa Speedway, with victories for both Scott McLaughlin and Will Power.

Race 1

Opening Laps

Andretti’s Colton Herta started on pole, his first ever pole on an oval circuit. Behind him, Scott McLaughlin started in second place.

Lap 1 proved eventful, with three cars of Romain Grosjean, David Malukas, and Augustin Canapino crashing. Malukas’ left front tyre crossed over the white line, which in turn weight checked the car, spun him around, with both Grosjean and Canapino with nowhere to go. Additionally, Christian Lundgard also crashed in a similar fashion to Malukas at the beginning of the race. These incidents consequently caused a caution, which remained up until Lap 19.

At the restart, race leader Herta was immediately put under pressure by McLaughlin. The Team Penske driver initially took the high line of the track but did not seem to have the momentum to overtake the Andretti driver. Meanwhile his Penske teammate Josef Newgarden was able to make up multiple places up into 14th place.

First Pitstops

A second caution was then called for Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, who stated on his team radio that “something in the drive line shattered”. This caution then caused an influx of cars to enter the pit lane.

Due to a slower pitstop from Herta, McLaughlin was able to get ahead of the Andretti driver in time for the race start. Elsewhere on the grid, reigning champion Palou experienced a disastrous pitstop as he stalled on the pitman, which consequently led him to entering the race again in 19th place.

The green flag is then waved for the second time in the race, and McLaughlin takes the high line of the track once again but this time in defence from Herta. This proves successful for the Kiwi driver, who is able to maintain his race lead. Herta, whilst taking an aggressive approach to the restart, quickly started to struggle with his tyres as he was nursing vibration issues. Due to these issues, the Andretti driver was the first driver to do their second pitstop on lap 175.

Second Pitstops

“There was no reason why I had to push there; just trying to recover from another driver mistake I did in the pits.”

Unfortunately for Herta, the decision to pit on lap 175 would have consequences for his race result. As the 7-time race winner entered the pits, Palou spun across the start/finish line before crashing into the wall. “I think I just lost it out of [Turn] four” stated the Chip Ganassi driver. “Yeah, driver mistake. There was no reason why I had to push there; just trying to recover from another driver mistake I did in the pits.”

Consequently, front runner McLaughlin as well as O’Ward, Dixon, and Newgarden entered the pits. It was an impressive show from Newgarden and Team Penske as he was able to make up places due to a speedy pitstop. This meant that the two-time Indy500 winner had made up a total of 18 places from the start of the race.

Final Restarts

The race restarted on Lap 189, with McLaughlin holding onto his race lead over last weekend’s race winner O’Ward. However, Chip Ganassi driver Marcus Armstrong was not so fortunate, losing two places at the restart to Rinus Veejay and Marcus Ericsson.

With just 40 laps to go, the caution flag was waved once again due to Linus Lundqvist being pulled off on the side of the race track. Race leader McLaughlin was once again able to successfully keep his lead ahead of the field at the restart. Meanwhile, Santino Ferrucci was able to make up four places at the restart, moving up into seventh place.

Soon after the restart, Ed Carpenter and Pietro Fittipaldi made contact after Fittipaldi was hit by Will Power, which led him to spin into Carpenter. As a consequence, Power was awarded a stop-and-hold penalty for the incident.

From the final restart until the chequered flag, McLaughlin remained in the lead, with O’Ward and Newgarden securing the rest of the podium positions.

Race 2

Opening Laps

For the second race of the Iowa Grand Prix, Penske’s Scott McLaughlin started on pole, aiming to take his second win of the weekend, alongside reigning champion Alex Palou in second place. Both Mclaughlin and Palou maintained their positions on the opening laps of the race. Elsewhere on the grid, Newgarden was able to overtake Malukas into turn 1 on the second lap to take 10th place, and Ericsson took the high line to overtake Armstrong further down the grid.

First Pit Stops

On lap 96, race leader McLaughlin entered the pit lane for his first pit stop. He was soon followed by fellow frontrunners Herta, Ferrucci, and Dixon. Soon after, a pivotal moment in the race occurred as Agustin Canapino spun off at Turn 2 after exiting the pits. This brought out the caution.

Canapino’s spin ended up benefitting Will Power. Despite starting in 22nd place, he took the race lead, as one of the only drivers yet to pit when the yellow flag was waved. The caution also favoured Alex Palou, who was able to take the race lead from Power once he pitted on lap 107. However, the Team Penske driver had a fast pit stop and entered back into the race in second place.

First Race Restart

At the restart, Palou held onto first place ahead of Power. Elsewhere, Ferrucci made up eight places at the start by lap 125, getting past drivers such as Newgarden and Grosjean.  By lap 136, Power started to make gains on Palou’s lead. He was only separated by a mere 0.452 seconds during this lap.

Second Pitstops

McLaughlin entered the pitlane on lap 197 soon followed by Dixon in fourth place. However, the two frontrunners Palou and Power decided to remain on the track for additional laps. Eventually, Palou pitted on lap 205, whilst Power waited an extra lap before changing his tyres.

The second round of pitstops proved pivotal for the outcome of the race. Palou had a pitstop of 6.3 seconds whilst Power’s pitstop was 5.8 seconds. This advantage in pitstop time allowed Power to get ahead of the reigning champion once they were both back on track.

Final Laps

“It’s funny because I was trying to win this for so long”

As the race concluded, Power kept his race lead, remaining relatively unchallenged by his competitors. This race marked the Penske drivers 43rd win in the series, making him the 4th most successful driver in IndyCar history. In an interview after the race, Power admitted that this race was one of his most unlikely of wins. “It’s funny because I was trying to win this for so long” stated Power. “I think I finish second a few times before the repave, trying really hard to win. I didn’t think I’d win today”.

However, despite the celebrations for Power, the race ended abruptly with a multi-car accident as the drivers took the chequered flag. McLaren’s Alexander Rossi’s car slowed down and was hit at high speed by Sting Ray Robb’s car. Ed Carpenter and Kyle Kirkwood also had spins further behind but all the cars ended up crashing into one another at the apron.

Due to the incident, Robb had to be airlifted to hospital for further checks. In an Instagram post on Robb’s page, his team confirmed that he has been released from hospital and will be racing at the next race in Toronto.

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Featured image courtesy of KaroGraphix Photography via Unsplash. No changes have been made to this image. Image licence found here. 

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