Photo: Joe Skibinski / INDYCAR
By Aaron Bearden
After each NTT IndyCar Series race weekend, Motorsports Beat will share a piece breaking down the stories and takeaways from the weekend. This is a report on the the tour’s 2021 trip to Road America.
NTT IndyCar Series
Race: REV Group Grand Prix
Who Won?
Alex Palou. The Spaniard surged past a hobbled Josef Newgarden in the closing laps to secure his second victory of 2021.
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Positioned to strike
It was a tale as common as any in the IndyCar paddock.
One driver had dominated a portion of the proceedings, establishing themselves as the de-facto favorite going into the closing stages. But just behind them was a Chip Ganassi Racing championship contender, ready to steal the victory after the leader encountered late troubles.
There’s just one catch – the driver waiting to pounce wasn’t Scott Dixon. It was Alex Palou.
Josef Newgarden seemed to have Palou covered at Road America. But for the second-straight week, Newgarden faded when it counted most. He suffered late gearbox issues and slowed, opening the door for his competitors to strike.
Palou was perfectly positioned to take advantage. He surged ahead of the Tennessean and led the final two laps to lock up his second series win. In doing so, the speedy Spaniard also reclaimed the points lead.
“It always feels awesome even if it’s your lucky day or just because you have really good pace,” Palou said of the win. “We’ve been close. Indy road course, Detroit, Indy 500, and today I was like, ‘Oh, no, we need to get that win.’ A win is a win. It’s always the best thing.”
The run was one befitting of the best driver to pair Dixon at Ganassi since Dario Franchitti’s days with the squad, continuing his consistent season. Dixon pulled off similar magic behind him, overcoming a poor qualifying effort to finish fourth at race’s end.
With the season past the halfway point, Palou and Dixon hold two of the top three positions in points. Palou has the points lead with 349 points. Dixon sits third, 53 points behind, with Pato O’Ward 25 points ahead of him in second.
O’Ward is still right in the heat of the title fight. But if Dixon’s going to work his championship magic again this year, it also looks increasingly like he’s going to have to overcome his own teammate.
Penske problems
In a different universe, Team Penske would be soaring with three-consecutive wins right now.
The Indy 500 didn’t quite go to plan. Simon Pagenaud ran out of time to chase down Palou and winner Helio Castroneves at the end. But Will Power and Newgarden had dominated the two races in Detroit, with Newgarden pulling off the same feat Sunday at Road America.
Yet nine races into the year, Penske’s season remains winless. ECU issues doomed Power in Detroit, while the wrong tire strategy derailed Newgarden in the final laps for the second Belle Isle event.
Newgarden was perfectly poised to end the suffering in Wisconsin, fending off a strong Palou to lead with five laps remaining. But a late caution threw a spanner in the works for the two-time champ, forcing him to survive a two-lap dash to the finish.
He shot out with a good restart and seemed well-positioned to hold the lead when he crossed the start-finish line, but as Newgarden marched down the long straightaway to Turn 1 his car began to slow.
Suddenly Palou marched past him, as did Colton Herta. The remainder of the lead lap cars followed, all storming by Newgarden’s slowed No. 2 Chevrolet.
In less than two laps, Newgarden lost more than 90 seconds to Palou. After dominating for much of the day, he wound up finishing in 21st.
The issues appeared to lie within his machine’s gearbox.
“I couldn’t get it to shift into sixth gear,” Newgarden said. “And then I got it stuck in fifth in turn one and finally got it to go down, but just could not get it to upshift after that. So I got it down to first essentially. So just trying to stay out of the way after that because I couldn’t get it to upshift after that. I’m not sure what happened.
“Obviously its disappointing for all of us,” he continued. “I know we had a great car. We had a good car all day and were doing everything we had to do. We were surviving the yellows. Surviving the fuel game. We had a rocket ship. Team Chevy did a good job for us. We had such amazing fuel mileage and good power. Super pleased about that. Proud of our teams. Proud of our partners. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be again.”
Newgarden’s woes gave a podium to his teammate, Power. But the podium was an empty result for the Australian after he saw what happened to his teammate.
“Man, you just don’t know what it is about our team right now,” Power said. “We almost have a win in the bag and something just ridiculous happens, like just something that — I don’t know what it was, but things that you couldn’t prep for, something that you couldn’t avoid. It’s like my thing was just a switch, just a weird glitch in the system in Detroit, and I don’t know what his was this time.
“But yeah, unbelievable. And maybe it wouldn’t have happened if there wasn’t a restart, but you don’t know.”
While the organization’s pace has yet to lead it to victory lane this year, they’ve dominated the majority of the past two weekends. That gives Newgarden hope amid the current struggles that he’ll be able to bounce back and be a championship contender.
“We will claw our way back,” he said. “This is not what I was planning for this day. I would have liked for us to be a little closer. But, what are we 88 (points back)? Just a bigger challenge when we go to next race. We’ll get after it.”
Substitutes roll
Mixed in with the usual cast of characters in the IndyCar paddock at Road America was a trio of new or returning faces.
The headliner of the group was Kevin Magnussen, a former Haas F1 Team competitor that’s competed in IMSA this season. He came to Road America in place of Felix Rosenqvist, piloting the Swiss ace’s No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP a week after Rosenqvist was injured in a crash at Belle Isle.
Magnussen had competitive pace and even led at one stage while running an off-sequence strategy. But his machine lost power after 33 of the race’s 55 laps, forcing Magnussen to pull off-course and ending his day prematurely.
“All-in-all this weekend has been a fun experience,” he said. “I’m very thankful to Arrow McLaren SP for the opportunity. I want to wish Felix a speedy recovery and to be back where he should be in the car.
“I’m going to leave here with a big smile on my face although we didn’t finish the race due to a mechanical issue. I’ve had a very fun experience and want to say thank you to everyone involved.”
Another newcomer arriving at Road America was NASCAR regular Cody Ware. The son of team owner Rick Ware, Cody made his IndyCar debut after testing in prior weeks at Road America, Sebring International Raceway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway earlier in the year.
In the end Ware’s debut proved to be uneventful – in a good way. He made no noticeable errors and finished on the lead lap in 19th.
“What an awesome debut here at Road America, coming home P19,” Ware said. “I raced hard all the way to the checkered flag and got to learn around some great people. I raced hard and learned a lot trying to figure these cars out. I couldn’t ask for a better day. Thank you to Nurtec ODT, Dale Coyne Racing, Rick Ware Racing and everyone that made the day possible. I’m super glad to be here.”
Mixed in with the newcomers was the familiar face of Oliver Askew. One week removed from a one-off return to replace Rosenqvist at his former Arrow McLaren SP home, Askew joined Ed Carpenter Racing to fill in for Rinus Veekay, who was injured in a cycling crash.
Askew wasn’t among the leaders, but had strong practice pace and finished a respectable 12th to lead the organization.
“I had a really enjoyable race at Road America,” he said. “We struggled there towards the end with some strategy options that we didn’t think were going to play out, but then it ended up working out for us! We caught a yellow at the end that helped bunch the field up. Then on the new red tires, we were able to pass a couple of cars and finish P12.
“I am very happy with that! Thank you to everyone at Ed Carpenter Racing and Direct Supply for the opportunity.”
Whether any of the three will be seen again the year is uncertain. Rosenqvist and Veekay could theoretically be back in their rides in the short-term future, limiting options for Magnussen and Askew.
The most likely to return is Ware, with the team voicing that it was “excited to add a few races for the No. 52 entry” in the announcement confirming Ware’s debut.
Notes
- Finishing deep in the field with his teammate was Team Penske’s Simon Pagenaud. The Frenchman came home 18th after reporting an issue throughout the race, leaving him 94 points behind Palou in the title chase. That one stings.
- Colton Herta earned a rare non-win podium for his efforts on Sunday – only the second time he’s stood on the podium without being on the top step.
- Romain Grosjean wasn’t a winner in Road America, but he was the show. With a host of eventful overtakes, Grosjean rallied to score a strong fifth-place result.
- Carlin has endured a difficult 2021, but the team made steps in the right direction on Sunday. Max Chilton came home 10th to secure his first top-10 result since Watkins Glen International in 2017. The result was twice as good as his previous best run this year – a 20th-place result ar Barber Motorsports Park.
- Caution flags have become more common in the past two years at Road America. After having just three combined yellows in four races from 2016 through ’19, the past three events — IndyCar held a doubleheader at the facility in 2020 — have combined for nine full-course yellows, including four on Sunday.
Race Results
- Alex Palou
- Colton Herta
- Will Power
- Scott Dixon
- Romain Grosjean
- Marcus Ericsson
- Alexander Rossi
- Takuma Sato
- Pato O’Ward
- Max Chilton
- Graham Rahal
- Oliver Askew
- Ryan Hunter-Reay
- Scott McLaughlin
- James Hinchcliffe
- Sebastien Bourdais
- Jack Harvey
- Simon Pagenaud
- Cody Ware
- Conor Daly
- Josef Newgarden
- Jimmie Johnson
- Ed Jones
- Kevin Magnussen
- Dalton Kellett
