‘It’s a relief’: Alexander Rossi breaks three-year IndyCar drought with win at IMS road course
Why Indianapolis Motor Speedway is committed to IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader
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Pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist falls behind quickly
Felix Rosenqvist led the field to green, having earned his third career IndyCar pole and second of this season on Friday afternoon. What started as a strong opportunity for Arrow McLaren SP to build off Pato O’Ward’s second win of the year on July 24 at Iowa turned bleak quickly. By Lap 8, following a short caution from Laps 3-6, Rosenqvist had fallen back to third place, passed by both Rossi and Herta while complaining over the radio about his mysterious lack of power.
Alexander Rossi on win: ‘It’s a relief’
After taking control of the lead from Herta, Rossi led the final 44 laps of the race without incident. His initial race lead stood around 2.5 seconds over second-place finisher Christian Lundgaard when Herta bowed out. It grew to just over four seconds at times, and after falling back to just 2.5 seconds following the leaders’ final pitstop on Lap 62, Rossi pushed it back up to 3.9 seconds by Lap 70, and the 2016 Indy 500 winner never looked back.
“It’s a relief, man,” Rossi said post-race on NBC. “There’s been support for me for so long, and I do feel for Colton, I do. But I’m thankful something finally came our way. Shoutout to Andretti Autosport in their continued belief.
“I think Colton was definitely strong, and we had pretty much the same race car, and that (battle) would’ve been interesting. But it was the 27’s turn. And that’s awesome.”
The drought-breaking win, though, comes with just four races left before Rossi heads off to Arrow McLaren SP at the end of this season.
“We’ve still got some more to go, but this was a really great track for us to do it at – back at home in Indianapolis. That was really amazing.”
Will Power moves into points lead
Though he finished a ways back from the other two podium finishers, Power wowed with his work back up to third by the checkered flag after losing 12 spots over the first two laps due to the early contact typical of the starting stretch of an IndyCar race on the IMS road course. His third-place finish stands as his seventh podium of the year, his third in a row and his second of the two races on the IMS road course this year.
With it, after incumbent points leader Marcus Ericsson started last (25th) on Saturday after stalling during Round 1 of qualifying and only worked up to 11th by the checkered flag, Power now leads the title chase by nine points. Coming into Saturday, this year’s Indy 500 winner led Power by eight points and held a 34-point pad on Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden tied in third place.
After Saturday’s race, Newgarden took over third place in points, 32 points back from his Team Penske teammate after a run to fifth Saturday. Newgarden touched down in Indianapolis on Thursday afternoon uncertain if he’d even race Saturday, having lost consciousness, collapsed and hit his head post-race in the drivers’ bus lot at Iowa Speedway last Sunday evening. Newgarden was airlifted to a Des Moines hospital Sunday night, was held there overnight for observation and released the next day. Thursday, he was evaluated and cleared for Friday morning’s practice, and minutes after that practice, IndyCar’s medical team gave Newgarden the ‘OK’ for the rest of the weekend.
After starting a disappointing 20th and working up to eight, Dixon sits fourth in points, 38 behind Power. Trailing O’Ward, Alex Palou drifted further back in sixth in the title race. After starting seventh Saturday, the driver in the midst of a civil lawsuit from his own team dropped back to 10th in Saturday’s race and is now 52 points out of being able to defend his 2021 championship.