Power Glides to 5th win at Indy GP, Palou Suffers Blow

The second round at the Indianapolis RC started nice and easy, with the only bang being Scott McLaughlin attempting a rallycross move as he jumped over a curb. The championship leader Palou reported some engine issues on the first lap, continuing his saga this year with engines. Newgarden reported power issues as he fell back several positions. The racing continued throughout the field, as the differing tire strategies meant that drivers needed to seize their chance to move through the field. Dixon kicked off a pattern of undercut stops on lap 10, with Sato, Hinchcliffe, and Johnson all following. Newgarden and Chilton had an incident on lap 12 in the final section, as both took a trip through the grass. The rest of the field followed Dixon a couple of laps later, covering off the undercut.

O’Ward stayed out longer, but ended up having to pit earlier, due to Power’s pace. Power tracked down O’Ward, passing him for the effective lead of the race, and the eventual win, on lap 18. Power pitted for the red tire, while O’Ward switched to the black primary tire, putting him on a different strategy to Power. Herta tracked down O’Ward as well, passing for second on lap 23. The field settled in for a green flag run, with the polesitter O’Ward falling back to fourth behind Romain Grosjean. Will Power extended his lead, holding a steady five second lead throughout the run on the red tires. Dixon kicked off the second round of pit stops on lap 35, as the order stayed the same throughout the cycle. Dixon attempted to undercut the field and move up the ranks, but the field pitting only a couple laps after him negated the undercut. Further into the run, Power ran up on Hinchcliffe, and lost nearly 5 seconds behind him, as Herta and Grosjean were putting in extremely quick laps throughout the end of the stint.

The final round of pit stops started on lap 60, and Will Power attempted to move past Hinchcliffe in the pits, but Hinchcliffe remained in front of him, fighting to stay on the lead lap. Herta closed up on Will Power, with Romain Grosjean following close behind. Palou managed to jump up to P4, passing O’Ward before the last pit cycle, but the engine that the no.10 team had been nursing the whole race finally blew on lap 67, packing up the field and dealing a big blow to Palou’s championship lead. Crucially, the lead that Power was clinging to slipped away, and Herta and Grosjean were on his gearbox for the restart. A huge send from Grosjean sent him into P2 past Herta, but with no P2P he was stuck behind Power. With 10 to go, Scott McLaughlin sent Rinus Veekay spinning, bringing out the caution for the second time. The race restarted with only six laps to go, as Power built himself a comfortable one second lead. Contact between Newgarden and Sato with two to go didn’t bring out a caution, and Power comfortably piloted his way to his 40th IndyCar win. 

The second Penske win of the year had plenty of drama, as Grosjean and Herta were keeping Power honest through the end, and the points leader Palou suffered a DNF due to an engine failure. With Palou’s DNF, O’Ward moved back to second, within 21 points, and a poor race for Scott Dixon dropped him to third, but he still closed the gap up to 34 points. With only 4 races to go, every race counts, and Gateway next week is sure to be a wild ride.