Arlington welcomes IndyCar for the first time, after a thrilling race at Phoenix with Josef Newgarden taking his first win of the season, which saw Alex Palou’s winning streak come to an end.
Qualifying
Qualifying followed a knockout-style format, similar to the Formula E World Championship, but with IndyCar’s own unique structure. The session began with the field split into two groups. Each group ran separately. Only the fastest six drivers from each group advanced to the next round. This created a Top 12 shootout.
The top 12 drivers competed again. From there, just the quickest six progressed to the final round. This round is known as the Fast Six. In this final session, all six drivers battled for pole position. But at Arlington, the fastest six will do a single qualifying to decide who gets pole and two points to their name. Like in Formula E, pole position was rewarded with championship points. In IndyCar, the pole sitter earned two valuable points, adding extra importance to qualifying performance.
Results
Group 1: Alex Palou, Felix Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Christian Rasmussen and Marcus Ericsson advanced to the Top 12. Group 2: Kyle Kirkwood, David Malukas, Santino Ferrucci, Marcus Armstrong, Will Power and Pato O’Ward also moved through to the Top 12.
From the Top 12, Palou, O’Ward, Rosenqvist, Power, Armstrong and Ericsson advanced to the Fast Six. There, they fought for pole position, but instead of going out as many times as they liked within a set time, IndyCar announced it would be a single-car qualifying session. They also competed for two crucial championship points. Pole position ultimately went to Ericsson, who claimed the valuable two-point bonus.
Race
After Ericsson secured pole position in qualifying, officials announced that the race would be moved to 11:30 AM ET due to strong winds.
As the drivers rolled to the green flag, Ericsson led the field. Armstrong had already suffered a puncture and was expected to pit earlier than the rest of the field. On lap three in Turn 4, Lundgaard spun but managed to get the car pointed in the right direction before a full-course yellow was called. Shortly afterwards, Power passed O’Ward to move into third place.
Several drivers had gone off strategy. Dixon nearly ran into his teammate, Simpson, and then made contact with a crew member during his pit stop, raising the possibility of a penalty. Because of this, he ended up on an alternative strategy. Meanwhile, Palou kept closing in on Ericsson, steadily reducing the gap between them.
On lap 12, David Malukas and Christian Rasmussen went side by side. Malukas moved up into eighth place, while Josef Newgarden slipped past Rasmussen to take ninth. Santino Ferrucci also passed Rasmussen for tenth, dropping Rasmussen to 11th.
Dixon ultimately did not receive a penalty, but Simpson did after nudging Dixon in the pit lane. Ericsson tried to stay out as long as possible before making his pit stop. Meanwhile, McLaughlin had climbed 15 positions since the start of the race.
Both Palou and Ericsson pitted to see who would come out ahead. Palou exited first after Ericsson experienced issues in the pit lane. On lap 21, Rosenqvist battled Kirkwood, but Kirkwood held his position after Rosenqvist came out of the pits. With different tyre strategies in play, the race remained wide open, and it was still unclear who would come out on top.
Later, Power attempted to leave the pits while Foster was trying to enter, but Power stopped just in time to avoid a collision. Malukas later clipped his teammate Newgarden, but Newgarden kept control of the car and the contact did not bring out a yellow flag.
Kirkwood experienced a major delay in the pit lane, which did not help the Andretti Global team during the race. On lap 31, Lundgaard reported hearing unusual noises coming from his car and suggested to his team that something might need to be changed before the next warm-up period.
On lap 39, Schumacher spun at the exit of Turn 3 after tapping the back of Newgarden. One lap later, on lap 40, Kirkwood slipped past Lundgaard to move into third place.
By lap 46, Palou had taken over the lead of the race. From lap 46 to lap 54, there were a few major changes as drivers focused on maintaining their positions and defending from competitors. However, on lap 55, Kirkwood moved into the lead of the race. lap 66, Rasmussen brought out the caution by hitting the wall. After the caution went away, it went to a one-lap shootout, but it ended with another caution with Siegel and Grosjean into the wall.
Feature image credits: Penske Entertainment by Chris Owens
Top Ten
- Kyle Kirkwood
- Alex Palou
- Will Power
- Marcus Ericsson
- Pato O’Ward
- Felix Rosenqvist
- David Malukas
- Christian Lundgaard
- Scott Dixon
- Alexander Rossi
Featured image credit: Kevin Dejewski via motorsportweek.com
Edited by Alexandra.
About The Author
Leave a Reply