Five takeaways: Road America

Written by Evan Roberts, Edited by Morgan Holiday

Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski

IndyCar’s Grand Prix of Road America delivered big time this year, a frenzy of fast paced racing action that was exactly what the series needed in what has been a lacklustre season so far for the spectator.

Despite Álex Palou winning for the sixth time this year, it felt different. The victory was up-in-the-air right until the Spaniard crossed the line on the final lap. It was a breath of fresh air for the series that has felt routine with the caution-free races and without proper racing action over the opening few races. For the first time in a new weekly series, DIVEBOMB takes a look at what we learned at Road America.

1. Palou could have one hand on the trophy 

   
   

Having had two subpar race weekends prior to Road America, this weekend was important for Palou. Crashing out in Detroit and an eighth in St Louis meant his extortionate championship lead diminished to his nearest competitor, Kyle Kirkwood. 

Coming to Wisconsin the gap to Kirkwood in second place was only 75 points. Compared to what it was a mere two races prior at 150, it seemed as if the Spaniard was on the back foot coming into the second half of the season. 

In true reigning champion fashion, however, it wasn’t long before Palou would be back challenging for the top spot. One constant throughout Sunday's race was Palou near the front. 

His worst position throughout the race, with strategy and net positioning taken into account, was seventh, and even that came in the opening three laps as a result of a poor start from the front row. From there he showed superb race craft and spectacular fuel saving that would best even the master himself, Scott Dixon. 

What this performance means is Palou’s championship lead has once again ballooned to almost 100 points. With a win counting for 50, Palou could be absent for a whole two rounds and his nearest competitor would have to win both to overtake him. 

Whilst the championship is by no means won yet, based on the form we have seen from the Spaniard so far this season it seems that he has one hand already on the Astor Challenge Cup. Only eight rounds remain, three of which are at tracks Palou has already won at in the past few years. It sets a daunting task to anyone who will look to get anywhere near the conquistador of concrete. 

Photo Credit: James Black

2. Team Penske woes continue 

What a horrible season it has been for Team Penske so far. A combined total of only three podiums between their three drivers with a best result of third when paired with a whole host of inter-team management issues has left a sour taste in the mouth for a team that has had so much success. 

By this point in the season last year, the team had managed nine podium finishes, three of which were race wins and one being Josef Newgarden’s Indianapolis 500 win. 

Not having a driver in the top five in the championship should have acted as a wake-up call for the team coming into Road America, a track they dominated on last year, finishing an incredible 1-2-3. 

Qualifying was a step in the right direction with all drivers making it out of the group phase, eventually qualifying all three cars into the top ten. Even the start of the race seemed to be going to plan, with Scott McLaughlin taking the lead early on and stretching his legs out front. 

What followed were cautions and chaos, the Penske cars involved yet again. The first of them would be McLauglin who, despite early pace, had numerous issues on pit road with slow stops that would see him fall down the order. Combine that issue with the fuel strategy the No.3 team would opt for, the Kiwi driver was left unable to push forward in the latter stages of the race and finished an eventual 12th.

Next was Will Power, who was back and forth trading punches with Kirkwood at the start of the race before a spin sent him to the back of the field. He was unable to make the lost ground back up and ended the day in 14th. 

Finally came Newgarden. The two-time series champion was running a fairly decent race at the halfway mark, running in second behind Dixon on a different fuel strategy. What ensued would sum up the team’s season, the cameras would cut to Newgarden to show him backwards in the wall coming out of the last corner. 

The replays would show him getting way out of shape on the exit as he chased for grip in the closing stages of his stint, losing the back end and looping the car around. Taking him out of the race for the second race in a row due to a crash, this time all due to his own volition. 

This result continues the streak in what has been one of Newgarden’s worst ever seasons in IndyCar. Despite getting off to a flying start with a podium at St. Pete, in the races that have followed his best finish since was ninth at Detroit. 

Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski

3. Rosenqvist is back

The best way to describe Felix Rosenqvist’s time in IndyCar as a whole is tumultuous at best. But having lost his seat twice at high performing teams, a move to Meyer Shank Racing appears to have rejuvenated his career at the start of last season. 

A number of front row starts, including a pole position at Long Beach, would give hope to a team who had failed to deliver a podium finish since 2022. Unfortunately for both Rosenqvist and the team, complications with strategy, tyre wear, involvement in incidents and overall lack of race pace in comparison to their qualifying performances left them another year without a podium (discounting the million dollar challenge at Thermal Auto Club, which was not a points paying event). 

Despite a consistent start to the season, which included three top-five finishes, a podium had still eluded the team coming into Road America. What followed was a textbook example of keeping it cool in a race which offered so many different opportunities to make a mistake. 

A late charge for victory saw Rosenqvist come up just short, the Swede achieving second place once the chequered flag was waved to claim his best result since Portland in 2023. 

It’s been a long time coming. Rosenqvist and MSR looked to be the perfect fit last year and it has been something that has continued on to this season. It’s been good enough that he now sits an excellent fourth place in the drivers standings, the best position he has been in throughout his IndyCar career at the halfway mark of the season. 

Photo Credit: Chris Owens

4. Road courses can provide good racing under the new regulations 

Since the new Hybrid power unit was introduced at Mid-Ohio last season there has been a total of six road course races. The first five of which all left questions surrounding the Hybrid and whether it had ruined the pure racing element the series had become synonymous with. 

Road America on the other hand, threw up everything a race could have to offer in what was arguably one of the best races we’ve seen over the past few years. 

The key to this success is unpredictability. Most of the prior road course races have included little drama and excitement, especially up at the front. A lot of this drama is likely to come as the season passes the halfway mark, as more and more drivers become desperate for results and are willing to attempt riskier moves in order to move themselves up the pack.

The number of cautions at Road America demonstrated that mindset, and shows how important they are for exciting racing within IndyCar. Without them we would have had nowhere near the suspense of strategy that ended up occurring on Sunday. It allowed for multiple different fuel and tyre strategies, a far cry from the compulsory stop races we saw back in Indianapolis.

Photo Credit: Joe Skibinski

5. Foster could be the driver to take RLL into the future

On paper, Road America won’t be a race that Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing will look back on too fondly as a struggle for outright speed during Sunday meant none of their drivers managed a top ten finish.

When you look at the weekend as a whole, however, there is much to look forward to from a team perspective, the major pinpoint in that regard being the performance of the team’s only rookie Louis Foster. 

A pole position in only his ninth qualifying in the series was nothing short of staggering, considering his margin over his RLL teammates and the rest of the grid. Despite it being only Foster’s third time being the highest qualifying RLL car, as a rookie at a track where he never achieved a pole position throughout his junior career, he managed to put over a second on his closest teammate.

The Briton’s main struggle throughout the start of his maiden voyage into the series has been tyre management, often dropping towards the back of the field towards the end of stints as his understanding of the Firestone tyres continue to develop. 

Yet again, this weekend has been another example of development for the rookie as despite the excruciating heat he would be able to hold onto the tyres throughout the race to achieve his best result of his career in 11th. 

Being the driver with the least amount of experience within the team but arguably the most raw speed, Foster should be the driver that RLL chooses to back for the future if they want to make further strides towards the front of the grid on a consistent basis.