IndyCar Takeaways: Grand Prix of Road America
- Evan Roberts
- 13 hours ago
- 6 min read
In what was an IndyCar classic, Christian Lundgaard claimed an unlikely victory at Road America. After being relegated to last after an opening lap skirmish with Scott Dixon, Lundgaard charged his way through the pack with his brilliant pace, paired with some well-timed cautions, which left him in a position to claim his second win of the season.
In light of that, the rest of the race followed a similar chaotic course in all areas of the field. Here's five takeaways from IndyCar's race at Road America.
An old-yet-new IndyCar rivalry brewing?
Somehow, with all the calamity throughout the race, the main talking point was the last-lap collision between Graham Rahal and Will Power. While opinions are split on who was at fault, a dejected and emotional Rahal was quick to point fingers after crashing out of a podium position.
“Look, I've got a lot of things to say about Will and the way he's been driving and stuff, but I'm just not gonna say it," Rahal said after being released from the medical unit. "I don't need to say it. I think people see it. You make a mistake into (Turn) 8, lick your wounds and move on. You don't need to ruin somebody else's day."
Power had a different outlook on the incident, as he saw it, Rahal had left a gap on the outside before moving over in the braking zone and closing the door on the Andretti Global driver.
"From my perspective, I could not do anything," Power said. "I mean, I was at the capacity of braking. He moved it. There's nothing I can do."
Had Rahal not closed the door in such a way, he would’ve likely claimed his fourth podium of the season, which would be a joint career second-best, having reached the rostrum four or more times only twice, the last time a decade ago back in 2016.
As it turned out in the end, it was Power who claimed that final podium spot. With Rahal careering towards the gravel, the caution was quickly deployed, which meant Power would keep the podium by virtue of being in the position when the caution was deployed, even though both Kyffin Simpson and Álex Palou snuck past whilst the Australian ran wide from the contact.
With eight rounds to go and only 20 points between the two IndyCar veterans, the gloves are off, and it seems no punches will be pulled as both drivers look to finish their seasons on a high.
Armstrong’s agonising ending
Despite Lundgaard’s charge setting up a potentially box-office finale for the optimists, for those checking the data, it looked as if all was in control for Marcus Armstrong to take his first IndyCar victory. With only five laps to go and a gap of around three seconds to the McLaren behind, all Armstrong needed to do was not make a mistake.
Or so we thought…
In the cruellest way imaginable, he would be denied the win. A powertrain issue brought him to a grinding halt in the Turn 5 exit road, having cruised round almost an entire lap as he agonisingly looked for any possible fix before calling it quits.
"I came out at Turn 6 and the engine just started spluttering like it was out of fuel, but clearly it wasn't," Armstrong said, describing the issue. "And then it just completely died."
One of the fastest cars all weekend with brilliant pace throughout, he put himself in a position to win and looked comfortable doing it, for it to end like that is not what the New Zealander deserved.
Such was the disappointment, Honda Racing Corporation US (HRC US) President David Salters issued an apology to Armstrong and Meyer Shank Racing.
“I am extremely sorry to Marcus and the valiant MSR team, just heartbreaking and we are extremely sorry for distress caused to Marcus and the team.”
Despite this crushing blow, Armstrong has shown yet again this weekend that he has what it takes to win, and do it in style. There's no doubt he will be a driver to watch over the following races with a fire in his belly and a desire to claim back a victory snatched from his grasp.
Off-kilter weekend for Kirkwood puts his title chances at risk
There's no doubt Andretti Global and Kyle Kirkwood will go away scratching their heads at what was an incredibly poor race by their lofty standards. 10th place is a flattening result given how the rest of the weekend unfolded whilst 18th on the grid was his lowest starting position this season outside the Indianapolis 500. From there, he made little ground throughout the race, lingering around the top 15 before the final few chaotic laps let him in 10th across the line. As a result, Kirkwood has dropped to third in the championship.
A weekend like this is exactly what he didn’t need as he looks to push Palou for the title. Even with the Spaniards' drive-through penalty, he still finished ahead of most of his challengers. Albeit that was largely thanks to a well-timed caution bringing him right back into play. Even so, Palou had the pace this weekend, and Kirkwood simply did not.
What makes it even more confusing is the strength shown by his Andretti teammate Marcus Ericsson, given the upper hand Kirkwood has held throughout most of their tenure as teammates. Kirkwood did end up finishing in front of the Swede, who came home last of the Andretti drivers, but that did not accurately present the real story.
Kirkwood even admitted he was happy with 10th place, which is not something you would expect given how the past few years have gone for the Floridian. “We finished 10th, and I’m fairly happy with that, considering our performance. We were just fighting gremlins all weekend long. So, the fact that we were able to come out of here with a top 10 is actually pretty good.”
With a few days of testing at Mid-Ohio on the horizon for Kirkwood and Andretti Global, he will undoubtedly be hoping to rid the gremlins that wasted his weekend in Wisconsin.
Gritty performance from Newgarden regardless of the result
With his wounds still fresh from surgery during the week, few would put up a fuss if Josef Newgarden were to withdraw from racing at Road America. Team Penske bringing reserve driver Felipe Nasr as backup said all you need to know about how close Newgarden was to not being able to participate.
In the end, the American made the brave decision to race through the pain. Such was the extent of his troubles that he was unable to use the brake pedal with his left foot all weekend. Something that is an essential function for most drivers across the globe, yet he was unable to do so because of the injury.
That being said, the weekend he produced, when taking into account all of this, was incredibly impressive. 15th on the grid was a good starting spot, yet cracks started to show as he dropped down to 23rd in the opening stint.
Despite this, he did not back down, continuing with the job at hand to make smart strategy calls and turn his disadvantage to his advantage using his extra time between shifting from throttle to brake to save extra fuel and running long to a point that with only one lap to go, he was knocking on the door of the top 10.
Unfortunately, in his attempt to make a move for 10th place, he would make contact with Nolan Siegel, spinning the Arrow McLaren driver out of contention. He continued to push on, and by the time he crossed the line he was in ninth place! All this was for nought at the end of the day as an avoidable contact penalty saw him relegated down to 22nd.
Still, a valiant effort on what would have undoubtedly been a difficult weekend.
Young drivers go under the radar
Many drivers had a standout weekend at Road America, yet two in particular will not get the praise they deserve. First of which is the aforementioned Siegel, who had his strongest weekend of the season by far. He was the fastest of the Arrow McLarens in practice and qualifying, with a strong seventh on the grid putting him in good stead for the race. He followed that up by executing an impressive race where he likely would’ve finished ninth without a last-lap intervention by Newgarden.
It's an impressive result, but it may be a bit late for Siegel, whose chances of retaining his Arrow McLaren seat have been severely impacted by his poor performances across the rest of the season.
Someone who shouldn’t have to worry about losing his seat is AJ Foyt’s rookie Caio Collet. Collet was the star of qualifying with his first Fast 12 appearance. Despite moving up a place to seventh at the start, issues on pit road put an end to his chances of challenging for serious points, eventually coming home in 16th.
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