Kirkwood claims his second win of the season in a dominant display on the streets of Detroit
- Evan Roberts
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Written By Evan Roberts
Kyle Kirkwood claimed his second win of 2025 in dominant fashion at the Detroit Grand Prix to continue the streak of there being only two drivers to win so far this season, cutting the gap held by Championship Leader Alex Palou to 78 points.
Race Report
Being Detroit, Lap 1 chaos was almost inevitable and it was no different this year, this time however without a caution. As all 27 drivers barreled towards turn three it would be Christian Lundgaard from all the way in fourth to be latest on the brakes. Unfortunately for him, it would be a bit too late as the Dane locked up and flew past polesitter Colton Herta who regained his lead going into turn 4.
Despite this he managed to get ahead of the other Andretti of Kirkwood who got the jump on David Malukas when the green flag was waived. Kirkwood ended up dropping to fourth by the end of the opening lap.
He would not stay there for long however as determined to make up for a disappointing qualifying, Kirkwood would make two decisive passes in as many laps to move himself back up into second by the end of the fourth lap.
The first of the cars to hit pit road and take off the alternate woylie tyre would be Felix Rosenqvist on lap 7, he would be followed a lap later by Dale Coyne's Rinus Veekay, for different reasons however as an issue with the car's engine kept him in pit lane for numerous laps, taking him out of the race.
The first of the leading runners to make their stops would be Malukas from fifth, followed promply a lap later by Lundgaard from third, coming out marginally ahead of the Lithuanian-American.
Surprisingly it would be Kirkwood who would be the first of the Andretti's to pit as tyre degredation on the alternates were extreme. Much to the displeasure of Herta, despite pitting a lap later and coming out in front of his teammate, an optimistic move from Nolan Siegel, who was yet to pit, pounced on the Andretti driver who was on cold tyres, getting ahead of him and gave a hip check that would allow Kirkwood to also go ahead of Herta, taking the net lead of the race.
Later on the very same lap (13) we would have our first caution of the race as early-stopper Rosenqvist slid the rear of his Meyer Shank into the turn 8 tyre barrier.
This undoubtedly gave an advantage to those who started on the alternate tyres, and two of those who hadn't pit yet but were still on the alternate when the caution came out were the Penske cars of Scott McLaughlin and Will Power, who thanks to the unusual short nature of Detroit's double sided pit lane came out ahead of the leaders of those who had already stopped to take the effective race lead.
When the green flag was waived on lap 18, it would last about as long as McLauglin's race a week prior as the saying cautions breed cautions couldn't be more true as going into turn 1 on the restart the cameras cut to the Arrow McLaren of Siegel who was facing the wrong direction. He was in fact helped there by McLaughlin who tagged his left rear tyre going into the braking zone, getting a drive through penalty for his troubles.
Despite there being no initial caution as Siegel managed to turn himself back around, a mere lap later the yellows would be back out as the tyre of Devlin Defranceso found itself laid flat across the track.
This allowed a number of drivers who opted to start on the primaries to make their opening stops. Not all of them however as it would be Christian Rasmussen once again to lead the field to green come lap 23.
Patience was the key word for those who had made the early stops as getting through the primary runners would decide their stint, as making moves through the field proved to be difficult.
It would be disaster yet again for Graham Rahal who pitted on lap 34 for the first time, from P2. In a harsh turn of events he would end up being caught out by a wheel nut issue on his rear right that would see him stuck in the pits as his mechanics utilised their high technical ability to hammer the tyre into place. Dropping him several laps down in what looked to be a promising race for the No.15.
By the time all the opening stops played out on lap 40, it would be Kirkwood who would lead for the first time all race, despite having a hold on proceedings for the previous 30 laps.
Malukas would once again be the first of the leaders to stop for the second time from fifth on lap 44. This time, the others would not take the bait and proceeded to extend their stint to try and commit to a two-stop instead of the three-stop that Malukas was forced onto.
The leader on the alternate strategy Rasmussen would be the first to bail following an incredibly short stint on the green alternate tyre. Having emerged from the pits he would be caught out by his cold tyres, making contact with the wall, surprisingly without caution or damage however forcing him onto a three stopper like the rest around him.
The remainder of the leaders all pit around lap 50 and maintained the same order they had entered the pits in. The true top three remained Kirkwood, Power and Herta.
Sneaking himself into contention would be Pato O'Ward, having started 18th on the primaries, two stints on the black tyres had put him just outside the top five on the alternate tyres.
The race proceeded to fall into conservation mode as everyone focused on reaching their tyre and fuel targets. The was to make it to around lap 70 so in order to make it to the end.
As the pit window loomed, drama would re-emerge as another tyre issue would bring out the third caution of the race as Callum Ilott found himself in the turn one wall as his front left not being properly attached meant he had no chance in making the corner, setting up a mad dash on pit lane.
Surprisingly, the chaos that was expected, failed to pan out as such, with the top five all maintaining the same positions.
What they wouldn't have wanted to see however was three cars in front as Santino Ferrucci, Kyfin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong all found themselves in dreamland as having pit just before the caution came out, they cycled right to the front.
When the green was once again waived on lap 73 we would perhaps see the biggest shock of the race, Palou in the wall! The driver who had won five of the opening six races would find himself out of the race having received a slight tap by Malukas going into turn 1. The No.4 car receiving a stop & go penalty for his troubles.
On the eventual restart, Kirkwood would make the first of the moves he needed to make as Armstrong found himself floundering with a lack of grip.
In the two laps that followed, Kirkwood would dispatch the remaining two drivers to get back into the lead. Not without cutting it close however, as in his move of taking P2 from Simpson, he would make contact going into turn 3, damaging his front wing and hanging doubt of it's rigidity over the last 20 laps.
To complicate matters, yet another caution would be waived with only 16 laps to go. This time in a terrifying incident that would see the front right suspension arm of Louis Foster fail at over 180mph, careering the Brit into the wall before colliding with an unaware Rosenqvist. Both drivers appeared heavily shaken by the incident but thankfully were able to emerge from their cars.
The severity of the collision meant the red flag would be waived two laps later as IndyCar made the choice to stop the race so there would be no rush placed on any of the track repairs that would allow us to finish the race under green flag running.
When the sixth restart eventually occurred it would be a brilliant jump by Kirkwood who gave himself a big enough gap to be relieved of any pressure. Surprisingly it would be Power who would tumble down the field, dropping behind both Ferrucci and Herta.
Despite some late battling for the last few podium places, it was never in doubt who would would take the chequered flag first. Kirkwood crossing the line to take his second win of the season, and taking home valuable points as he looks to chase down Championship Leader Palou.
Joining him on the podium would be Ferrucci in second to take his best IndyCar result as well as polesitter Herta who held off Power in the closing laps to claim his first podium of the season.
