Pato O’Ward completes historic Milwaukee double as Álex Palou seals fifth IndyCar title

Credit: James Black

Pato O’Ward completed a historic afternoon at the Milwaukee Mile, winning Milwaukee Race 1 only hours after taking victory in Race 2 as Álex Palou secured his fifth IndyCar championship in six seasons.

O’Ward entered the delayed race from the top starting position after penalties reshuffled the qualifying order, then survived an overnight postponement and several late cautions to take his second victory of the day.

McLaughlin produced the fastest qualifying run ahead of Milwaukee Race 1, earning his second pole of the season and 13th of his IndyCar career with an average speed of 165.536 mph in the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet. His achievement would not translate into the top starting position, though, as a nine-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change following the previous race at Washington dropped him to 10th.

Palou and Malukas qualified second and third, with the latter producing a much-needed result after battling the lingering effects of a wrist injury across a difficult run of three races. Both joined McLaughlin in receiving penalties for unapproved engine changes, which promoted O’Ward to the top starting spot after he originally qualified fourth at 164.019 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Newgarden moved alongside O’Ward on the front row, while Will Power advanced to third. Palou also entered Milwaukee Race 1 with the championship within reach, needing to leave the race with a margin of at least 108 points to secure the title (54 points after race 2 concluded).

Rain delayed the start by an hour before the field finally went green at 14:35 local time. O’Ward and Newgarden maintained the top two positions while Felix Rosenqvist immediately gained two places to move into third.

Behind the leaders, VeeKay quickly began one of the strongest recovery drives of the race. Starting 24th, he climbed 10 positions within the opening five Laps and reached 14th. Louis Foster and Romain Grosjean made contact on Lap 5, although both escaped without race-ending damage and continued.

Rosenqvist soon turned his attention towards the lead. The MSR driver passed Newgarden for second on Lap 15 before closing on O’Ward, eventually completing the move for first on Lap 23. Rosenqvist immediately began building an advantage and stretched his lead to almost three seconds by Lap 30.

Newgarden passed O’Ward for second on Lap 30 as the opening stint continued, while VeeKay maintained his charge through the field and reached 10th by Lap 39. Lundgaard also began making progress near the front, passing Power for fourth on Lap 40 before moving ahead of Newgarden for third eight Laps later.

Kyle Kirkwood opened the first major pit cycle on Lap 44 and switched to hard tyres, with Scott Dixon following one Lap later. Newgarden became the first of the leading group to stop on Lap 50, returning to the track in 16th on hard tyres.

Credit: Joe Skibinski

O’Ward stopped on Lap 52 and Rosenqvist followed on Lap 53, while Power waited until Lap 55 before making his first stop. The sequence swung the race back towards O’Ward, who passed Rosenqvist for the lead on Lap 58.

Nolan Siegel completed the pit cycle on Lap 64, but the race changed one Lap later when conditions brought out a full-course caution. O’Ward led Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi as several drivers further down the order used the caution to make their stops, including Palou on Lap 70.

Conditions continued to deteriorate and race control displayed the red flag on Lap 91, freezing the running order and preventing teams from making changes to their cars. With the weather showing little sign of improving, the remainder of Milwaukee Race 1 was postponed until 17:00 local time on Sunday.

More than 24 hours after the race had stopped, the field returned to the circuit on Lap 91 under caution. O’Ward remained ahead of Rosenqvist and Rossi, with every driver resuming on the same tyre and fuel levels they had when the race stopped on Saturday.

Several drivers visited pit lane during the caution period for fresh tyres and fuel before racing resumed on Lap 101. The restart immediately produced movement throughout the field, with Rossi losing four positions across the opening three Laps and dropping to seventh.

VeeKay picked up where he had left off and climbed to sixth by Lap 105, while Malukas gained five places after the restart to reach seventh. Kyffin Simpson went in the opposite direction, falling 10 positions to 19th.

Kirkwood returned to pit lane on Lap 117 before O’Ward and Rosenqvist made their next stops together on Lap 119, emerging 10th and 11th. Lundgaard and Power followed one Lap later, while Palou made his fourth stop on Lap 125 and returned to the track in 15th.

Malukas and Armstrong moved ahead of O’Ward by Lap 130, although both remained on older hard tyres. O’Ward quickly passed Armstrong for second on Lap 131 before Lundgaard followed him through four Laps later to take third.

Malukas stretched his stint until Lap 143, handing the lead back to O’Ward and returning to the race in 14th. Fresh tyres gave Malukas the opportunity to attack and he rapidly moved back through the order, reaching eighth by Lap 150.

VeeKay continued his impressive recovery by passing Rosenqvist for fifth on Lap 151, moments before another caution changed the complexion of the race. Kirkwood had attempted to enter the pits, but the full-course yellow forced him to abandon the stop and drive through pit lane without receiving service.

Mick Schumacher's spin brought out the caution on Lap 152, although he continued. Most of the field began stopping under yellow from Lap 155, while Malukas remained on track and inherited the lead ahead of O’Ward and Lundgaard.

Credit: Chris Owens

Racing resumed on Lap 164 and Power immediately passed Lundgaard for third. Rosenqvist moved ahead of Armstrong for fifth on Lap 165 before VeeKay also passed Armstrong two Laps later.

Rosenqvist continued his recovery and overtook Power for third on Lap 187 as the final pit window approached. Palou was among the first drivers to make his last scheduled stop on Lap 193, with Rosenqvist and Armstrong following on Lap 194 and emerging ninth and 10th.

Malukas and O’Ward stopped together on Lap 196, returning to the track second and fifth as the strategy began to settle. Another caution arrived only four Laps later when Power made contact with the wall. The Team Penske driver managed to reach pit lane but retired from the race due to the resulting damage.

The field returned to green on Lap 210 with Malukas leading O’Ward and McLaughlin. Armstrong gained two places immediately to move into fourth before Lundgaard passed him on Lap 212.

Any opportunity for the race to settle disappeared on Lap 213 when Caio Collet hit the wall, bringing out another full-course caution and ending his afternoon.

The final restart arrived on Lap 226 with Malukas leading O’Ward. The Arrow McLaren driver wasted no time, passing Malukas for first as the field returned to racing and taking control of the final run to the chequered flag.

Behind them, VeeKay and Rasmussen surged into fourth and fifth as positions continued to change. Dennis Hauger received a drive-through penalty for being out of line during the restart, while VeeKay's remarkable recovery continued when he passed McLaughlin for third on Lap 247.

O’Ward remained clear at the front and crossed the line 1.780 seconds ahead of Malukas, completing his second victory within a matter of hours after winning Race 2 earlier in the day. The achievement made O’Ward the first driver since Rick Mears in 1981 to win two IndyCar races on the same day.

Malukas secured second after an eventful race that saw him move repeatedly through the field, while VeeKay completed the podium after climbing 21 positions from 24th on the grid. McLaughlin recovered from his grid penalty to finish fourth, with Rasmussen rounding out the top five.

Lundgaard finished sixth after losing positions during the final restart, followed by Newgarden in seventh and Ericsson in eighth. Armstrong claimed ninth, while Palou crossed the line 10th.

Palou's result was enough to secure the championship. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver secured his fifth IndyCar title in six seasons, adding another championship to a period of historic success while O’Ward closed a chaotic Milwaukee weekend with his own piece of IndyCar history.