Team Penske driver Will Power scored his first win of the 2021 IndyCar season and his first win since last year’s Harvest Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. The Australian was near untouchable all day long, leaving him to become the ninth different winner of the 2021 IndyCar season.
Polesitter Pato O’Ward led the field to green, holding his lead for several laps until he was usurped by Team Penske’s Will Power. The Australian maintained his lead through much of the race, though the most fascinating race was happening just behind him. Colton Herta was chasing down Power, while ex-F1 driver Romain Grosjean fought to secure a second place for himself. Championship leader Alex Palou followed behind. With just under 20 laps to go, it seemed like that would be the finishing order.
And then Alex Palou’s engine exploded, forcing the driver to slow to a stop on the track. It brought out the first yellow flag of the day and bunched up the field for a restart with just 15 laps remaining.
Grosjean took advantage of the start by forcing Herta wide and nabbing second place. O’Ward and Rossi also proceeded to battle for fourth place, the two drivers racing each other hard for the position. Meanwhile, Power took advantage of the chaos to build up a solid lead on the competition.
A second caution came out with nine laps to go after a spin from Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veekay. He was bumped by Scott McLaughlin and was left facing the opposite direction.
Power took the green with six laps to go, maintaining a growing lead over Grosjean, who had used up his Push to Pass trying to catch Power. As a result, Herta quickly began to creep up behind Grosjean… but then Herta ran out of Push to Pass as well.
At the end of the day, no one had anything for Power. The No. 12 Team Penske driver took the checkered flag to become the ninth different winner in the 2021 IndyCar series.
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