Pato O’Ward returned to his winning ways Sunday by capturing the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst at Barber Motorsports Park.
O’Ward, from Mexico, earned his first victory of the season in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, beating reigning NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2021 Barber winner Alex Palou to the checkered flag by .9800 of a second. NTT P1 Award winner Rinus VeeKay finished third in the No. 21 SONAX Chevrolet.
There was also movement at the top of the championship, as Palou took the lead with his third podium finish in four starts this season in the No. 10 The American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The Spaniard leads Scott McLaughlin, 144-141, as just 10 points separate the top four drivers in the standings.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden, who led the points entering this race, dropped to third after finishing 14th in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet.
The race, which took place in dry, sunny conditions after morning thunderstorms, unfolded as a strategic duel between drivers who chose a three-stop strategy and those who opted for two stops. Newgarden, Colton Herta, Romain Grosjean and Marcus Ericsson were among the contenders who elected for three stops, hoping they could lean harder on their Firestone tires during shorter stints.
But that strategy unraveled when rookie Callum Ilott spun his No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet into the gravel trap adjacent to Turn 9 on Lap 32. That incident triggered the only full-course caution of the race and essentially returned the entire 26-car field to the same tire strategy.
Nearly every driver pitted either just before or after Ilott’s incident, with VeeKay leading O’Ward, McLaughlin, Palou and Alexander Rossi as the top five on the restart on Lap 35.
Dutch driver VeeKay built a lead of 2.0875 seconds over O’Ward by Lap 60. VeeKay, O’Ward and McLaughlin pulled into the pits for their final stops in lockstep on Lap 62, with VeeKay and O’Ward taking new primary Firestone tires, while McLaughlin opted for used primary tires on his No. 3 Sonsio Team Penske Chevrolet.
VeeKay won the race off pit lane, but O’Ward pounced on the out lap. He passed VeeKay with a brave outside move in the hairpin Turn 5 and never trailed thereafter.
Palou made his final pit stop on Lap 64, producing sizzling in and out laps and re-entering the racetrack behind O’Ward but ahead of VeeKay. Palou kept O’Ward on his toes until the checkered flag, pulling to within .8951 of a second on Lap 73 of the 90-lap race.
But O’Ward kept his cool, managed his tire wear and eased away for victory.
Up next for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES are two races at the hallowed ground of the sport, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The GMR Grand Prix is set for Saturday, May 14 on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course, while the 106th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge will run Sunday, May 29 on the historic 2.5-mile oval.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Point Standings:
Palou 144, McLaughlin 141, Newgarden 135, Power 134, O’Ward 114, Dixon 113, VeeKay 106, Grosjean 101, Ericsson 84, Rahal 84, Herta 79, Pagenaud 69, Rossi 62, Sato 61, Lundgaard 57, Rosenqvist 56, Castroneves 55, Johnson 51, Daly 50, Kirkwood 46, Harvey 44, Malukas 44, Ilott 37, DeFrancesco 33, Kellett 30, Calderon 25, Ferrucci 22, Carpenter 18, Hildebrand 17
Race results
1/ (2) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
2/ (3) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
3/ (1) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 90, Running
4/ (19) Will Power, Chevrolet, 90, Running
5/ (13) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
6/ (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 90, Running
7/ (8) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 90, Running
8/ (9) Graham Rahal, Honda, 90, Running
9/ (5) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 90, Running
10/ (10) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
11/ (24) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 90, Running
12/ (12) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
13/ (17) Takuma Sato, Honda, 90, Running
14/ (7) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 90, Running
15/ (14) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 90, Running
16/ (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 90, Running
17/ (20) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 90, Running
18/ (15) Jack Harvey, Honda, 90, Running
19/ (22) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 90, Running
20/ (18) David Malukas, Honda, 90, Running
21/ (16) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 90, Running
22/ (21) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 89, Running
23/ (23) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 89, Running
24/ (26) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 89, Running
25/ (11) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 88, Running
26/ (25) Tatiana Calderon, Chevrolet, 88, Running
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