Simon Pagenaud won Saturday’s running of the IndyCar Grand Prix after a wet and wild afternoon that saw top championship contenders Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi experience misfortune.
The Team Penske driver collected his first series win since Sonoma in 2017, passing race leader Scott Dixon with two laps to go. Pagenaud’s victory was his third on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, having previously won the inaugural event in 2014 for Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, as well as the 2016 running for Penske.
Penske has now won five consecutive races on the 2.439-mile road course; with Pagenaud’s teammate Will Power winning in 2015, ’17 and ’18.
“It was amazing, the whole race,” Pagenaud told NBC Sports following his 12th career IndyCar victory. “Third time, so I’m equal with Will. That’s awesome! We kept it in the Penske family. I can’t believe it. It’s awesome. What a race.”
With his winless streak finally over at 21 races, Pagenaud has proven that he still has what it takes to win in the NTT IndyCar Series - something that some fans may have doubted, but Pagenaud himself never did.
“I know what I’m worth,” Pagenaud said. “I have to get everything right, and we did that this weekend. Slowly and surely, we got there. The stars just didn’t align before, but the performance has always been there this year. The team has been fantastic at giving me what I need, so here we are.”
Did you guys see that one coming?! Brake you very much, #IndyCarGP!!! #THISISMAY #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/SRbLmefFO3
— Simon Pagenaud (@simonpagenaud) May 11, 2019
Dixon held on to finish second for the third time this year, and for the third year in a row at the IndyCar GP. Despite another runner-up, the defending series champion tried to focus on the positives following the race.
“All in all, [it was] a solid effort,” Dixon said. “It sucks to obviously lead that many laps and then come up short but again, congrats to Simon. He drove a hell of a race, and it’s nice to see him back in Victory Lane.”
Jack Harvey, who qualified third and ran up front all day, finished where he started for his first career podium.
“I believed in this team since the Indy 500 in 2017, and I knew this weekend could happen eventually and everyone at Meyer Shank Racing and Schmidt Peterson Motorsports just worked so hard to give us that,” Harvey said.
“It wasn’t an easy race being half dry, half wet, but we put on a great show for everybody. You can see how happy these guys were just getting a podium. Can you imagine how happy we’re going to be when we finally get a win?”
How Simon Pagenaud did it:
— Christopher Estrada (@estradawriting) May 11, 2019
Took 5th from Pigot in Turn 14, 17 laps to go
Took 4th from Jones in Turn 1, 16 laps to go
Took 3rd from Leist in Turn 2, 11 laps to go
Took 2nd from Harvey in Turn 1, 6 laps to go
Took lead from Dixon in Turn 9, 2 laps to go@IndyCaronNBC #INDYCARGP
Both series points leader Josef Newgarden, who started 13th, and second-ranked Alexander Rossi, who started 17th, needed some good luck to get through the 85-lap event.
Neither driver’s wishes would be granted. Newgarden finished a disappointing 15th, and Rossi fared even worse, finishing four laps down in 22nd.
Rossi’s race effectively ended as soon as it began, when Patricio O’Ward ran into the back of Rossi’s No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda at the start of the race. Rossi then clipped the inside wall on the frontstretch, and was forced to pit before completing his first full lap.
O’Ward earned a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact, but Rossi had to soldier on well out of contention for the victory.
Newgarden, whose race looked promising after leading 20 laps via pit strategy, saw all of his luck quickly evaporate when a tire from his pit box rolled onto pit road during a disastrous stop under caution on Lap 60.
Race control assessed a penalty to Newgarden, and he had to restart the race from the tail end of the field.
Rossi and Newgarden weren’t the only drivers to experience misfortune during Saturday’s race. The wet conditions saw several drivers go off track, including veterans Takuma Sato and Helio Castroneves, the latter bringing out the aforementioned caution for spinning in turn 1 after exiting the pits.
The first yellow flew on Lap 11 when Marcus Ericsson spun in Turn 14. Ericsson’s No. 7 Arrow Schmidt Peterson Honda slid across the grass separating the interior road course from the oval before making contact with the SAFER barrier. Ericsson walked away from the incident unscathed but out of the race.
Once the green flag came back out on Lap 16, Scott Dixon made a phenomenal move, passing Jack Harvey and Rosenqvist to take the lead in Turn 1 after Rosenqvist locked up entering the corner.
Moments later, the yellow flag came out again, as Harvey made contact with Colton Herta, causing the Harding Steinbrenner Racing driver to spin.
James Hinchcliffe then made contact with Ryan Hunter-Reay, who spun and hit Herta’s car as well.
Hinchcliffe was assessed a drive-through penalty, and Herta logged another disappointing DNF - continuing his streak of misfortune since winning the inaugural IndyCar Classic at Circuit of the Americas earlier this season.
Trouble for Colton Herta, Ryan Hunter-Reay, and James Hinchcliffe.
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) May 11, 2019
Two incidents in the same corner. Watch the @INDYCAR GP on @NBC. pic.twitter.com/ueQbDTOK42
Josef Newgarden left the race still atop the series standings with 182 points. Scott Dixon moved up to second in the standings (-6) with his podium finish, pushing Alexander Rossi down to third (-36).
The NTT IndyCar Series now gears up for the biggest race of the year, the 103rd Running of the Indianapolis 500, which will air live on NBC, Sunday, May 26.
Click here for full race results