Credit: Chris Jones, INDYCAR official gallery
Barber Motorsport Park was host to a gripping race, Where Scott Mclaughlin found retribution in the weekend following the Penske penalties. Penske teammate Will Power fought hard for a second place finish, with Rookie Linus Lundqvist close behind achieving his first podium in the NTT IndyCar series.
The Alabama Grand-Prix is a fast circuit, with mistakes being detrimental to performance and often ending with cars off the track. This year was no exception, with 4 Cautions during the race, cars bumping together and Georgina, the mannequin, falling from the bridge onto the track.
Race Start: first laps chaos
The race began, with the frontrunners managing skillfully to hold off any attacks from behind, avoiding trouble. However, further down the field saw chaos ensue in the early laps. Sting Ray Robb had Rinus Veekay barreling into his side, leaving Veekay with a driver through penalty and luckily Robb able to continue.
Fittipaldi had a similar issue with the Mclaren Arrow of Pato O’ward when he took the curb going into the corner and knocked Fittipaldi out of the way. Similarly, it earned O’ward a drive through penalty that he was frustrated with on the radio. Only a few laps later, O’ward spun. He spent the rest of the Grand Prix trying to recover positions.
The division between the two-stop and three-stop strategies made for a thrilling race as each caution and incident tipped the scales from the three stop to the two and back again. Palou, Armstrong and Rosenqvist were the front runners on the two stop. McLaughlin, Power and Lundqvist were the front runners on the three stop.
4 Cautions and Varying Strategies
Although McLaughlin led 58 of 90 laps round Barber Circuit, his win was not guaranteed. The race saw 4 Cautions distributed throughout the race. Following the second caution on Lap 43, it appeared that those on the two-stop strategy would reap the benefits. The fuel saving paying off for Alex Palou, who took the lead of the race.
Unfortunately for Palou and the other two stop front runners, another caution on Lap 55 led to an earlier pit stop than they wanted. Meaning the rest of the race would purely be tyre management and fuel saving. McLaughlin resumed his lead. Knowing he needed to pit again, McLaughlin began pushing, building a gap of 30 seconds to Alex Palou. Enough for him to come in and out of the pits while remaining ahead of Power and Palou. It seemed at this point McLaughlin had it.
However, with only 4 laps to go and the win in sight for McLaughlin, Christian Rasmussen spun, stalling his car and leading to the final caution of the race and a scramble for the win. Only 2 laps to go, the race was underway again. McLaughlin got off clean and cleared off from teammate Will Power.
Palou fought hard but the three stop was triumphant at Barber Circuit with the two stop drivers incapable of challenging them. McLaughlin and Power crossed the line with a 1-2 finish. A needed result to get the Penske team back on track following the disqualifications in St. Petersburg.