It had been a hard fought day for the Kiwi trio of Scott Dixon, Marcus Armstrong and Scott McLaughlin at the Indianapolis Road Course after a rough qualifying session.
Dixon was the top qualifier in the rescheduled qualifying session, where he qualified in eighth. It was a tricky session for McLaughlin and Armstrong, who qualified seventeenth and twentieth, respectively.
There was no more luck afforded on the first lap as Dixon was caught up in a first corner tangle, after a lockup from Felix Rosenqvist caused carnage through the field, leaving the Kiwi tangled up with the Meyer Shank Racing driver and rookie Caio Collett.
Dixon was lucky to be able to continue but had front wing damage which required him to come back into the lane for a wing change, leaving him well down the order.
Once the race resumed from a full course yellow on lap five, Armstrong and McLaughlin had been able to avoid the carnage to move into ninth and tenth.
Armstrong was able to hold position in ninth, while McLaughlin received a blocking penalty and had to cede a certain amount of positions, sending him back down to fifteenth.
Drivers started to head into the lane on lap eighteen, where Armstrong was the first Kiwi to come in, followed soon after by McLaughlin. At this time, Pole-sitter Palou was comfortably controlling ahead of championship rival Kyle Kirkwood, with David Malukas and Graham Rahal in fourth and fifth.
There was some mid-race confusion after Alexander Rossi’s car came to a halt on the fast start/finish straight, with a suspected hybrid failure. Initially only a local yellow was called, angering Rossi and confusing the commentary box. Rossi was also extremely critical of the new hybrid addition to the race cars, calling it something “no one asked for which doesn’t improve the racing” However, the local caution was soon upgraded to the second full course yellow of the race.
Racing resumed on lap thirty-three, where Dixon had cycled up to ninth, ahead of McLaughlin and Armstrong in eighteenth and nineteenth.
Dixon was forced to hard defend as racing resumed, but soon found rhythm and was able to try go forward.
The #9 Chip Ganassi Racing car soon headed into the lane and emerged down the bottom end of the top 20.
The race stabilised as drivers focused on preserving tyre and extending stints. Malukas led with twenty-five laps to go, ahead of Christian Lundgaard and Rahal.
McLaughlin turned into the leading Kiwi on lap sixty-one as he held fourteenth, ahead of Armstrong in fifteenth. Dixon had pitted again and was in eighteenth with twenty-fourt laps to go.
It was now clear that Dixon needed to charge up the field as much as he could in order to capitalise on fresh rubber. He was assisted with other drivers heading into the lane. McLaughlin and Armstrong, seemingly glued by the hip in this race, cycled as high as fifth and sixth but soon fell down as they themselves headed into the lane.
After all drivers had been through for tyres and fuel, Dixon sat in a remarkable sixth. Lundgaard led by three seconds over Malukas with ten laps to go.
Dixon was able to be the lead Kiwi driver home after a huge effort from team and driver left the Kiwi finishing sixth.
It was a good recovery for Armstrong, finishing in eleventh after a tricky qualifying session.
McLaughlin will now have sole focus on the INDY 500 after being classified sixteenth at the end of the race.
After the race, tensions in the Grosjean team boiled over after Romain Grosjean tried to confront Armstrong. Footage shows the Frenchman in a heated argument with crew from the Meyer Shank team, with Armstrong’s crew chief holding Grosjean back as he tried to get over to confront the Kiwi. The reason for the argument was not clear from video seen online.
Lundgaard took his first win for Arrow McLaren after his late race move on Malukas sealed victory, ahead of a great showing for Rahal. Palou uncharacteristically finished in fifth place, compounding a hard day for Chip Ganassi Racing.
After a mixed day for the Kiwi trio all eyes will now be on the INDY500, with practice starting on the 13th of May at 4:00am NZST.
Header Image: Penske Entertainment
