IndyCar – REV Group Grand Prix: Event Analysis

IndyCar takes to Road America for the third and fourth rounds of the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series.

Race 1:

Josef Newgarden started from pole for the second time in 2020, with Jack Harvey in an amazing P2 for Meyer Shank Racing, however at the start the Brit tumbled down to 4th before even Turn 1, with Ryan Hunter-Reay making a bold move up by the pitwall.

Harvey wasn’t having any of it, with a dive into Turn 2 to retake P3 from Graham Rahal and nearly taking 2nd from Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay then attempted a move around the outside of leader Newgarden but had to back out on the exit.

Into the same corner, Santino Ferrucci made it 3-wide on the grass with Harvey and Rahal, moving up into P4 with Harvey and Rahal making contact.

By Lap 8, Rahal was in a position to attack Hunter-Reay for P2, and successfully outbroke the Andretti driver, before Hunter-Reay ran very wide on exit. 3 laps later, Ferrucci pulled off a very impressive move by tricking Hunter-Reay with multiple dummies into the same corner.

Then disaster stuck for the leader of Josef Newgarden, who stalled when trying to leave his pit box on Lap 28, with the likes of Ferrucci, Hunter-Reay and Will Power passing him in the pitlane, handing the lead to Jack Harvey.

On his outlap, Power launched a dive on championship leader Scott Dixon. The 2 ran side-by-side into Turn 6, with Power nearly losing it on the brakes over the crest but managed to hold the position.

On Lap 38, Harvey span out of a front-running position for Meyer Shank Racing, resulting in a loss of crucial points the team needed and retirement from the race.

The battle for the lead between Dixon and Power came to the pitlane on Lap 40, with a mistake from Power’s Team Penske pitcrew resulting in Chip Ganassi’s Dixon taking the lead of the race.

Just 1 lap later however, things got wild in the midfield, with battles between Simon Pagenaud, Marcus Ericsson, Pato O’Ward and Takuma Sato, with Sato lunging up the inside of McLaren’s O’Ward, with them and Ericsson/Pagenaud running 2 by 2 through Turn 5.

O’Ward was pushed wide into Turn 6 and Conor Daly for Ed Carpenter Racing looked to take advantage, however they made contact through the highspeed Turn 7, with Daly crashing heavily into the outside barrier.

On the restart, rookie Alex Palou found himself in an incredible P4, and looked to make it a podium with a massive dive into the highspeed Turn 1 on Hunter-Reay. Hunter-Reay looked to retake his podium spot into Turn 5 but ran too wide on exit, just before a Caution for Dalton Kellett who was beached in the gravel.

On the second restart, Palou found himself making another move on Hunter-Reay into Turn 1, this time around the outside and making it stick. With 4 laps to go, Alex Rossi’s horrendous year contined with a braking issue into Turn 5, after breaking his suspension with contact with Max Chilton just before.

The podium for Race 1

However, for the third time in 3 races in 2020 for IndyCar, the 5x IndyCar Champion Scott Dixon wins, continuing his dominant run of wins to start the 2020 season, however Alex Palou held on to take his maiden IndyCar podium in P3.

The full result for the 2020 REV Group Grand Prix Race 1 can be viewed below:

Race 2:

For IndyCar’s Road America double header, it was McLaren’s Pato O’Ward to took his maiden pole position. He ran side-by-side with Colton Herta into Turn 1, however chaos ensued behind them.

It started before the green flag, with Conor Daly running into the back of McLaren’s Oliver Askew, before Hunter-Reay was span into Turn 1, hitting the concrete outside wall hard before coming to a rest in the gravel trap. Jack Harvey’s miserable weekend continued as he span at Turn 1, before a big crash for Graham Rahal ended the chaotic start as the Caution came out.

The moment of impact at the race start

Will Power found himself being involved in both crashes, hitting Hunter-Reay into his spin before making contact with Rahal, who then hit Felix Rosenqvist before crashing heavily, clipping the edge of 1 concrete wall to take out the left hand side of his car before slamming into the following concrete wall.

O’Ward owned the restart to get a good gap ahead of Herta, however later Will Power had another big off, and was lucky not to hit the barriers. On the second restart, Palou made a bold outside move into Turn 1 on Herta for P2.

A slow pitstop for Scott Dixon put him down the order, before nearly colliding with Pagenaud who was entering his pitbox as Dixon was leaving.

Rossi was having a much better race, and made a dive into Turn 5 on Dixon, who couldn’t challenge back. Rosenqvist was also having a much better race, and made a solid move on Ferrucci into Turn 1 for P2 on Lap 23.

A large battle then ensued between McLaren’s O’Ward and Chip Ganassi’s Rosenqvist, with a pitstop error from Chip Ganassi handing the advantage to the McLaren driver on Lap 30.

Rosenqvist then spent the rest of the race hunting O’Ward down, and with 2 laps to go he made his attack into Turn 5. O’Ward defended the inside but the Swede performed an incredible switchback to get the inside line into Turn 6. The pair ran side-by-side through Turns 6 and 7, with Rosenqvist making the move round the outside of Turn 7 work. O’Ward then make a move to the outside of Turn 8 but couldn’t make it work.

That move gave Felix Rosenqvist his maiden IndyCar win in his second season, with Pato O’Ward taking his and McLaren’s first podiums in the series too, while Alex Rossi kickstarted his season with the final podium spot.

The full result for the 2020 REV Group Grand Prix Race 2 can be viewed below:

That result means that Scott Dixon continues to dominate with a 54 point lead now over 2nd year driver Colton Herta, with Pato O'Ward and Simon Pagenaud joint 3rd on 110 points.

The full Drivers' Championship standings can be viewed below:

NB: Conor Daly drivers for Ed Carpenter Racing on Road Course events and Carlin on Oval events.