LEEDS, Alabama – Pato O’Ward was able to pass Rinus VeeKay in turn five after their final pit stop on lap 62 and that proved to be the winning move in Sunday’s Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.
VeeKay had started on the pole and led 57 laps in the NTT IndyCar Series contest. The driver from The Netherlands appeared to be cruising to his second career victory.
But one lap after O’Ward passed VeeKay for the lead, defending Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama winner Alex Palou was able to get an outstanding in-lap for his pit stop. When he returned to the track, he didn’t beat O’Ward, but he got out ahead of VeeKay’s Chevrolet to take over second place.
From that point until the checkered flag, O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet was able to stay about 1.5 seconds head of Palou’s No. 10 American Legion Honda. VeeKay fell about 10 seconds back.
At the end of the race, it was O’Ward that celebrated his third career win instead of VeeKay scoring victory No. 2.
O’Ward’s Chevrolet was able to defeat Palou’s Honda by 0.9800-of-a-second over Palou’s Honda.
“We were fighting for the win, and we got in the pits, that was my chance,” O’Ward said. “I had the opportunity. I got on my push-to-pass button and got him in Turn 5. After that, it was a cruise to Victory Lane.”
The victory came at an opportune time for O’Ward, who endured a difficult month of uncertainty about his future before coming to an agreement in principle to remain with the team pending approval by O’Ward’s father and attorney.
“It sucks to be at war within your own team,” O’Ward said. “We’ve had positive talks in the future, and I wanted to do it for these guys at Arrow McLaren SP. I was tired of being 10th and 11th so let’s claw our way back to this championship fight.”
Palou takes over the lead in the NTT IndyCar Series championship. He leads Scott McLaughlin by three points.
“We had a good day overall so I’m happy with P2,” Palou said. “The No. 5 was really fast today, but I’m super happy with the No. 10 American Legion Honda. It’s amazing. We couldn’t start the year better. The month of May is here and starting with the Indy road course, it’s going to be awesome, then the Indianapolis 500 is coming.
“We have a really solid street course and road course program, but I got really comfortable on the ovals at Indianapolis during the two-day test there a few weeks ago.”
VeeKay’s Chevrolet finished third after starting on pole.
“We were running a great race, then coming into pit lane I got held up,” VeeKay said. “Coming into pit lane, I was looking in my mirrors and forgot to use push-to-pass. I was a little conservative there, so the mistake is on me. We had a great car and a great race.
“I think we are better than the beginning of last year. Coming into Indy road course, the Indy 500 and a few races afterwards are our best races.”
Will Power’s Chevrolet started 19th and he finished fourth in an incredible drive throughout the race.
“I needed to take advantage of those reds early and turn 5 proved to be my spot,” Power said. “Up to fourth, man, I didn’t expect to be that far up. The good thing is when you don’t qualify well, you have good tires. We had good tires at the end there and good pace for a really solid day.
“I’ve been around for so long; this is my 17th year. I know the game so well. You have your ebb and flows and I’m just enjoying it while we’re doing it. It will be interesting coming out of May with double points in the Indianapolis 500. I’m aiming to get that one right.”
Scott Dixon finished fifth after starting 13th.
“For the PNC Bank Honda, if we start a little further up, it will make our days a lot easier,” Dixon said. “We need to start further up. The mistakes we have in qualifying make our race days much harder.
“When you are the stronger car, you are like King Kong. It was a huge comeback today. We have some good momentum and have come back from some huge deficits. We have a lot of things to try at Indianapolis, but the end of this month is when we need to peak and hopefully, we come through.”
The end of the race ended up with Romain Grosjean hitting Graham Rahal twice with three laps to go.
“He ran into me on purpose,” Rahal screamed on the radio to his crew.
On pit lane, Grosjean called it, “good racing.”
“It was hard racing, and I was a bit deep in the corner,” Grosjean said. “It was a gentle touch, but everything is OK. We had really good pace. Because of the track layout, it’s so hard to pass and there is a lot of wheel-banging.”
Rahal disputed Grosjean’s description.
“It’s clear, just watch the in-car video and the angle of his head,” Rahal said. “It’s pretty self-explanatory. I’m already straight there, why is he turning into me?
“Until the officials do something, I’m just frustrated. At St. Pete, he hit everybody he could hit. It’s time we do something about it.
“As another driver in the series told me, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks and that is his reputation coming here. If Race Control doesn’t do anything, then don’t penalize me.
“I’ve been penalized before for a lot less.”
Despite heavy morning rain that concluded at 9:30 a.m. local time, lightning kept the TV crews and track marshals off the course for another 30 minutes.
Once that was cleared, the schedule went off pretty close to on-time with the Indy Lights race, followed by the USF2000 contest.
Once those races were concluded, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama began on time at 12:15 p.m. Central Time.
Callum Ilott, who was having the best race weekend of IndyCar rookie season, went side-by-side with Castroneves before Ilott lost control and got stuck in the gravel pit in turn 9 for the first yellow flag of the race on lap 32.
By lap 50, VeeKay was up by 1.904 seconds over O’Ward’s with McLaughlin forming a Chevrolet trio at the front of the field. Rossi’s Honda was fourth followed by Palou’s Honda in the top five. Dixon was able to pedal his way up to sixth place after starting 13th.
On lap 61, a field of cars came into the pits. That also included Rossi. One lap later, VeeKay and O’Ward pitted together. VeeKay was able to get out of the pit just ahead of O’Ward’s Chevrolet
O’Ward and VeeKay went side-by-side in a thrilling battle and the driver from Monterey, Mexico was able to pass VeeKay for the lead.
McLaughlin was battling Dixon and went too hot into one of the turns and drove off track briefly. Palou pitted on lap 64 and got out of pits just between O’Ward and VeeKay. Palou went 33 laps on that set of tires before pitting.