Marcus Ericsson holds off Pato O'Ward to win action-packed IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG — In what turned into a race largely of survival and bravado, Swedish-driver Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward on Sunday to win an action-packed season-opening NTT IndyCar Series Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg – his fourth career victory in the series.
High emotion and high drama marked the afternoon – from green flag to checkers - on the 1.8-mile circuit around the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront.
An engine hiccup – a brief loss of power in O’Ward’s No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet while he was leading the race with five laps remaining - allowed the reigning Indy 500 winner Ericsson’s No. 8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to swerve past, hold the point and drive away to a 2.4113-second win.
“It was our day, I think that was my thought, obviously that’s racing,’’ the 32-year old Swede said of O’Ward’s sudden stall. “You need to get there to the finish line and we were having such a good weekend, our car was good all week through.
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“Today was one of those races where a lot of things happened,’’ added a smiling Ericsson, who was serenaded pre-race and celebrated post-race by a loud and lively group of Swedish fans dressed in the country’s famous blue and yellow.
After climbing out of the car, O’Ward had trouble finding the right words to describe his disappointment for the live television broadcast.
“It happens randomly and you can’t predict it,’’ a clearly crestfallen O’Ward said, carefully chosing his words about the incident
Ericsson’s Ganassi teammate, six-time series champion Scott Dixon, finished third claiming the final position on the podium. It marked the New Zealander’s 193rd Top-5 effort – tying him with the legendary Mario Andretti for most all-time in IndyCar.
O’Ward’s new McLaren teammate, Alexander Rossi, finished fourth in his debut with the team and Callum Ilott was fifth, a career-best mark for the young British driver.
“I think we all knew it was going to be a little chaotic based on practice and qualifying,’’ Rossi said of the race in what may have been the day’s biggest understatement.
Outside polesitter and 2021 St. Pete race winner Colton Herta – who was collected in an accident - went farther.
“That race was insane,” he posted on social media after the checkered flag.
Plenty of racing incidents, two cars go airborne, during IndyCar opener
Only 11 cars finished on the lead lap and many of the pre-race favorites were sidelined. Sixteen of the 27 cars racing on Sunday – including both of the front-row qualifiers - had some sort of racing incident. Two cars went airborne in separate accidents. One of them, British driver Jack Harvey, was transported to a hospital “out of an abundance of caution,” according to IndyCar.
It was an especially tough day for the four-car Andretti Autosport team, which performed as a “favorite” all weekend, sweeping the front row in qualifying with polesitter and Miami resident Romain Grosjean and teammate Herta. Both were eliminated from the race in separate incidents with Team Penske drivers.
Herta, who ran up front early but was shuffled back during pit stop strategy, was hit by Team Penske driver Will Power – a two-time St. Pete race winner. Herta’s Andretti Honda jammed into a tire barrier, unable to continue at the race’s midpoint, while Power returned to finish seventh. Power said post-race he thought it was just a “racing incident” and said he would speak to Herta later.
Grosjean who led the field by almost 7-seconds early in the race, was hoping to win his first race since transitioning from Formula One to IndyCar three years ago. He was racing side-by-side with defending race winner, Penske driver Scott McLaughlin, who had just exited the pits. Essentially the two would have cycled back out to settle the race lead during their competitors' remaining pit stops.
But instead, with 28 laps remaining, the two drivers – who combined to lead 68 of the race’s 100 laps - collided side-by-side with both cars ramming into tire barriers at Turn 4. It ended the day for Grosjean, who angrily punched a tire barrier after exiting his No. 28 Andretti Autosport Honda. McLaughlin’s Chevrolet was able to continue, but he was penalized for aggressive driving in the incident and finished 13th.
Grosjean, who has not won a race in any series since 2011, was still angry after a mandatory trip to the infield care center following the accident.
“I’m very, very disappointed, but what an amazing weekend, we had a super fast car,’’ Grosjean said. “But I’m really annoyed.
“That’s not racing,’’ he added, noting that he hopes the IndyCar Series will possibly discipline McLaughlin for the move.
The New Zealander McLaughlin was immediately apologetic in interviews following the race saying that was not characteristic of him and he would speak to Grosjean.
“There’s no question I am very sorry to Romain. He’s a good friend of mine and I know we both were going for the win there,’’ McLaughlin said. “I just made a big mistake there. I was on cold tires and just didn’t have the grip on the inside there.
“Just took us both out. Look, I don’t race like that and I apologize.’’
It was a rough home race for all the Florida drivers. Miami’s Helio Castroneves was eliminated in a six-car first-lap accident that also took out South Florida’s Devlin DeFrancesco.
Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood, of Jupiter, scored his career best qualifying effort to start fifth in the 27-car field. But he was unable to avoid a crash directly in front of him, his No. 27 Andretti Autosport Honda literally launched over the top of the disabled car of Harvey.
Kirkwood came into the pit for repair and returned to finish 16th in his debut for the renowned team – tops for Andretti on Sunday. He ran Top-10 early in the event before having to make a green flag pit stop for tires on lap 29. He was making his way back forward through traffic when he was caught up in the accident.
“It seemed like almost everything that couldn't have gone wrong, went wrong for Andretti Autosport today, super unfortunate,’’ Kirkwood said, adding, “Typical street course racing; yellows, you get shuffled to the back and there’s nothing you can really do but get caught.
"Overall if there’s one thing I take from this weekend, it’s that as a team we showed pace every single session on track and proved race pace. We showed we could win. Just nothing played out in our favor.’’
Rinus VeeKay, who also lives in South Florida, was the other car involved in that accident. He finished 21st.
With the victory, Ericsson takes a 10-point championship lead over O’Ward into the series’ next race, the PPG 375 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2 (noon, NBC).
Singapore's Daniel Frost wins INDY NXT race
Singapore driver Daniel Frost took the lead on a restart with two laps remaining to win the INDY NXT By Firestone race at St. Petersburg, held Sunday morning before the NTT IndyCar Series race.
Frost held off rookie Noal Siegel and Jacob Abel – who led a race-best 27 of the 40 laps.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Marcus Ericsson holds off Pato O'Ward at IndyCar Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
