Angie's List GP of Indianapolis - Un...deux...trois as France's Pagenaud claims third win in
An eventful 82 lap Angie’s List Grand Prix of Indianapolis, ended with Frenchman Simon Pagenaud once again coming out on top to make it three wins in a row, and in doing so, extended his lead in the Verizon Indycar Series Championship to 76 points.
Starting from pole, Pagenaud raced down to turn one alongside American Charlie Kimball. But the first yellow caution flag soon came out as the rest of the pack all tried to squeeze through the tight corner.
Scott Dixon darted left to take a wide line into the right-hander, causing his Chip Ganassi team-mate Tony Kanaan to take evasive action. Kanaan squeezed Sebastian Bourdais against the wall and they both collided, effectively ending their races. Ironically Dixon got through turn one unscathed.
Pagenaud, who donned a new bright yellow ‘Menards’ livery on his #22 Team Penske car, comfortably led the first 24 laps, with Charlie Kimball and James Hinchcliffe fighting for second place.
The first round of green flag pit-stops saw Charlie Kimball briefly jump into the lead, but Pagenaud coolly dispatched him a lap later to re-establish first place on lap 25.
The race was turned on its head on lap 38 when Bourdais (now 18 laps adrift) stopped on-track bringing out the second yellow flag of the day.
Connor Daly and Helio Castroneves had already pitted a few laps earlier and so cycled to the front when the rest of the field made their pit-stops under caution.
Connor Daly impressively led the next 15 laps – much to the delight of his home crowd. It was certainly his best showing so far in his rookie season with Dale Coyne Racing.
But Pagenaud was cunningly hanging back in third place saving fuel.
When Daly finally pitted on lap 61, the Frenchman – now in clean air – pulled three additional fast laps out of the bag, meaning that when Pagenaud exited the pits on lap 64 he was comfortably back in the lead.
The championship leader made it look easy from then on, as he smoothly reeled off the remaining laps to take his third win of the season.
Pagenaud later tweeted, ‘Doesn’t even feel real. What a way to start May! She was a bullet today.’
Castroneves held on for second place to make it a one-two for Penske Racing, as Daly faded to sixth by the end of the race.
Canadian driver, Hinchcliffe, showed that he had fully recovered from his accident at this circuit last year with a fine drive to take third, leaving ‘Hinch’ as the highest placed Honda powered car.
Americans Graham Rahal and Josef Newgarden had both qualified in the top six for the race, but were demoted to the back of the grid when their cars were both deemed to be under-weight during post-qualifying inspection.
Last year’s second place finisher Rahal produced a great drive to fight through to finish fourth.
It was a tough weekend for last year’s winner Will Power. After setting a new lap record in the early part of qualifying, a brush with the wall meant the Australian missed out on the Firestone Fast six, qualifying in tenth.
Power’s race turned sour on lap six when he spun his car into the grass under pressure from rookie driver Alexander Rossi – who was impressive throughout – finishing the race in tenth.
A late pit exit violation compounded Power’s problems, with the 2014 series champion finishing a disappointing 19th.
It also proved to be a very frustrating weekend for the British contingent.
After his best qualifying effort so far this season, Bradford-born Jack Hawksworth started the race in fourth. He valiantly held off Scott Dixon in the early laps fighting for fifth place.
But after pitting earlier than most, Hawksworth was shuffled back in the field and never recovered.
He seemed to struggle with his higher downforce set-up, making it difficult for him to pass on the straights. ‘Hawk’ finished a disappointing 20th after breaking his front wing late in the race.
Max Chilton faired little better, bringing his #8 Gallagher Chip Gannassi Racing car home in 14th place, though he never seemed to be a realistic contender for the top ten, Chilton is still clearly finding his feet in the series.
First practice for the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500 starts on Monday.
The Indy 500 spectacle is a double points race, which will give someone a much needed chance of challenging Simon Pagenaud’s 48 point lead in the championship.
