Marcus Ericsson gave his side of the story about the touch that knocked teammate Álex Palou out of the Elkhart Lake GP and celebrated his second place finish that restored his IndyCar Series lead
Marcus Ericsson was involved in a big controversy at the Elkhart Lake GP on Sunday (12). In the very first laps, the Swede took advantage of a gap and overtook his Ganassi teammate, Álex Palou, to take third position. However, the two touched during the maneuver, and the Spaniard had to abandon the race due to damage to his left front wheel.
Palou was not at all happy about the incident. The reigning IndyCar Series champion ironically thanked his teammate on the radio, and later stated that he also "knows how to play this game. Ericsson finished the race in a great second place. The Swede regretted Álex's abandonment, but stressed that it was a normal race maneuver.
"First of all, I wanted to apologize, you never want to touch with a teammate, so I feel very bad that Álex had to abandon because of that. From my point of view, the door was open, I stayed side by side and in the video you can see that I make the turn normally," Marcus explained.
"In my view, it was a good race maneuver, I saw a space and took the opportunity, it's important at the start of the race to have a good track position. That said, I feel very bad that he dropped out because of it," lamented the reigning Indianapolis 500 winner.
After overtaking Palou, Ericsson still overtook Alexander Rossi in the closing laps to take second place and earn his third podium of the season. The Ganassi driver celebrated the result, which returns him to the lead of Indy after eight races.
"It was a very good race, we had a very strong weekend. We had some difficulties in the warm up and we changed some things for the race. I think the car was really good in qualifying and the guys in the #8 Ganassi car did a great job to give me a great car today. Second place, a great day thinking about the championship. Josef [Newgarden] did a great job today and deserved the win, but I'm super happy with the result," celebrated the Swede.
With the result, Ericsson now has 293 points, 27 ahead of Penske's Will Power. IndyCar racing returns on July 3, for the Mid-Ohio GP.