Newgarden uses tactics, survives restarts and wins Indy GP of Elkhart Lake

Josef Newgarden won the Elkhart Lake GP of Indy, held this Sunday (12) at the Road America circuit. After a traumatic defeat at this racetrack in 2021, Penske's American used the team's accurate strategy to dribble around pole-position Alexander Rossi, from Andretti, and win for the third time in 2022.

Indy 500 winner Marcus Ericsson took second place by overtaking Rossi in the last restart. With the result, the Swede from Ganassi regained the championship lead. Alexander completed the podium, and led an Andretti trio in the top-five, with Romain Grosjean fourth and Colton Herta fifth.

Felix Rosenqvist led McLaren to sixth place, with Penske's Scott McLaughlin seventh. Graham Rahal was eighth, and Scott Dixon and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the top-10.

Meyer Shank's Brazilian Helio Castroneves was only 23rd at Road America. The driver was in 16th position, but spun in a restart in the final stretch of the race and finished outside the top-20.

Championship leader Will Power had a day to forget. The Australian was touched by Andretti's Devlin DeFrancesco in the opening laps of the race, and was far away from the pack, finishing only 19th. Another title contender with a disastrous afternoon was defending champion Ganassi's Álex Palou, who was involved in an accident with teammate Marcus Ericsson in the early part of the race, and abandoned.

After a marathon of events on consecutive weekends, IndyCar Series will return to the track on July 3 for the Mid-Ohio GP at Lexington.

Find out how the Elkhart Lake GP of Indy went:

The start was given at 1:55 pm (Brasília time). Rossi did a zig-zag job and kept the first position. Newgarden followed in second, while Ericsson applied pressure to Palou. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson got away and spun in the gravel box, causing a yellow flag. The top-10 was made up of Rossi, Newgarden, Palou, Ericsson, Grosjean, O'Ward, McLaughlin, Pagenaud, Herta, and Rosenqvist.

The restart came with four laps to go. Rossi once again started very well and shot into the lead. Herta surprised Pagenaud in turn one and took eighth place. Palou, who was third, was touched by Marcus Ericsson and escaped at turn 5, ending up in the gravel box. While Rinus VeeKay was closed by Christian Lundgaard and also escaped. With suspension damage, Alex abandoned the race and the yellow flag came out again.

The green flag came out at the seventh turn. Now, Rossi didn't start as strong as before and was attacked by Newgarden in turn 1, defending himself very well. Herta again started strong and pushed McLaughlin out of the way, taking 6th place.

In the fight for 15th place, Devlin DeFrancesco touched the back of Will Power in turn 5. The championship leader spun and hit the wall, breaking his front wing. The yellow flag was brought out for the third time in less than 10 laps. Several drivers took the opportunity for the first pit-stop of the race.

The third restart of the race came on lap 11. Rossi started well again, leaving Newgarden behind and taking pressure from Ericsson. Herta tried to attack O'Ward, but couldn't. DeFrancesco, in 14th, was punished with a stop & go.

With 15 laps to go, Rossi was still in the lead, but being closely pursued by Newgarden, who was less than one second behind. Ericsson and Grosjean were further back, and formed the top four drivers on soft tires. O'Ward was fifth, on hard tires. Alexander and Josef came into the pits at the end of the lap. Marcus and Romain stopped on the next lap, as did O'Ward.

Newgarden took advantage and got out in front. Rossi even lost position to Ericsson, but managed to regain it and went after Josef to retake the virtual race lead. With a pit-stop early in the race, Foyt's Kyle Kirkwood took the lead. Colton Herta followed by climbing the field, and overtook Grosjean.

Felix Rosenqvist, who stopped with a yellow flag early in the race, emerged at the top after 20 laps, followed by Rahal and Newgarden. Rinus VeeKay was fourth, but lost performance and positions to Alexander Rossi, Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta, Romain Grosjean and Pato O'Ward.

With a strong pace and spending a lot of push-to-pass, Newgarden pushed Graham Rahal out of the way and caught up with Rosenqvist, who went to the pits at the end of lap 25 and handed the lead to the two-time champion. Rossi was promoted to second, 6s behind the Penske driver, with Ericsson, Herta, and Grosjean making up the top-5.

On lap 29, Newgarden came into the pits for the second time. Herta and McLaughlin took advantage of the window to stop as well. Rossi and Ericsson came in the next lap, while Grosjean stopped on lap 31.

With the order of the cars realigned, Newgarden was leading again with 4s54 ahead of Rossi. Rosenqvist was third, with Ericsson fourth and Herta fifth. The Swedish McLaren lost pace over the next few laps and dropped to fifth. With 20 laps to go, the two-times champion was losing the advantage to Rossi, which was now around 3s5. Josef managed to build up the gap in the following laps, opening up 4s2.

With 15 laps remaining, the final pit-stop window for the leaders began, with Newgarden and Rossi stopping at the same time. Ericsson and Herta came on the next lap. Josef was back in the lead again, but with a comfortable advantage over Alexander. Colton came back closer to Marcus, trying to threaten the podium.

In the battle for fifth place, Romain Grosjean overtook Felix Rosenqvist. In the top-10, Pato O'Ward saw his #7 McLaren stop for mechanical problems with eight laps to go, generating another yellow flag.

At the restart, Newgarden came out very well and was able to open up a lead on Rossi. Helio Castroneves, who was 16th, spun alone in the last corner and ended up in the grass, generating another yellow flag, and the Brazilian falling to the end of the pack. With the green flag, Josef once again took the lead, and left Alexander fighting with Marcus Ericsson, who, with a good maneuver in turn 1, took second place.

Indy 2022, Elkhart Lake GP, Race: