Josef Newgarden led 148 laps on Sunday and was heading for his second win of the weekend, but crashed himself and left the win in Patricio O'Ward's lap
The Iowa 2 GP was heading for a repeat of Saturday with a quiet victory for Josef Newgarden, but the race on Sunday (24) took a completely different turn in the closing laps. After leading 148 laps of the race, the two-time champion lost control in turn 4 on lap 235 and crashed into the wall. Better for Mexican McLaren's Pato O'Ward, who after starting from seventh, went on to win for the second time in 2022.
Pole-position again, Will Power finished once more in second place with Penske. Despite leading the first 84 laps, he was overtaken by Newgarden and did not have the strength to attack O'Ward in the final stint. New Zealander Scott McLaughlin, teammate of Josef and Will, closed the podium.
Six-time champion Scott Dixon led Ganassi to fourth place. Jimmie Johnson, meanwhile, posted the best result of his short Indy career in fifth, and was followed by current championship leader Marcus Ericsson, who swam from 18th to 6th.
Swedish Felix Rosenqvist, American David Malukas, Frenchman Romain Grosjean, and Japanese Takuma Sato rounded out the top-10. Current champion, Spaniard Álex Palou was only in 13th place.
Meyer Shank's Brazilian Helio Castroneves finished the race in 21st place. The driver was penalized early in the race and ended up 5 laps behind the winner.
Indy returns next Saturday (30) with the Indianapolis Grand Prix 2, which will be held at the Speedway's mixed track.
Find out how the GP of Iowa 2 went:
The green flag came out at 4:30 pm (GMT -3). Power and Newgarden held on to the top positions. O'Ward was a good surprise, jumping from seventh to third by performing several overtaking moves on the outside of the track. Ericsson also stood out, jumping from 15th to 10th.
With little movement in the front row, the first 30 laps were completed by Power in the lead, followed by Newgarden, O'Ward, Sato, McLaughlin, Daly, Rosenqvist, Ericsson, VeeKay and Grosjean. After starting sixth, Jack Harvey dropped down the field suffering from worn tires. The same happened to Conor Daly, who soon dropped out of the top-10.
Pagenaud, with radio problems, and Daly made the first pit stops of the race. Now dealing with traffic, Power followed in the lead chased by Newgarden on lap 60. O'Ward, way back, was third, and was followed by Sato, McLaughlin, Rosenqvist, Ericsson, VeeKay, Grosjean, and Malukas.
The first pit-stop among the leaders came on lap 63, with O'Ward. Power came in at 65, alongside Newgarden. The order of the drivers remained the same when they returned to the track, as Sato jumped into the lead. The Penske Aussie was back in first place by the 70th turn of the race.
Newgarden finally promoted an attack on Power, and took the lead on lap 84 when the Australian was trying to make Romain Grosjean a latecomer. With 90 laps to go, the two Penske drivers continued to occupy the top two positions. O'Ward was third, followed by Johnson, Ericsson, McLaughlin, Dixon, Rosenqvist, VeeKay, and Herta. Duck began to grow and began to cut into the lead for the leaders.
As the race reached 120 laps, the first yellow flag finally came out, due to Kyle Kirkwood. The Foyt driver was 17th and taking a lap from Josef Newgarden when he went through the dirty part of the track and into the wall in turn two. The pits were opened and the leaders Newgarden, Power, O'Ward and Ericsson stopped. A few spins later, the pack also stopped after they had discounted the laps behind.
The green flag came on lap 133. As Newgarden jumped out to a good lead, O'Ward went after Power, but the Aussie quickly got back on top. Dixon overtook Johnson to take sixth place.
The race reached 150 laps with Newgarden leading, 0s369 seconds ahead of Power, who was followed by O'Ward. Ericsson was fifth, followed by McLaughlin, Dixon, Johnson, Rosenqvist, Grosjean and Herta.
The race became more monotonous, and the Penske duo kept opening the gap to the competition. Power pulled alongside his teammate, but without success. Pato O'Ward was the first to pit in the third window on lap 195. Josef and Will came in the next lap. In the reorganization of the cars after the entire pit-stop window, Pato appeared ahead of Power.
The new top-10 had Newgarden, O'Ward, Power, McLaughlin, Dixon, Ericsson, Johnson, Ilott, Rosenqvist, and Grosjean.
The list of top drivers remained unchanged until lap 230, when Felix Rosenqvist went for Callum Ilott. Then, on lap 235, the race took on a completely different dimension. Leading quietly, Josef Newgarden spun alone at the exit of turn 4 and hit the wall, putting Pato O'Ward in the lead.
The pits were opened and the drivers took advantage of the window for the last stop of the race. O'Ward took the lead with Power second, Dixon third, McLaughlin fourth, Ericsson fifth, and Johnson sixth. The rest of the pack took advantage to catch up on the lap behind. After the pit-stops,
The green flag came out on lap 250. O'Ward jumped clear and held on to the lead. McLaughlin came out very well and took third from Dixon, while Johnson overtook Ericsson to enter the top-five. Duck continued to open up the field and left the gap to Power at more than 1s. Dale Coyne teammates David Malukas and Takuma Sato were battling for ninth place.
Ericsson retook fifth place over Johnson, while Sato overtook Malukas. Up front, O'Ward took advantage of the traffic that Power had to face to open more distance at the front. The Japanese two-time Indy 500 winner kept up the good momentum and overtook Colton Herta, who had to control his car to avoid a crash.
Jimmie Johnson took off on Ericsson and retook fifth place, just as Malukas returned to ninth.
Indy 2022, Iowa GP 2, Race: