MCLAUGHLIN LEADS POWER IN PENSKE 1-2
Scott McLaughlin has helped Team Penske end a tough week with a special 1-2 ahead of Aussie Will Power in the Indy Grand Prix at Barber.
After starting from pole position, McLaughlin was a dominant figure leading a race-high 58 of the 90 laps around Barber Motorsports Park to record back to back wins.
The New Zealand star utilised a three-stop strategy to retain a comfortable 3.5s lead for the closing stages, only for the stopped rookie of Christian Rasmussen to bring out a late caution.
This setup a tense two-lap sprint to the flag, but McLaughlin was cool under pressure to secure a fifth IndyCar win.
“We know our job, we know what we need to do,” McLaughlin said.
“I’m just super proud of the execution. A couple of yellows didn’t fall our way, but we just showed our pace. We just keep rolling, man.
“Definitely one of my best drives in terms of execution and just knocking out the laps.
“Our word now is execution, and we just executed to the highest we could. I’m super proud of them.”
Aussie Power overcame an engine change in the morning warmup to follow McLaughlin home in second place.
The two Penske drivers did engage in some friendly fire after a restart on Lap 49 when the Aussie got by the Kiwi at Turn 5.
But McLaughlin responded at the start of the following lap when he fired down the inside of Turn 1 to reclaim the lead, which proved to be a critical move.
Power did venture off track which saw him drop to third during the middle stages, but he was able to recover second ahead of the impressive Linus Lundqvist, who went from 19th to a maiden career podium.
“I got by (McLaughlin), and then he got a run on me and got back by,” Power reflected.
“I didn’t want to have two Penske cars out of the race with everything that has been going on. I was kind of easy on him in Turn 1.
“It is a hard-fought one-two for Penske. We were certainly fast, but a lot of strategy plays into that.
“I made a mistake, just dropped a wheel off – I had been taking the outside line of turn five and was kicking myself.
“But we were able to use our speed to come back out in front again.
“Stoked to be on the podium again and we are knocking on the door of a win.”
It was a dramatic race at Barber with a number of on-track skirmishes and even a manikin falling onto the edge of the track at one point.
Now all roads lead to Indianapolis for the famous month of May with the next round the road course race on May 11.
Image: Motorsport Images
Indycar Barber Motorsport Park results
| RANK | DRIVER | CAR NO. | STARTS | LAPS | TOTAL TIME | LAPS LED | STATUS | POINTS | AVG.SPEED | PIT STOP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | 3 | 1 | 90 | 01:56:45.7773 | 58 | Running | 54 | 106.369 | 3 |
| 2 | Will Power | 12 | 2 | 90 | 01:56:47.0967 | 1 | Running | 41 | 106.349 | 3 |
| 3 | Linus Lundqvist | 8 | 19 | 90 | 01:56:48.2194 | 4 | Running | 36 | 106.332 | 3 |
| 4 | Felix Rosenqvist | 60 | 5 | 90 | 01:56:50.2882 | 1 | Running | 33 | 106.301 | 2 |
| 5 | Alex Palou | 10 | 10 | 90 | 01:56:51.1465 | 12 | Running | 31 | 106.288 | 2 |
| 6 | Christian Lundgaard | 45 | 3 | 90 | 01:56:51.8282 | – | Running | 28 | 106.278 | 3 |
| 7 | Santino Ferrucci | 14 | 17 | 90 | 01:56:52.3828 | 14 | Running | 27 | 106.269 | 3 |
| 8 | Colton Herta | 26 | 15 | 90 | 01:56:53.2897 | – | Running | 24 | 106.255 | 2 |
| 9 | Marcus Armstrong | 11 | 6 | 90 | 01:56:53.8148 | – | Running | 22 | 106.247 | 2 |
| 10 | Kyle Kirkwood | 27 | 9 | 90 | 01:56:54.3346 | – | Running | 20 | 106.240 | 2 |
| 11 | Graham Rahal | 15 | 7 | 90 | 01:56:54.8061 | – | Running | 19 | 106.232 | 2 |
| 12 | Romain Grosjean | 77 | 11 | 90 | 01:56:55.2268 | – | Running | 18 | 106.226 | 2 |
| 13 | Jack Harvey | 18 | 22 | 90 | 01:56:55.9042 | – | Running | 17 | 106.216 | 4 |
| 14 | Kyffin Simpson | 4 | 23 | 90 | 01:56:56.2188 | – | Running | 16 | 106.211 | 3 |
| 15 | Scott Dixon | 9 | 13 | 90 | 01:56:57.1401 | – | Running | 15 | 106.197 | 2 |
| 16 | Josef Newgarden | 2 | 8 | 90 | 01:56:58.0128 | – | Running | 14 | 106.184 | 2 |
| 17 | Rinus VeeKay | 21 | 27 | 90 | 01:56:59.2865 | – | Running | 13 | 106.165 | 3 |
| 18 | Marcus Ericsson | 28 | 18 | 90 | 01:56:59.6210 | – | Running | 12 | 106.160 | 2 |
| 19 | Tom Blomqvist | 66 | 12 | 90 | 01:57:00.3524 | – | Running | 11 | 106.149 | 3 |
| 20 | Agustin Canapino | 78 | 20 | 90 | 01:57:00.4580 | – | Running | 10 | 106.147 | 3 |
| 21 | Luca Ghiotto | 51 | 21 | 90 | 01:57:01.4582 | – | Running | 9 | 106.132 | 4 |
| 22 | Theo Pourchaire | 6 | 24 | 89 | 01:55:47.6985 | – | Running | 8 | 106.067 | 3 |
| 23 | Pato O’Ward | 5 | 4 | 90 | 01:57:02.2234 | – | Running | 7 | 106.120 | 3 |
| 24 | Christian Rasmussen | 20 | 14 | 89 | 01:57:03.5045 | – | Running | 6 | 104.922 | 3 |
| 25 | Alexander Rossi | 7 | 16 | 60 | 01:40:38.7103 | – | Mechanical | 5 | 82.269 | 2 |
| 26 | Sting Ray Robb | 41 | 25 | 54 | 01:09:59.8639 | – | Contact | 5 | 106.461 | 2 |
| 27 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 30 | 26 | 42 | 01:42:21.7871 | – | Contact | 5 | 56.622 | 2 |
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