Story and photos by Tim Adams
Compared to the chaos that Covid-19 created last year, so far this season the NTT IndyCar schedule has remained relatively unscathed. The only casualty this year has been the Toronto race. There are just too many Covid-19 restrictions still in place in Canada to run this race. Get vaccinated people! It is science, and it works.
This year’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin was the 9th race on the NTT IndyCar series calendar. Joining IndyCar were the three Road to Indy series support races, USF2000, Indy Pro 2000, and Indy Lights. Indy Lights is back after a one-year hiatus caused by Covid-19, and a lack of entries. Back in 2019 only 7 cars made the grid. This year features 13 cars. Not a lot by any means, but much better than the show they put on in 2019.
Thanks in no part to the massive vaccination effort in the United States, this race marked the return of the open paddock to Road America for a major race. The fans packed Road America. Both IndyCar and IMSA feature an open paddock at Road America. Any general admission ticket allows you to roam the paddock. NASCAR, racing for the first time this year with the Cup Series at Road America will not allow fans in the paddock. The fans really appreciate the access that IndyCar and IMSA allow.
The weather for the most part was fantastic. A little rain in the mornings with the track drying by the time cars were out, and some rain after Sunday’s race were the only blemishes on the weekend.
One newcomer to IndyCar this year is rookie Romain Grosjean. The French driver is hardly a rookie in open wheel racing however having made 179 starts in Formula 1. He is probably best remembered for surviving a horrendous crash in his last F1 start in the Bahrain Grand Prix. Like the aeroscreen that IndyCar uses, the F1 halo saved Grosjean’s life in Bahrain. Now driving for Dale Coyne Racing he is still a top-level driver. After the first practice on Friday, he was sitting atop the timing charts. Grosjean qualified 7th and finished the race in 5th, mixing it up racing wheel to wheel many times during the race.
After 8 races, Team Penske had yet to win a race. After qualifying it started to look like that maybe the tide was starting to turn, and Team Penske would finally get a win. Team Penske driver Josef Newgarden sat on the pole with teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud in 4th and 6th respectively. Colton Herta from Andretti Autosport qualified 2nd, Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey 3rd, and Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou in 5th. Notably missing was Helio Castroneves from Meyer Shank Racing. The Indy 500 winning driver does not have a deal in place to run the entire season. Too bad, I know the fans at Road America would have loved to see Castroneves.
The race seemed to be going as planned with Josef Newgarden leading over 30 laps in the 55-lap race. Newgarden was seemingly on his way to a hard-fought victory holding off the hard charging Alex Palou. Then the unthinkable happened. A late race caution led to a restart with just 2 laps to go. All Newgarden had to do was get a good restart and hold on for 2 laps. 2 laps at Road America though are just over 8 miles. It did not take that long for Newgarden’s day to go from great to unbelievably bad. Coming up the hill for the restart something went wrong with the transmission in Newgarden’s car. All he could do was watch helplessly as Alex Palou charged past him for the lead, and then drive off for an easy victory.
This was Palou’s second victory of the season and it vaulted him back into the season long points lead. Newgarden went from 1st to 21st in the space of just 2 laps. A devastating result. Finishing 2nd was Colton Herta from Andretti Autosport, with Will Power from Team Penske finishing 3rd. At least Team Penske was able to salvage a podium finish, but it was clearly not the result they wanted, or expected.
All in all, it was another fantastic race in front of a packed house at the National Park of Speed-Road America.
