Ericsson takes first IndyCar win in Race 1 of Detroit doubleheader

It was a race in three parts as a pair of red flags brought pauses to Race 1 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix, and when it was over, Team Penske’s Will Power was heartbroken, Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson was jubilant after scoring his first NTT IndyCar Series win, and the paddock was keeping good thoughts for Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist.

The only boring part of the 70-lap race took place on the last three laps as Ericsson took the green flag from the lead and crossed the finish line in the No. 8 Honda over Rinus VeeKay in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevy (1.7290s) and polesitter Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren SP in the No. 5 Chevy (+1.9105s). The drama is what came before the final red flag as Power led 37 laps and appeared to have Team Penske’s first win of 2021 in hand. That was until a solo crash by Romain Grosjean with five laps left to go turned the race on its head.

By calling for the red flag, IndyCar wanted to ensure the race finished under green conditions, and for all but Power, the decision worked to perfection until his No. 12 Chevy refused to fire at the front of the field. Given ample time to make multiple attempts to get the engine running, IndyCar officials ordered Ericsson -- in P2 -- and the rest of the drivers to pull around Power and follow the pace car.

With the No. 12 wheeled back to its pit box, the Penske crew worked swiftly to replace the ECU, but three laps were lost as Power returned to the circuit and finished an unrepresentative P20 as Ericsson made use of an almighty gift.

“I’ve been here now for three years, and there’s been a lot of bad luck,” said the ex-Formula 1 driver who became IndyCar’s seventh different winner in as many races this season. “Today was my day. I feel bad for Will. Still, I’ll take it. I’m so happy. It’s 10 years since I won a race. I came over here with that fire to win again. To get to victory lane means a lot.”

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1403825119244472322

Ericsson also added another piece of history to the mix by earning the first win for the CGR IndyCar team in the No. 8 since Michael Andretti drove the No. 8 Reynard-Ford/Cosworth to victory at the Toronto CART race in 1994.

For VeeKay, it was another statement-making drive for ECR to follow his May win at the Indy Grand Prix.

“Very happy,” VeeKay said. “It’s an awesome track. I like street courses, being a little crazy. Very good result; very good for the points.”

Where Grosjean was able to easily climb from the No. 51 Honda in his crash, the same could not be said for Felix Rosenqvist. On Lap 25, the Swede suffered a hellacious crash at Turn 6 when his No. 7 AMSP Chevy went to full throttle—for reasons unknown, at this point—and slammed into the wall to hard, it knocked over the 7000-pound concrete barrier sections struck by the front of his Dallara DW12 chassis.

After circulating behind the pace car for a few laps, the field was sent to pit lane and the first red flag was flown on Lap 28 to give the AMR Safety Team ample space to removed Rosenqvist from the car and for the track workers to begin extensive repairs to the Turn 6 barriers and fencing. Perched atop the tires, the safety team mounted the No. 7 car and slowly extricated Rosenqvist, who was in pain, but not seriously injured, according to IndyCar.

With the red flag being flown at 2:49 p.m. ET, the track repairs took more than an hour and engines were re-fired at 4:04 p.m. and the green flag waved a few minutes later.

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1403815900223000578

As cars rolled away from pit lane, Scott Dixon led a group of drivers who were moments away from stopping prior to Rosenqvist’s accident. The list included James Hinchcliffe, Santino Ferrucci, and Graham Rahal, Alexander Rossi, Colton Herta, Alex Palou, Sebastien Bourdais, and more. Their need to pit as the race resumed would ruin their chances of staying up from and fighting for victory.

Their stops ensuing stops promoted Power to the lead and Ericsson to second; Dixon fell to P11 and most of the group that followed him into the pits were close behind as the race resumed.

With the upcoming red flag that led to Power’s demise and Ericsson’s breakthrough win, there were a few others who would make use of the post-Rosenqvist sequence to fight their way forward. Rahal authored the best recovery after the first red flag to take P5, right behind Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing teammate Takuma Sato, and completing the RLL Hail Mary -- after all three cars qualified P16 or worse -- was Santino Ferrucci in P6.

Andretti Autosport’s Rossi was the best among his four-car collective in P7, and having started in P11, gotten into the lead, then fallen outside the top 10, Dixon rallied to take P8 but fell to third in the championship with O’Ward’s podium result.

It wasn’t as good as it could have been for Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan’s Ed Jones. However, after a day that threw every variable his way, he persevered to finish P9 after starting P4, and for the first time this season, he was truly competitive. Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who lost a lap when a rear wheel fell off, put in a spirited drive to get back on the lead lap and round out the top 10.

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1403778557776699394

Round 1 was a bonafide mess with crashes, wheel-to-wheel clashes, penalties for rough driving, speeding, blocking, and using a short cut. It was dreadfully hot inside the cars, hands were blistered and bleeding and, with less than 24 hours to Race 2 which starts at 12 p.m. ET, exhausted minds and bodies will be asked to do another 70 laps for our entertainment.

RESULTS

AS IT HAPPENED 

A clean start for polesitter Pato O’Ward who got a nice jump on Alexander Rossi to lead Lap 1 with a 1.0s margin. It was halved by Lap 3 as a number of drivers, including Ryan Hunter-Reay, Jack Harvey, and a Scott McLaughlin on a slow stop, traded their Firestone reds for primaries. O’Ward pitted at the end of the lap to do the same; among the top 12, only Scott Dixon started on primaries.

Rossi, inheriting the lead, continued circulating on reds as Dixon, starting in P11, was up to P6 with a mix of passing and cars ahead stopping. Josef Newgarden, who pitted on Lap 5 with Colton Herta, slowed with a missing left-rear wheel nut; Rossi pitted for primaries on Lap 6. Hunter-Reay returned to the pits with broken left-rear suspension after hitting the wall and Newgarden got to pit lane, only to have his left-rear wheel part ways with the car. With a new tire installed, he returned in P24, one lap down, but ahead of the stationary Hunter-Reay.

Ed Jones was next to take the lead as more drivers pitted for reds, but by Lap 9, he was demoted to P4 as Will Power, Takuma Sato, and Dixon held the top three. O’Ward and Rossi were first among the early stoppers buried in the midfield in P14 and P15.

Dixon took P2 from Sato on Lap 11 entering Turn 1. Jimmie Johnson pitted on the same lap with a drive issue. Rossi overtook O’Ward on Lap 12 to take P13, and before the end of the lap, Dixon claimed P1 from Power. Rossi continued his march forward to grab P11 before Lap 12 was done. Alex Palou, starting last and also opening his day on primary tires, was up to P12 as O’Ward fell back to P14.

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1403776729311846406

Dixon, by Lap 16, was 7.7s clear of Power as those who stayed out on reds were starting to suffer. Jones pitted on the same lap after falling from P4 to P13. Felix Rosenqvist was a solid P4 behind Dixon, Power, and Sato. By Lap 17, Dixon was up to 8.9s over Power. James Hinchcliffe was P5, 12.4s arrears to Dixon. Sato and Rosenqvist pitted on Lap 19 for his primaries. The gap between Dixon and Power was 12.0s on Lap 20; Rossi was up to P6 and O’Ward was P8, chasing Graham Rahal.

Power stopped to go onto primaries on Lap 21, as did Grosjean. Max Chilton arrived on pit lane on Lap 22 with a flat left-rear tire and a broken toe link. Rinus VeeKay was in moments later for a routine stop that appeared to take longer than desired.

Dixon’s tires were starting to lose their effectiveness as his lap times fell by nearly a half-second to those chasing him on primaries of a similar age. The first caution of the event came on Lap 25 when Rosenqvist made heavy contact at Turn 6 as his car went to full throttle at a point where he would have been slowing on entry to the long back straight. Launched through the tire barrier, the car slammed nose-first into the concrete barrier and rode upward, nearly going over the catch fencing, but fortunately, the car was retained.

In-car footage showed the Swede was grimacing in pain as the AMR Safety Team piled onto the car to extract the 29-year-old. The red flag was waved on Lap 28 at 2:46 p.m. ET. Cars fired at 4:04 p.m. ET and most of the leaders stopped for fuel and tires at the end of the first pace lap.

https://twitter.com/IndyCar/status/1403808507225387013

Their stops promoted Power to the lead and Ericsson to second; Dixon fell to P11 as the leader of the group that pitted. After Ericsson, it was Sato, Pagenaud, VeeKay, and Jones completing the top six. Contact exiting the pits between Herta and Palou left Herta’s car with a slight misalignment in the steering. The green flag waved on Lap 32 and Dixon got up to P8 by the end of the lap. O’Ward also got by Rahal for P12. By Lap 34, O’Ward was charging and held P9 while Ericsson pressured Power for the lead.

Dixon took P7 from Pagenaud as Grosjean pitted to have a flat right-front tire replaced. He was in P7 before the problem and returned in P20. The adversity promoted Dixon to P6 and O’Ward to P7. Race Control judged Sato to have blocked VeeKay on the restart and instructed Sato to surrender P3.

At the start of Lap 38, the order was Power, Ericsson, VeeKay, Sato, Jones, Dixon, O’Ward, Pagenaud, Harvey, and Rahal rounding out the top 10.

A big pass down the inside to Turn 1 on Lap 40 saw O’Ward take P6 from an oversteering Dixon, whose reds were tired. Pagenaud was next to get by Dixon, who was down to P8 while waiting to perform his last stop. He came in on Lap 44 along with Harvey and Herta. They’d return in P16-P18.

Jones and Rossi were in on Lap 46; Jones’ stop was slowed with a refueling issue. More among the contenders continued to pit; VeeKay stopped but his crew did not pull the left-front wheel gun away before it was driven over by his right-front on the way out.

Power and Ericsson pitted from the lead on Lap 48 with Power receiving quick service.

By Lap 50, O’Ward was in the lead ahead of Rahal, Ferrucci, and Newgarden, all of whom needed to make their last stops. Power and Ericsson were in P5-P6. McLaughlin clouted the wall and would pit with a bent left-rear suspension.

On Lap 54, all the leaders had pitted, promoting Power back to P1, Ericsson just 0.6s back in P2, and VeeKay 1.3s behind in P3.

Lap 60 showed no change in the top 10, other than Grosjean, who pitted while running P9. With the race on its way to the end, the leaders were Power, Ericsson, VeeKay, Sato, O’Ward, Pagenaud, Jones, Rahal, Ferrucci, and Rossi.

Delayed by Dalton Kellett, VeeKay had Sato pounce and claim P3 on Lap 64. The caution was out on Lap 65 as Grosjean went into the wall on his own and the red flag flew again to give the series enough time to remove the car and allow the race to finish under green. Cars rolled again at 5:10 p.m., and the cartoon anvil fell on leader Will Power, whose car refused to fire.

The restart with three laps to go saw Ericsson leap away and both VeeKay and O’Ward stream past Sato. A cluster of drivers behind them jockeyed for positions as Dixon improved to P8 while Jones fell back to P9. Marcus Ericsson is a first-time IndyCar race winner.