55 green laps at Road America

NTT IndyCar Series had come to the tenth round of the reason, which was run at Road America track near Elkhart Lake in Wisconsin.

Colton Herta had taken Pole Position ahead of Alexander Rossi, Will Power and championship leader Josef Newgarden. The two Rahal Letterman Lanigan drivers Graham Rahal and Takuma Sato started from P5 and P6. Thus it was Andretti Autosport in the first row (Harding Steinbrenner Racing works together with Andretti), Penske second row, and Team RLL in the third row.

Some people swapped places through the first couple of corners. Rossi drove side by side with Herta through Turn 1, and got ahead in Turn 2.

Takuma Sato did a very late dive on Josef Newgarden and moved up a place.

Scott Dixon got send out in a spin in Turn 5 by Ryan Hunter-Reay, and he fell back to last postition.

After the good start, Sato fell back a bit. It didn’t get better when James Hinchcliffe had a light contact with Sato, which then sent the Japanese down to P11.

Simon Pagenaud drove past Ed Jones, in the duel for tenth place, and Sato followed suit shortly afterwards.

Santino Ferrucci was the first person to pit, and got new soft tires on the car.

Marcus Ericsson was a bit too bold in an outbraking manoeuvre on Ed Jones, so the Swede had to drive through gravel and fell back to P22, which was second to last.

Zach Veach and Ed Jones had a bit of contact, as Veach tried to overtake Jones. Jones almost lost control of the car but he could keep it on the asphalt.

Hunter-Reay and Dixon were ready for their next duel, when the New Zealander flew through the field. After being last on the first lap, he was now fourteenth after just ten laps – ten overtakes by the man who qualified 12th.

Herta had a little off tour in Turn 5, but he kept the car on the asphalted run-off area, only losing some time to Rossi.

The tires were completely done for Herta, so Will Power also got past, before the young American chose to pit after fourteen laps. The team had a little problem with the fuel spigot to let out fuel, so it cost them some extra seconds in the pits.

After the pitstops, Dixon was up to P10. A good work from the Chip Ganassi Racing pit crew.

Marco Andretti had to pit after twenty laps due to technical problems, which the mechanics tried to solve on the pitlane.

Pagenaud and Herta bumped wheels in Turn 5, which sent both drivers off the track. Pagenaud lost control of the car on the inner line and hit Herta. There was luckily no damage on the cars. But both Felix Rosenqvist and Scott Dixon used the situation to drive past, and they were up in sixth and seventh.

A couple of laps later, Herta overtook Dixon, who seemed to have problems with the older soft tires.

Halfway into the race, Alexander Rossi was still leading, in front of Will Power, Josef Newgarden, James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal and Felix Rosenqvist.

The two Team Penske teammates Power and Newgarden had a close duel for second place. Newgarden was almost next to the Australian, but the door was closed and Newgarden was kept behind.

Rossi was the first of the leading cars to pitted for the last time. He has a 21-second gap to Power. Newgarden, Dixon, Pagenaud and Bourdais also chose to pit at the same lap as Rossi, and thus avoided to be caught behind a possible Full Course Yellow. The first 42 laps of the race were run without interruptions, but would it continue until the chequered flag?

Herta put a lot of pressure on Rahal with six laps left. Herta was on the soft tires, while Rahal on the hard ones. Herta, however, had to be cautious as Hinchcliffe came up right behind him. Herta’s tires also seemed to be done with only four laps left.

Herta did a little driving error with two laps left, where he came too wide in Turn 1. Hinchcliffe used it to drive past. But Herta retaliated by overtaking him again in Turn 5. Hinch then lost momentum, and both Dixon and Rosenqvist also got past.

Dixon overtook Herta at the start of the last lap, while Rosenqvist tried to keep up. The Swede then managed to brake past the American in Turn 5.

Herta was about to hit the wall in Turn 11, where Hinchcliffe then get past him again.

Alexander Rossi won the race, ahead of  Will Power and Josef Newgarden. Graham Rahal, Scott Dixon and Felix Rosenqvist completed the top 6, while James Hinchcliffe and Colton Herta were the last two cars in top eight.

The victory today means that Newgarden remains in the lead in the championship, but Rossi has come closer. Pagenaud is still third, but Dixon creeps up behind him in fourth.

The next IndyCar race will be run in 14 July on the streets of Toronto.