Pato O’Ward took victory in a thrilling Synk 275 race at Iowa, in a race marked by mistakes and comeback drives.
After a thrilling qualifying session earlier in the day, the stage was set for an exciting 275 laps around the Iowa Speedway. The truncated day’s running caught out top drivers, and resulted in a mixed up grid on a track with a lap time of just 17 seconds.
Josef Newgarden started on pole position for Race 1, with championship leader Alex Palou back in fourth.
Scott McLaughlin’s efforts to add to his victory tally at Iowa Speedway suffered a significant setback after his qualifying crash.
Lungaard’s challenging day got worse after an issue in the pits saw him fail to get away. Some assistance from McLaren sent him on his way, Lundgaard now starting 21st.
Green flag and an immediate caution at the Synk 275
At the green flag, Newgarden held onto his lead, before Colton Herta caused the first caution of the afternoon after only a few seconds of running.
After eight laps behind the Safety Car, the race resumed. Newgarden once again held his lead, while Nolan Siegel passed Will Power. Alex Palou moved into the podium places, now less than a second behind second placed Conor Daly.
Further back, Lundgaard was under pressure from Devlin DeFrancesco. Despite multiple attempts, DeFrancesco failed to pass the McLaren.
McLaughlin’s recovery effort was well underway by lap 20, having moved up five places. He needed to make progress if he wanted to avoid being lapped. Having dispatched DeFrancesco, McLaughlin now closed on Lundgaard, but moved up another place.
Top runners catch the lower order, and Safety Car chaos
The top six of Newgarden, Daly, Palou, Roseqnvist, Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon had already caught the back-markers by lap 30. Lapping Jacob Abel, the top three maintained their position.
Christian Rasmussen spectacularly caught his car after a sideways moment, allowing McLaughlin to move up the order further. His progress continued unabated for the next 30 laps, moving up to 15th.
Abel became the first driver to crash out of the Snyk 275 after a hard impact into the barriers on lap 76, wrecking his car.
The top two pitted on lap 79, with Newgarden winning the battle, while the field swamped Daly after a poor stop. This promoted Palou to second and Dixon to third, with Daly now down in fifth as the cars continued the Safety Car.
The race resumed on lap 87. Daly passed Daly, while O’Ward moved into second and set off after Newgarden. But as the cars started their 100th lap the top three remained unchanged.
A second Safety Car at the Synk 275
Newgarden failed to pass Kyffin Simpson, allowing O’Ward to close on the race leader. However, Kyle Kirkwood found the barrier on lap 155, ending his race.
This caused a chain reaction to the caution, with the top three all pitting. Palou cleared Daly, putting the championship leader back in the podium places.
The race resumed for the second time on lap 166. Newgarden held his position, but Daly was under attack from Will Power.
Power failed to pass, leaving the Penske in the clutches of Nolan Siegel. The McLaren passed the Penske, demoting Power to sixth. However, Power retook the position one lap later, also dispatching Daly. Not content with his work, Power now closed on Palou, engaged in a duel for the final podium spot.
Further back, the third Team Penske of McLaughlin had advanced into ninth after pulling stunning moves on his rivals. Rasmussen also enjoyed a similarly productive afternoon, moving up thirteen places.
Power passed Palou on lap 220, putting two Team Penske cars on course for a double podium.
Closing stages and Safety car number three and a red flag
Newgarden and O’Ward pitted again on lap 234 and 235, O’Ward taking the lead from Newgarden in the pits after a pit stop issue. Palou took the pits a lap later, sensing victory. A slightly slower time, saw him in fifth.
Siegel hit the barriers on lap 249, bringing out another caution and Safety Car. The red flag was deployed so the barriers could be repaired after the heavy impact.
After a short delay the race resumed with just 17 laps remaining. At the green flag, O’Ward maintained the lead, as Callum Illot hit the barriers once again, bringing another caution. llot was able to take his car to the pits, resulting in a minimal delay.
WIth just nine laps left to go O’Ward kept his lead, as Newgarden attacked. The Team Penske car had a moment giving the McLaren a quick reprieve from the pressure.
But with 5 laps to go, Newgarden once back on the gearbox of O’Ward. As the laps counted down, Newgarden ran out of opportunities, and O’Ward took victory. Newgarden was second, Power third, McLaughlin fourth, Palou fifth, with Rasmussen completing the top six.
Session Classification
- Pato O’Ward
- Josef Newgardeb
- Will Power
- Scott McLuaghlin
- Alex Palou
- Christian Rasmussen
- Conor Daly
- Santino Ferrucci
- Marcus Armstrong
- Scott Dixon
- Graham Rahal
- David Malukas
- Colton Herta
- Louis Foster
- Marcus Ericsson
- Rinus Veekay
- Felix Rosenqvist
- Kyffin Simpson
- Devlin DeFrancesco
- Robert Schwartzman
- Christian Lundgaard
- Sting Ray Robb
Not Classified
Callum Ilott
Nolen Siegel
Alexander Rossi
Kyle Kirkwood
Jacob Abel
