By Seth Eggert, Staff Writer
At Indianapolis Motor Speedway, sometimes a driver just has to avoid the insanity to score a victory as Scott McLaughlin found out in the IndyCar iRacing Challenge.
On the final lap of the First Responders 175, it appeared that Marcus Ericsson or Patricio O’Ward would take the victory in the final race in the NTT IndyCar Series’ iRacing venture. However, contact in the final corner took both drivers out.
The lead was then assumed by O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren SP teammate Oliver Askew. Coming to the line, Santino Ferrucci clobbered the side of Askew’s Chevrolet sent both drivers into the fence.
Riding in fifth at the start of the final lap, Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin avoided the carnage. He maneuvered his No. 40 Pirtek Dallara into the lead with less than 100 yards to the line. McLaughlin took the checkered flag ahead of Conor Daly with 0.282 seconds to spare. Ferrucci took the final podium position after he was slammed by Ryan Hunter-Reay.
“I saw a whole bunch of crashing,” McLaughlin described. “Unbelievable that I ended up in victory lane here. It’s pretty cool. On that last caution my front wing was damaged. Literally just hoped there was a wreck at the end, and there was two. I was in the right place at the right time, thought I was going to get third and then the two wrecked in front of us.
“I think we were right there, but I don’t think we could’ve gotten the win with the car that we had in regard to outright pace. Before that, on new tires and strategy, we could’ve been okay. Once I bent the wing, I was just trying to hold on and thankfully I didn’t get attacked to hard and drafted the front guys. Just picked our runs and got lucky there with the wrecks.”
With five laps to go, a drastically different race looked to be taking place. Arrow McLaren SP had all three podium positions with Lando Norris in the lead. The Formula 1 driver took the lead after contact with Graham Rahal and Simon Pagenaud.
With less than three laps to go, Norris was surprised by Pagenaud’s No. 22 Menards Chevrolet off turn four. The defending Indianapolis 500 winner had slowed considerably in the racing line. Norris had nowhere to go and drilled the back of Pagenaud’s car, ending both their days on the spot.
The race was slowed three times by cautions. The first, on lap five, occurred after Alex Palou touched the inside wall. Tony Kanaan and Jack Harvey then slammed into the rear of Palou’s wounded car.
The second caution changed the nature of the race as it came in the middle of a round of green flag pit stops on lap 52. Scott Speed inadvertently turned Stefan Wilson into James Davison.
On the restart, a massive pile-up collected Josef Newgarden, Sage Karam, Palou, and several others.
The Finish
1. 40-Scott McLaughlin [1], 2. 31-Conor Daly [22], 3. 18-Santino Ferrucci [21], 4. 7-Oliver Askew [23], 5. 5-Patricio O’Ward [18], 6. 4-Sebastien Bourdais [29], 7. 28-Ryan Hunter-Reay [31], 8. 26-Zach Veach [17], 9. 10-Felix Rosenqvist [16], 10. 9-Scott Dixon [28], 11. 8-Marcus Ericsson [14], 12. 27-Alexander Rossi [20], 13. 15-Graham Rahal [4], 14. 12-Will Power [7], 15. 39-Scott Speed [3], 16. 911-Helio Castroneves [33], 17. 98-Marco Andretti [26], 18. 60-Jack Harvey [27], 19. 33-James Davison [6], 20. 99-RC Enerson [12], 21. 04-Lando Norris [2], 22. 1-Josef Newgarden [13], 23. 59-Max Chilton [32], 24. 21-Rinus Veekay [30], 25. 22-Simon Pagenaud [10], 26. 55-Alex Palou [8], 27. 24-Sage Karam [9], 28. Ed Carpenter [5], 29. 25-Stefan Wilson [11], 30. 30-Takuma Sato [15], 31. 41-Dalton Kellett [19], 32. 88-Colton Herta [24], 33. 14-Tony Kanaan [25].
Lead Changes: 19 among 12 drivers.
Lap Leader(s): Lando Norris 1, Scott Speed 2, Lando Norris 3, Scott Speed 4-12, Will Power 13-31, Sage Karam 32-33, Scott McLaughlin 34, Simon Pagenaud 35, Alex Palou 36-38, Marcus Ericsson 39, Sebastien Bourdais 40, Will Power 41-42, James Davison 43-46, Lando Norris 47-51, Graham Rahal 52-57, Simon Pagenaud 58-61, Graham Rahal 62, Lando Norris 63-67, Oliver Askew 68-69, Scott McLaughlin 70.
Laps Led: Will Power 21, Lando Norris 12, Scott Speed 10, Graham Rahal 7, Simon Pagenaud 5, James Davison 4, Alex Palou 3, Oliver Askew 2, Sage Karam 2, Scott McLaughlin 2, Sebastien Bourdais 1, Marcus Ericsson 1.
Hard Charger: 28-Ryan Hunter-Reay (+24)
Cautions: Three for nine laps.
Margin of Victory: 0.282 seconds.
Time of Race: One hour, 5.274 seconds.
Average Speed: 174.744 mph
Pole Winner: 40-Scott McLaughlin 39.432 seconds (228.241 mph).
Fastest Lap: 25-Stefan Wilson, Lap 56, 40.249 seconds (223.608 mph).