Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson claimed his maiden NTT IndyCar Series victory at the first of two races of the ‘Dual in Detroit’ on Saturday.
Ericsson, who started 97 Formula 1 grands prix for Caterham and Sauber, has raced in the category since 2019, and joined Ganassi last year.
After starting in 15th place, a frenetic race eventually resulted in the Swede hold off the chasing duo of Rinus VeeKay and Pato O’Ward in the final four laps of the 70-lap race.
Ericsson’s victory makes him the fourth first-time winner of the 2021 season and means seven different drivers have triumphed across the opening seven races.
The race was frenetic in the early stages as several drivers stopped after just a handful of a laps in order to get off the softer red Firestone tyres.
Due to the hot and humid weather in the Detroit area, IndyCar mandated all cars run with an air scoop attached to the aeroscreen in order to try and aid cooling into the cockpits.
A strategic race was halted after 28 laps when Arrow SP driver Felix Rosenqvist crashed heavily through Turn 6 due to a suspected stuck throttle.
Rosenqvist was transported to a local hospital for checks and while cleared of serious injury will not partake in Sunday’s Race 2.
After an 80-minute delay, the race resumed and several drivers were forced to make stops to take on fuel before the green flag dropped.
Once the stops had cycled through, Penske’s Will Power was leading Ericsson and appeared to have the upper hand on his Ganassi opponent, though was dealt a cruel blow in the closing stages.
When a second red flag was called for Romain Grosjean’s crashed car at Turn 8 drama arose when the call was given to restart the race.
Power’s engine would not restart, amid hot and humid conditions at Belle Isle, which allowed Ericsson to assume the lead.
Veekay and O’Ward took their battle right to the final corner with the Dutchman coming out ahead of the Mexican as the pair rounded out the podium.
After a tough qualifying session, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing made the most of the fast-paced race with Takuma Sato finishing in fourth ahead of Graham Rahal and Santino Ferrucci.
Alexander Rossi battled with O’Ward for the lead of the race prior to the first red flag but as strategy played its part it only left the Andretti driver only able to equal his best result of 2021, in seventh, as his difficult run continues.
Six-time champion Scott Dixon finished eighth after his strategy of attempting to gamble on the Black Firestone tyres failed to pay off due to the red flag for Rosenqvist. A tough middle stint on the softer tyres which wore heavily left him out of contention for the win.
Ed Jones took a 2021 best of ninth, ahead of Josef Newgarden, who went a lap down early on due loose wheel after a bodged pitstop.
Points leader Alex Palou had a low-key run to 15th place and had his advantage over new nearest rival O’Ward cut to 15 points.
The second race of the weekend is set to get underway Sunday at 12:40pm EDT
| # | Driver | Time / Gap | Laps Led | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marcus Ericsson | 01:45:33.1123 | 5 | 51 |
| 2 | Rinus VeeKay | 1.7290 | – | 40 |
| 3 | Pato O’Ward | 1.9105 | 3 | 37 |
| 4 | Takuma Sato | 8.1688 | – | 32 |
| 5 | Graham Rahal | 9.4645 | 4 | 31 |
| 6 | Santino Ferrucci | 9.5670 | – | 28 |
| 7 | Alexander Rossi | 10.3406 | 2 | 27 |
| 8 | Scott Dixon | 10.8956 | 16 | 25 |
| 9 | Ed Jones | 11.9428 | 2 | 23 |
| 10 | Josef Newgarden | 12.5061 | – | 20 |
| 11 | Sebastien Bourdais | 13.5792 | – | 19 |
| 12 | Simon Pagenaud | 13.8274 | – | 18 |
| 13 | Conor Daly | 14.7925 | – | 17 |
| 14 | Colton Herta | 16.0887 | – | 16 |
| 15 | Alex Palou | 17.2534 | – | 15 |
| 16 | Jack Harvey | 18.2898 | – | 14 |
| 17 | James Hinchcliffe | 19.0114 | – | 13 |
| 18 | Dalton Kellett | -1 lap | – | 12 |
| 19 | Scott McLaughlin | -3 laps | – | 11 |
| 20 | Will Power | -3 laps | 37 | 13 |
| 21 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | -5 laps | – | 9 |
| 22 | Max Chilton | -5 laps | – | 8 |
| 23 | Romain Grosjean | -7 laps | 1 | 8 |
| 24 | Jimmie Johnson | -21 laps | – | 6 |
| 25 | Felix Rosenqvist | -47 laps | – | 5 |
