Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson expressed bemusement at how he was able to claim an improbable victory at IndyCar’s inaugural Music City Grand Prix in the wake of an early aerial crash.
Ericsson fought back through the field with an alternate strategy despite lasting damage to his No.8 Bryant-Honda from the initial collision with A.J Foyt Racing’s Sebastien Bourdais at an early restart.
The contact briefly launched Ericsson’s car into the air.
After picking up a drive-through penalty, and making another stop to fix the front of the car, Ericsson’s prospects of a decent finish looked bleak.
However, after the final round of pitstops, Ericsson cycled through to the front of the field, and held off a charging Colton Herta until the Andretti driver crashed out of the race, effectively sealing a second career victory for the ex-F1 racer.
“I’m trying to figure out how I won the race after being up in the sky, said Ericsson. “[I was] thinking my race was over. I thought my race [was] over there. Then we had to repair the car. I got a stop-and-go. We were dead last.
“It was all about trying to recover. I think the car got some damage, as well, from that flight. There was definitely some damage to the car. For sure there was a little luck there, as well, no doubt about that.
“But we delivered when we had to. In the end, I think when Colton was behind me and I had to do a really big fuel number to get us to the finish line and still keep him behind, that was one of the toughest challenges of my career.
“I’m very proud that I could keep him behind and keep the pace up. That won me the race.”
Since the Indianapolis 500, Ericsson has scored more points than any other driver in the field, though he remains 79 points behind leader and team-mate Alex Palou.
The former Formula 1 driver believes the open atmosphere within CGR has aided in the team’s competitiveness.
“Chip Ganassi Racing is such a great organisation, and this year in the team we have with me and Scott [Dixon], Alex [Palou] and Jimmie [Johnson] and also T.K [Tony Kanaan], there’s such a good atmosphere between us.
“Even though we are all fighting each other, we always do it fairly, and we always help each other. We are very open. I think that’s why we are three cars in the top five is because we help each other become better. That’s a great thing.
“We’re going to keep doing that. We’re going to keep fighting each other, but keep doing it in a fair way. It’s like Chip says, if we win 1-2-3, we take points from our competitors. That’s the way we’re going to try and keep doing.”
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