Patricio O’Ward took advantage of a late cautionary period to claim victory over Josef Newgarden at the second race in Detroit.
With 12 laps remaining, Romain Grosjean stopped on track following a brake fire. The Mexican driver had started the race in 15th and had slowly but surely moved his way up the field to fifth, the most memorable of which was a move on Scott Dixon during a prior cautionary restart caused by Jimmie Johnson.
When the green flag fell, the Arrow McLaren was able to make some incredible moves on Graham Rahal and Alex Palou and Colton Herta would shortly follow, owed in part to getting heat into the harder primary ‘black’ tyres quickly and efficiently.
With three laps remaining, Newgarden’s soft ‘red’ tyres began to lose performance and handed O’Ward an opportunity at Turn Seven. The Penske driver’s rear tyres were done as he struggled to get traction out of the corner.
The Mexican driver out-dragged Newgarden down the straight and lightly touched in the process. But it was O’Ward that braked the latest and seized the lead of the race with the end in sight. He would eventually take victory with a five-second advantage over the rest of his competitors.
O’Ward becomes the first repeat winner of the season and moves ahead of Alex Palou in the drivers’ standings – albeit by a single point. This also marks his second career victory after his success at Texas and caps off a magnificent weekend with a pole position and a podium in Race One.
It was heartbreak for Newgarden who had led 67 laps out of 70 from pole position, undone by the teams’ unfortunate contra strategy. He started on the primary ‘black’ compound tyres, while all of his closest competitors started the race on the alternate ‘red’ tyres. After the first caution, which came out on the opening lap when Max Chilton ran into James Hinchcliffe, Newgarden began to pull away from the field. By the time the two-time champion made his first pit stop on Lap 20 his lead over second-place Colton Herta was 13.5 seconds.
During his second stint, he replicated his earlier pace going to lap 46 on another set of primary ‘blacks’. However, Herta was able to close in on Newgarden during this period and had the advantage going into the final stint. Newgarden had to run his final stint on used ‘red’ tyres which are notable for high degradation while the likes of O’Ward, Herta, Palou, and Rahal chased him down on fresher primary ‘blacks’.
Herta would eventually relinquish third to Alex Palou, who rescues what could have been a disastrous weekend.
Graham Rahal sized fifth ahead of a resurgent Will Power who was able to make his way through the field from 20th on the grid, a consolation after losing the win in Race One due to an overheating ECU.
Six-time champion Scott Dixon could not make many inroads after a lap one collision with Romain Grosjean and Alexander Rossi. After starting on the primary ‘black’ tyres, he could not make the final stint on the alternative ‘reds’ work.
Simon Pagenaud crossed the line in eighth ahead of Race One winner Marcus Ericsson with the Swede able to keep his car in the race after a clash with Rinus Veekay with the wall on Lap 15.
Santino Ferrucci was able to keep calm under pressure to finish 10th after his Rahal Letterman Lanigan team spent were forced to ready a backup car thanks to a heavy crash in qualifying. That is now three consecutive top-ten finishes after making his 2021 debut at the Indianapolis 500.
Oliver Askew retired from the race after replacing Arrow McLaren SP driver Felix Rosenqvist in what was a bittersweet weekend for the team. Many were still referencing the passing of McLaren shareholder Mansour Ojjeh who played a significant part under Ron Dennis’s regime.
It will now be a quick turnaround as IndyCar returns to Road America in a weeks time.
The Scoreboard consisted of two identical scoreboards – the north board and south board. They carried the exact same information but meant it could be viewed from the whole length of pit lane and the grandstand. There are no electronics allowed in pit lane, so being able to see the boards is the only way the teams know their rider is circulating and approaching for pit stops. Each board had a Leader board that would be updated with the bike number, lap time and average lap speed for the top 6 riders. The updates were made by one of the painter team as soon as the times were available. Most people know that the Scouts update the boards by posting the slates to the corresponding rider, but how did it all really work? Where did the numbers come from?
Once a lap was completed, the timings would filter through from the Timekeepers to the Scoreboard Controller, who would print and check them. The A4 page was split into 2 – one for North, one for South, handed to a waiting messenger, who would take it to the painters. The painters would be gathered around trestle tables stacked high with slates (the slates were actually black boards with a hole at the top). They would receive the paper and paint the time on the front of a slate. On the back, the rider number and lap number would help to identify where the slate would go next. The slate and paper would then be handed to another scout (runner) who would go to the relevant section of the board. There were gaps every 10 spaces (1 to 14, 15 to 25 and so on) so the runner would go to the slot for the rider number, knock on the board and post the slate through.
Speaking to the team to understand a bit more about what attracted them to the role, they all talk about the sense of camaraderie. Race Official Joy Ellis says this was one of the things she enjoyed the most, alongside actually feeling like she was helping the iconic event run year after year. Another one of the team, Chris Ward speaks fondly of his memories of starting out as a cub scout, progression to being a race Official, and most recently over the last couple of years of racing Chris was Deputy Scoreboard Controller. He recalls ‘I worked the scoreboard as a cub and scout for many years. I started as a Messenger running the handwritten timing cards between the Timekeepers hut and the scoreboard controller (a role that no longer exists) and got to sneak a view of the bikes now and then through gaps in the scoreboard. From there I became a Runner delivering the painted timing boards through the slots in the back of the board.
I’m sure I speak for most if not all of the team when I say we all felt the same – as with most people talking about the TT, the Scoreboard tells a story of history, excitement, sadness but most of all great friendships formed over a love of racing.