IndyCar GP results and points standings: INDIANAPOLIS -- Will Power broke through Saturday for his first NTT IndyCar Series victory in 10 months while the championship race significantly tightened with four races remaining in the season.
Power led 56 of 85 laps and held off Romain Grosjean by 1.1142 seconds for his 40th career victory, including the 31st on a road or street course. He has a record five victories on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“I can’t begin to tell you what it means to win these days,” Power, who turned 40 this year, said after his first victory since last October (also at the IMS road course). “When you are in your 40s and still kicking butt, it’s awesome. You can’t doubt yourself. You just have to keep digging.
“I wasn’t feeling safe until there was literally one to go. The misfortunes we’ve had at times have been a struggle. It’s a tough series. There are many many components that have to go right. Everyone has to do their job perfectly and that’s what we did today. Winning is important for Roger Penske, especially here. Very very happy.”
It’s the eighth victory for Team Penske in 11 IndyCar races on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which Penske bought two years ago.
Colton Herta finished third ahead of Andretti Autosport teammate Alexander Rossi in a season-best fourth. Pole-sitter Pato O’Ward finished fifth and catapulted to second in the points standings, chopping 27 points off the lead of Alex Palou, who finished 27th with an engine failure.
“I consider us very lucky today, honestly,” O’Ward told NBC Sports pit reporter Marty Snider. “We obviously went backward from where we started, but I think the big positive from today is that it’s very unfortunate for Alex.
“Now we’re 21 points behind back in second. I think this is the start of the momentum that we wanted. Today we didn’t have it. I’m glad we didn’t finish on the podium, because I don’t think we deserved it. We just didn’t have the pace. Everyone in front of us was better than us. It’s tough to drive your ass off for a fifth. Especially when you start up front. You want to stay there when you start there.”
Despite a 17th, Scott Dixon gained eight points on his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate and trails Palou by 34 points despite losing a spot in the standings
“We started having some issues with the mapping, and we weren’t sure what was going on,” Palou told Snider. “We managed like 60 laps, and it was fine. We were losing a bit of power, but it wasn’t too bad. We were trying to fight for a podium, and we had to stop.
“It’s a shame when we were running so good, but it’s just a bump in the road. We’ll continue, and we’ll get those points back.”
FOUR RACES TO GO!
— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) August 14, 2021
Late-race issues for championship leader Alex Palou tightened the points race right up, with five drivers now within 62 points. #INDYCAR pic.twitter.com/lA7JKTzYqy
Saturday’s race feated 269 on-track passes, including 190 for position, both of which were IMS road course records.
Here are the IndyCar GP results and points standings Saturday after the Big Machine Spiked Coolers Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway:
RESULTS
Click here for the box score from the second race this season on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Click here for the lap leader chart.
Here is the finishing order with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out:
1. (2) Will Power, Chevrolet, 85, Running
2. (3) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 85, Running
3. (5) Colton Herta, Honda, 85, Running
4. (10) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 85, Running
5. (1) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 85, Running
6. (7) Jack Harvey, Honda, 85, Running
7. (16) Graham Rahal, Honda, 85, Running
8. (20) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 85, Running
9. (11) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 85, Running
10. (15) Takuma Sato, Honda, 85, Running
11. (8) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 85, Running
12. (4) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 85, Running
13. (19) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 85, Running
14. (17) Ed Jones, Honda, 85, Running
15. (14) Sebastien Bourdais, Chevrolet, 85, Running
16. (12) Simon Pagenaud, Chevrolet, 85, Running
17. (26) Scott Dixon, Honda, 85, Running
18. (13) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Honda, 85, Running
19. (22) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 85, Running
20. (18) Max Chilton, Chevrolet, 85, Running
21. (23) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 85, Running
22. (24) James Hinchcliffe, Honda, 85, Running
23. (21) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 85, Running
24. (9) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 85, Running
25. (27) Cody Ware, Honda, 83, Running
26. (28) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 81, Running
27. (6) Alex Palou, Honda, 67, Mechanical
28. (25) RC Enerson, Chevrolet, 12, Mechanical
Winner’s average speed: 113.458 mph; Time of race: 1:49:38.0811; Margin of victory: 1.1142 seconds; Cautions: 2 for 5 laps; Lead changes: 11 among six drivers; Lap leaders: O’Ward 1-15; Lundgaard 16-17; Pagenaud 18-20; Power 21-36; Herta 37; O’Ward 38; Pagenaud 39-41; Power 42-60; Herta 61; Pagenaud 62; Newgarden 63-64, Power 65-85
POINTS
Click here for the points tally in Saturday’s race.
Through 12 races, here are the full points standings for:
Top 10 in the standings: Palou 415, O’Ward 394, Dixon 381, Newgarden 360, Ericsson 353, Rahal 312, Herta 311, Pagenaud 295, Power 278, VeeKay 269.
NEXT: The NTT IndyCar Series will race Saturday, Aug. 21 (8 p.m. ET, NBCSN) at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, the 13th of 16 rounds and final oval in the 2021 season (click here for the full broadcast schedule this year).