Pato O’Ward continued his rebound in the NTT IndyCar Series points standings, topping the results sheet Sunday at Barber Motorsports Park in his first victory of the season.
The Arrow McLaren SP driver led the final 27 laps on the road course east of Birmingham, Alabama, and climbed from ninth to fifth in the points standings after opening the season with consecutive finishes outside the top 10.
O’Ward finished 0.98 seconds ahead of defending series champion Alex Palou, who was one spot short of repeating at the track where he won his first IndyCar race last year.
But Palou earned a solid consolation prize as he took over the championship lead through four races.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden, who had entered the race with a shot at a $1 million win bonus, fell to third in the standings after a 14th-place finish.
Here are the IndyCar results and points standings Sunday after the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama:
RESULTS
Click here for the box score from the 90-lap race on the 17-turn, 2.3-mile road course at Barber Motorsports Park in Leeds, Alabama. Click here for the lap leader summary and here for the pit stop performance.
Here is the finishing order in the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama with starting position in parentheses, driver, engine, laps completed and reason out (if any):
1. (2) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 90, Running
2. (3) Alex Palou, Honda, 90, Running
3. (1) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 90, Running
4. (19) Will Power, Chevrolet, 90, Running
5. (13) Scott Dixon, Honda, 90, Running
6. (4) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 90, Running
7. (8) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 90, Running
8. (9) Graham Rahal, Honda, 90, Running
9. (5) Alexander Rossi, Honda, 90, Running
10. (10) Colton Herta, Honda, 90, Running
11. (24) Simon Pagenaud, Honda, 90, Running
12. (12) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 90, Running
13. (17) Takuma Sato, Honda, 90, Running
14. (7) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 90, Running
15. (14) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 90, Running
16. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 90, Running
17. (20) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 90, Running
18. (15) Jack Harvey, Honda, 90, Running
19. (22) Conor Daly, Chevrolet, 90, Running
20. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 90, Running
21. (16) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 90, Running
22. (21) Kyle Kirkwood, Chevrolet, 89, Running
23. (23) Dalton Kellett, Chevrolet, 89, Running
24. (26) Jimmie Johnson, Honda, 89, Running
25. (11) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 88, Running
26. (25) Tatiana Calderon, Chevrolet, 88, Running
Winner’s average speed: 114.304 mph; Time of Race: 1:48:39.4368; Margin of victory: 0.9800 of a second; Cautions: 1 for 3 laps; Lead changes: 5 among 4 drivers; Lap leaders: VeeKay 1-29, Palou 30, Newgarden 31-32, VeeKay 33-60, Palou 61-63, O’Ward 64-90.
POINTS
Click here for the points tally in Sunday’s race.
Here are the points standings after the fourth race of the season for:
Points: Palou 144, McLaughlin 141, Newgarden 135, Power 134, O’Ward 114, Dixon 113, VeeKay 106, Grosjean 101, Ericsson 84, Rahal 84, Herta 79, Pagenaud 69, Rossi 62, Sato 61, Lundgaard 57, Rosenqvist 56, Castroneves 55, Johnson 51, Daly 50, Kirkwood 46, Harvey 44, Malukas 44, Ilott 37, DeFrancesco 33, Kellett 30, Calderon 25, Ferrucci 22, Carpenter 18, Hildebrand 17.
Rookie of the year standings: Lundgaard 42, Kirkwood 38, Malukas 34, Ilott 32, Calderon 20, DeFrancesco 20
NEXT: The NTT IndyCar Series begins its month at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, starting May 14 with the GMR Grand Prix on the IMS road course. The 106th Indy 500 will take place May 29 on the historic 2.5-mile oval. Both races will be live on NBC.
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