(Washington) The American Josef Newgarden won the first race of the Iowa Grand Prix on Saturday, thus signing his fourth victory of the season in Indycar.
Posted at 6:07 p.m.
In extremely hot weather conditions with a temperature of 37.2° Celsius – the highest in an Indycar race since 2012 in Fontana (California) – Newgarden, who started second, held off against Mexican Pato O’Ward in the final laps of the 1.4 km oval circuit in Newton (Iowa).
The Australian Will Power, who started from pole position, completes the podium, after having done most of the race in second position, putting Newgarden in difficulty, even coming close to an accident after a small contact without consequence.
“I was surprised how much they were pushing on restarts. It was a long day. O’Ward was the toughest guy to beat today,” reacted Newgarden who, after leading 208 of the 250 laps on the circuit, wins the Iowa Grand Prix for the fourth time, following his wins in 2016. 2019 and 2020 (second race).
“I knew we had the car to win this race,” he added. “It’s one of my favorite tracks. I always like to win this race. »
“I was pushing Josef at the end,” O’Ward said. “We were running out of juice. »
This race, called double-header, is the first of the two races of the weekend in Iowa, the 11e and 12e races of the season (out of 17).
Power had taken pole position on Saturday morning for both races, taking his IndyCar pole tally to 66, just one short of legend Mario Andretti’s record.
“I was really happy to finish third, to hang on like that. The tires were gone at the end. […] Another top 3. I don’t see it as a bad day,” Power said.
He will have the opportunity on Friday to equal Andretti’s pole record in qualifying for the next day’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. He has already won six pole positions there.
In the general classification, Newgarden – Indycar champion 2017 and 2019 – climbs to second place with 360 points, closing the gap with the Swede Marcus Ericsson (375 pts). Power completes the podium with 353 points.
“We are in the fight. We’re not where we want to be,” Newgarden said. “I know we can do better. »
Winner of this race in 2020, Frenchman Simon Pagenaud finished 23eretaining its 10e place in the general classification. Party 10eRomain Grosjean moved up to 7e place, moving up one place overall (14e).