In his second year in the IndyCar series, the New Zealander left Spaniard and reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou behind him. Third on the podium was Will Power, who like McLaughlin also drives for Penske.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean finished fifth (as in qualifying).

Indycar rookie and Formula 1 veteran Romain Grosjean once again confirmed his good form, taking second ahead of fellow Honda driver Colton Herta.

Formula 2 driver and Indycar rookie Christian Lundgaard at least made it to 12th place in his debut race after starting from 4th place. Pole setter Pato O’Ward was unable to defend his top position and finished in 5th place.

Already on row two are the rookies Romain Grosjean and Christian Lundgaard. While Grosjean has already completed a number of races in his first Indycar season, for Formula 2 driver Christian Lundgaard it is his first race appearance after only being able to get a feel for his Indycar car during a test at Barber Motorsports Park.

While the race belonged to rookies Colton Herta and Rinus VeeKay ahead of polesitter Scott Dixon at the start, the lead changed as the race wore on. The two Chevis of Herta and VeeKay proved too thirsty, and Honda drivers Castroneves and Palou were able to run longer stints to take the lead at the end of the field. In the final laps, the lead alternated between Castroneves and Palou before the veteran was able to prevail after 200 laps.

With only two caution periods, the 2021 Indy 500 was the fastest race ever, with the first caution period taking pole sitter Scott Dixon out of the race. Briton Stefan Wilson crashed on pit lane and Dixon had to come in for an emergency yellow flag pit stop for fuel, but in the process his car didn’t restart right away and Dixon lost a lap.

The second yellow was caused by Graham Rahal. During his pit stop, the rear left wheel was not bolted down, which then came loose in the first corner after the pit exit.

Third place on the grid – and thus still on the front row – was secured by Dutchman Rinus VeeKay, who only a week ago secured his first Indycar victory on the Indianapolis Grand Prix circuit.

Ed Carpenter secured fourth on the grid with the second Chevi ahead of Brazilian legend Tony Kanaan and Alex Palou.

The remaining places in the top 9 were taken by Ryan Hunter-Reay, Helio Castroneves and ex-Formula 1 driver Marcus Ericsson.

Under the banner of the “Paretta Autosport” team, Penske provided a 700-horsepower Dallara Chevrolet for the project, which Indycar owner Roger Penske hopes will continue to promote female racers in the Indycar series.

Retired on Bump Day today were Charlie Kimball and R. C. Enerson. The Indy 500 starts next Sunday, May 30.

Ex-Formula 1 driver Romain Grosjean, who started the race from pole position, secured his first podium in his third race in the USA, bringing his Dale Coyne Racing Honda home in second place.

The European podium is completed by Alex Palou, the Spaniard driving for Chip Ganassi Racing.

In the Fast Six the former Haas Formula 1 driver secured the best starting position of his young Indycar career with a lap time of 1:09.4396 minutes ahead of veteran Josef Newgarden. For the first time since his GP2 pole position in Turkey in May 2011.

At the same time, the Mercedes Formula One team confirmed that despite the postponement of the French Grand Prix and a resulting scheduling clash with his Indycar calendar, the Frenchman will continue to receive a full day of testing in a Mercedes Formula One car to bring his Formula One career to a worthy conclusion. Grosjean was involved in a massive fire accident in Bahrain last year and was therefore unable to compete in the final two races of the season.

The current mid-summer portion of the calendar continues Sunday, Aug. 8, with the first Grand Prix on the streets of Nashville. This event is the first of three races on consecutive weekends for Indycar.

The Nashville race will be followed by another NASCAR Indycar weekend on Saturday, August 14, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and then the oval at Raceway in Illinois on Saturday, August 21.

Behind the scenes, Bryan Herta (strategy engineer and father of Colton Herta) had pulled the strings and made the test drive at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course possible.

Foto: Robert Wickens, Instagram

Wickens completed a total of 12 laps, according to IMSA, gradually improving in damp conditions.

“The car is still in one piece,” Wickens said after the test. “But it felt good. There’s a lot going on: first time with manual control, first time with this car and on a damp track. It gave me a much greater appreciation for what Michael Johnson has accomplished…I was trying not to be a hero, as hard as that was! But it felt good to be back in a race car.”