FORT WORTH, Texas – Pato O’Ward overtook Josef Newgarden with 23 laps to go in Texas on Sunday, and the Mexico-born driver stayed ahead for his first IndyCar win on his home track.
O’Ward celebrated his 22nd birthday driving for Arrow McLaren SP four days before the end of the year, and the organization will promise to have him test a Formula One car by the end of the year.
The race was the second in as many days in Texas and was marred by the IndyCar’s second crash on the first lap of the season.
Six cars were finished before reaching the green flag when Pietro Fittipaldi hit Sebastien Bourdais from behind and knocked the four-time open wheel champion against Alexander Rossi. Ed Jones, Dalton Kellett and Conor Daly’s cars were also destroyed in the accident as they approached the start / finish line for the first time.
The consecutive day races in Texas ended a grueling stretch of four races over three weekends to open the season before moving the series to Indianapolis for the remainder of May. The street race is on May 15th, the Indianapolis 500 on May 30th.
Newgarden finished 1.2443 seconds behind O’Ward, giving Chevrolet a 2-1 finish and their first win of the season.
Graham Rahal was third ahead of Scott Dixon and Colton Herta.
Dixon was leading 206 of 212 laps on Saturday night when he finished ahead of New Zealand compatriot and IndyCar newcomer Scott McLaughlin. It was Dixon’s fifth win in Texas and # 51 for his career overall when he scored the second-most behind AJ Foyts 67 in one of Mario Andretti’s.
O’Ward, who was temporarily raised in San Antonio, Texas, scored his first win on his 26th IndyCar start and his second full season.
McLaren told him at the beginning of the season that if he won an IndyCar race, he could test the F1 car at the end of the year. Shortly after the race, McLaren F1 Team Leader Zak Brown tweeted: “A deal is a deal @PatricioOWard – what a win! See you in Abu Dhabi later this year!”
Daly said he wasn’t sure what happened at the start of the race and that everyone started accelerating before the accordion effect wreaked havoc.
“It only takes one person with everyone’s nose to tail,” he said.
Fittipaldi, who competed in his first IndyCar races in Texas since 2018, said the field suddenly popped up in front of him and said, “I had nowhere to go.” He said he had a sprained finger.
“I’m glad Conor is fine, I’m glad everyone is fine,” said Rossi as he watched a replay.
Rossi criticized IndyCar for setting the start on points rather than qualifying on speed, especially with the early Sunday night start and the teams sitting idle for most of the day. It brought cars across the field at different speeds, a factor in the crash as the cars tried to get on the green flag.
There were also some tough contacts for Tony Kanaan, who was able to keep racing. James Hinchcliffe struggled after going through the fight and only completed 30 laps between several lengthy stops before finally parking the car.
Foyt’s team had worked late into the night to rebuild the # 14 Chevrolet for Bourdais after being hit from behind by Josef Newgarden just 56 laps before Saturday’s race. Bourdais finished sixth when he spun and the car hit the outside wall hard.
Bourdais and his Foyt teammate Kellett were both involved in Sunday’s opening crash.
“It is a real shame that we are being drilled and taken out of the race two days in a row,” said Bourdais. “A very expensive couple of days for AJ Foyt Racing. … The guys worked until midnight to fix the car and can’t even take the green flag.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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