Australian Will Power has finished second behind winner Alexander Rossi at IndyCar’s Grand Prix at Road America.
Rossi dominated the race on Sunday and had to maintain focus with nobody in his rear view mirrors.
Andretti Autosport’s Rossi took the lead in the first turn of the first lap, and then drove away from the rest of the field to win at the road course in central Wisconsin.
“You’re pushing every lap, regardless of the gap, right?” Rossi said. “You’ve got to stay in that mindset and in the zone.”
Rossi led 54 of 55 laps, only relinquishing the lead when he made pit stops, and finished more than 28 seconds ahead of Australian Will Power.
“This is probably one of the best race cars I’ve ever had,” Rossi said after his second win of the season and seventh career victory.
Josef Newgarden finished third, followed by Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon.
“I actually never saw Alex,” Power said. “I felt like I was running my own race.”
Power’s Team Penske teammate Newgarden (402) holds a seven-point lead over Rossi in the championship standings with Power up to fifth on 294 after his best race finish of 2019.
Rossi started the race on the front row next to pole-sitter Colton Herta, who a day earlier became the youngest driver to claim P1 in IndyCar history.
He passed Herta right after the green flag dropped, and quickly built a big lead with his biggest challenge coming from a large chunk of the track’s pavement breaking free during the race – although officials chose not to issue a caution flag which would have bunched up the field and wiped out Rossi’s lead.
“We’re not on an oval, so there’s no safety concern with debris being offline,” Rossi said.
“It was a non-issue and I think that’s how it should have been called.”
The drivers trailing Rossi weren’t necessarily lobbying for a caution.
“It was off-line enough that I don’t think anyone was complaining too bad about it,” Newgarden said.
Joked Power: “We should have been.”
Rain was forecast for Sunday’s race, another potential equaliser, but it stayed dry until a downpour after the race ended.
“Rain would have been the only thing that might have helped us today,” Power said.