IndyCar – Josef Newgarden wins at Gateway Motorsports Park

Joseph Newgarden jostled at Gateway Motorsports Park this Sunday morning to pocket its fourth victory of the season, and thus strengthen its position as leader of the championship before the last two road events at Watkins Glen (New York) and Sonoma (California).

The Team Penske – Chevrolet driver took the advantage on this final oval meeting in 2017 by making a very muscular overtake on his teammate simon pagenaud, then in the lead, 30 laps from the finish.

WOW! @JosefNewgarden squeezes by on the inside! #INDYCAR #Bommarito500 https://t.co/1I2Xejdij6 pic.twitter.com/CSFqcAVRrW

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) August 27, 2017

Newgarden will no longer be joined, Pagenaud being forced to give up his second place immediately to Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda). Helio Castroneves (Team Penske) completes the leading quartet of the event after resisting the attacks of Conor Daly (AJ Foyt Enterprises – Chevrolet).

Alexander Red (Andretti-Herta Autosport – Honda) follows in sixth position ahead of Charlie Kimball (Chip Ganassi Racing), James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports – Honda), Carlos Munoz (AJ Foyt Enterprises) and Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing – Honda), who enters the top 10 for his return to competition after his qualifying accident in Indianapolis last May.

The round at Gateway Motorsports Park, however, did not please several drivers, starting with Tony Kanaan (Chip Ganassi Racing), who made a mistake even before the green flag, and especially Will Power (Team Penske).

The winner of Pocono (Pennsylvania) last week and pole sitter for the 50th time in his career in Illinois, hit the wall at turn 2 after the start, after losing control of the race to Newgarden . An incident which now places Power in a delicate situation in the championship, after having made a good comeback in recent weeks.

Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing – Chevrolet) and Takuma Sato (Andretti Autosport) were also involved in this sequence, with Carpenter finally taking off on the car by Power. The two pilots left the medical center after examinations.

.@EdCarpenter20 & @12WillPower have been checked, cleared and released from the medical center. #INDYCAR #Bommarito500 pic.twitter.com/3XM8ACjqX2

— IndyCar Series (@IndyCar) August 27, 2017

JR Hildebrand (Ed Carpenter Racing), Max Chilton (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport), the latter causing the ultimate neutralization, also made mistakes.

Race ranking

Find the full report of the Gateway Motorsports Park event, in issue 2129 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.