IndyCar – Pagenaud takes his first victory on an oval

simon pagenaud signed his first victory on an oval by winning the GP at Phoenix Raceway (Arizona) ahead of his teammate Will Power. The reigning champion will have had to wait for his 8th season in IndyCar and his 105th start to win in this type of event. This is the 10th success of his career in the discipline and the 189th for Team Penske.

The Frenchman dominated most of the event and won with around ten seconds ahead of his Australian teammate, while JR Hildebrand (Ed Carpenter Racing) completed the podium ahead of the pole sitter. Helio Castroneves (Team Penske).

“It was the longest 50 laps of my life, admitted Simon Pagenaud. I had a button on my steering wheel that told me how many laps I had left to go. I was constantly pressing on it, it was stressful. The car was fantastic, it's my greatest victory. »

Simon Pagenaud finds himself leading the Championship ahead of Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing), the only other driver to have consistently finished in the top five since the start of the season. The Frenchman indirectly benefited from the misfortunes of his compatriot Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing) who hit Mikhail Aleshin (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) who spun in front of him, forcing him to retire.

Discover the report of the Phoenix GP in issue 2112 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from Wednesday on newsstands.