Josef Newgarden wins at the end of the night in Iowa

Postponed for more than four hours then disrupted due to weather and rain, the round on the Iowa oval went to the end of the night on the other side of the Atlantic to finally see Josef Newgarden (Team Penske – Chevrolet) achieve a success which could weigh heavily in the balance in terms of the title.

Newgarden, third on the grid behind his teammates simon pagenaud and Will Power, took power over the Australian, leader since the initial green flag, shortly before the neutralization under red flag due to the return of rain at the 55th lap.

A move to the front proved to be the right one, since Newgarden would dominate the rest of the race, with 245 laps spent in the lead.

Team Penske seemed in a strong position to aim for the hat-trick but Takuma Sato (Team RLL – Honda), engaged in an offbeat strategy, moved for a long time in the right car, before losing everything in a contact at the end of the race with Sage Karam (Carlin- Chevrolet).

At the restart, on the 200th lap, Newgarden retained the advantage over Power and Pagenaud, but the end of the race was not going to please Team Penske. Power was first penalized with a stop&go for an incorrect pit entry, and fell back in the hierarchy.

Then comes the final neutralization following the accident of Ed Carpenter (Ed Carpenter Racing – Chevrolet). The final restart with less than 25 laps to go sees Newgarden remain at the front while Simon Pagenaud cannot resist James Hinchcliffe (SPM – Honda) for second place.

But the Canadian will not be able to maintain his property, beaten in the final loops by the superb comeback of Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing – Honda), benefiting from new tires. Newgarden won in the end ahead of Dixon, Hinchcliffe, Pagenaud and Spencer Pigot (Ed Carpenter Racing).

Alexander Red places the best Andretti Autosport – Honda in sixth position, when Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan – Honda) for his 200th start in IndyCar, finished in ninth position.

In the general classification, Newgarden now has a 29-point lead over Rossi after this Iowa meeting

Ranking to come

Discover the full report of the Iowa IndyCar event, in issue 2226 of AUTOhebdo, available tomorrow evening in digital version and this Wednesday on newsstands.