Finally a good year for Pato O'Ward at the Indy 500?

Hearing the roar of the crowd in the final laps of the 500 Indy 2024, and its relative silence as the winner arrived, you might well think that Mexican Pato O'Ward had just beaten American Josef Newgarden from Tennessee. However, the opposite happened! And in the United States, for a crowd to be almost unanimously against one of its own, the opponent must be extremely popular and renowned...

In less than five years, the native of Monterrey, Mexico, has become the new darling of theIndyCar, notably supplanting Newgarden. Very popular when he drove for Ed Carpenter, the American driver underwent a paradigm shift by joining Team Penske in 2017. Now perfectly equipped to fight for the title (which he also won in 2017 and 2019), Josef Newgarden became, in 2023 and 2024, almost the villain of IndyCar, driving for the most renowned team in the championship, but caught out for major cheating at the start of 2024.

O'Ward, the eternal outsider

On the other hand, O'Ward still maintains this outsider position. Arrow McLaren is not a back-of-the-grid team, far from it, but there is still something missing for the papaya single-seaters to really play in the big league every week. This logically raises in the collective imagination the quality of the performances of Pato O'Ward, nicknamed "the ninja" for his ability to quickly correct the slightest slippage of the rear axle.

His reaction after finishing second last year also earned him the sympathy of the public. Prostrate in his car, the Mexican showed the world how much this race meant to him. Qualifying this year on the front row (third position) of the grid, Patricio O'Ward knows he will have a different experience from the previous ones. It's not impossible to imagine that it ends with a sip of milk...

“I’m super excited to have my first front-row start here at the Indy 500. I absolutely wanted to get this pole. First of all, I want to thank everyone, guys and girls, at Arrow McLaren. This is obviously the first time I’ve had a real chance to fight for pole, but also to fight to be one of the top three. We’ll have the best view going into the first corner.”

New duel against a Ganassi?

While in 2022 and 2023, the Arrow McLarens seemed at least in the running for victory in terms of pure pace, they appeared to lose slightly in speed in 2024. Yet it was in that year that Pato O'Ward came closest to victory, as he led entering Turn 3 on the final lap. Despite an extremely oversteering car, the No. 5 kept the pressure on until the final meters. After a week of testing, the Mexican believes that his car is perhaps closer to what it was in 2022, when he went head-to-head with Marcus Ericsson, then with Chip Ganassi Racing.

“I would say last year's was the last one I expected to fight for, but I was able to get the car there. It's a very long race. A lot of things can happen, but yeah, I'm focused on what we can do to put ourselves in position to win, and obviously the goal is to get there. I don't want to make any assumptions until I know what to expect, but Ganassi seems to have taken a step forward, just playing with them in traffic. Yeah, the speed feels a little bit like 22, to be honest, us versus Ganassi. It's hard to say right now. We'll also have to keep an eye on Herta and Kirkwood at Andretti, and the Penskes, who will still have rockets.”

Rising popularity

Amid a crowd that will flirt with the records set in 2016 (there are already no more grandstand seats available, only general enclosures), there will be a sea of ​​Pato O'Ward T-shirts, caps, flags and other items. The man who played with commentary from Mark Miles, president of Penske Entertainment, the parent company of IndyCar, by putting up "Pato Who?" advertisements all over Indianapolis, knows that his popularity is currently at its peak.

“Last year’s Indy 500 was a big step forward in terms of popularity, I would say. I really felt the difference. It’s amazing to see. It’s great. It’s always a great feeling to see your jerseys being paraded around and people smiling in support of you. Plus, it’s going to be a sold-out race, so I’m really looking forward to it.”

If, in his sixth participation, Pato O'Ward were to cross the finish line in first place, believe us, an earthquake could be recorded near Speedway, in Indiana, triggered by 350 people jumping up and down for joy at the same time!

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