Sunday 20 June 2021 by Philippe Brasseur
The IndyCar and its supporting series were performing this weekend at the Road America permanent circuit in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The flagship series, the IndyCar, featured one race this Sunday, while the Indy Lights, Indy Pro 2000 and USF2000 each had a double schedule.
In this last series, Quebecker Thomas Nepveu won his very first career single-seater race, as part of the round held this Sunday morning. Previously, Nepveu had finished 11th yesterday, and 3rd rookie, in a race won by Kiko Porto. This morning, he started 7th and, at the end of a race filled with twists and turns, he crossed the finish line as the winner, 679 thousandths of a second ahead of Simon Sikes.
“After qualifying 7th on Friday, I knew my No.2 Cromwell / Karting Excellence / Home Hardware car was performing well. In addition, we had planned a set of new tires for the race, I was confident “confided Thomas, who added:” I had a good start and a great revival on the 4th lap to take the lead and I resisted the attacks of Simon Sikes in the last lap. Thank you to all my partners and to my Cape Motorsports team ”concluded Thomas. With this success, he found himself 9th in the championship. Porto is the leader. For the full rankings of both races, click here.
In the other series, victories for Kyle Kirkwood and David Malukas in Indy Lights, and Manuel Sulaiman and Christian Rasmussen in Indy Pro 2000.
In IndyCar, the race seemed promised to Josef Newgarden, but the mechanics decided otherwise! Starting from pole position, the Team Penske rider was heading for victory when a neutralization occurred just 5 laps from the end, following the retirement of Ed Jones (Dale Coyne Racing) on the track. On the restart with two laps to go, Newgarden saw his Dallara-Chevrolet suddenly lack power, which benefited Alex Palou. The Spanish driver of Chip Ganassi Racing then took the lead to race towards his second victory of the season with his Dallara-Honda.
Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport), Will Power (Team Penske), Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing) and Romain Grosjean (Dale Coyne Racing) complete the Top 5. James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport) finished 15th while the second Canadian entered, Dalton Kellett (AJ Foyt Racing) retired due to mechanical problems on the 19th of 55 laps.
Starting out in the series without prior testing, the Dane and ex-F1 driver Kevin Magnussen has not had it easy. Qualified, with Jimmie Johnson, on the penultimate starting line, he had to give up the 33rd lap following a mechanical failure on his Dallara-Chevrolet from the Arrow McLaren SP team.
For the complete classification of this 9th race of the season, click here.
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