Alexander Rossi dominated proceedings at Road America to score his second victory of 2019 in an even more emphatic manner than his Long Beach win earlier in the year.
The Andretti driver passed pole sitter Colton Herta at the start and controlled the race from that point on. He finished almost half a minute clear of second-placed Will Power. “That’s as fast as I could go,” lamented Power afterwards. “I couldn’t see Alex, he was just gone.”Herta’s race went awry quickly. After being demoted further by Power and Graham Rahal he made an early pit stop but lost time due a problem with his refuelling rig. From there he staged an impressive fightback to claim eighth place.
Josef Newgarden followed Penske team mate Power home in third place, the pair fighting-wheel-to-wheel into Canada corner at one stage. Rahal finished within range of the pair of them in fourth.
Scott Dixon rescued an impressive fifth having been knocked into a spin at the start by Ryan Hunter-Reay and falling to 23rd place. Ganassi team mate Felix Rosenqvist followed him home, with James Hinchcliffe seventh.
The Penske drivers were the only Chevrolet-powered cars in the top 10. Simon Pagenaud was the third of them in ninth place ahead of Takuma Sato. Marco Andretti was the only driver to fail to see the chequered flag.
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Dutchguy (@justarandomdutchguy)
23rd June 2019, 19:47
Even though Rossi wasn’t seen again after the start, this race was – again – quite good. much better than the French GP for sure. Indycar’s doing quite well the last few years
MEGATRON M12 (@megatron)
23rd June 2019, 23:14
Road ameriKKKa was no different than the France gp except for Dixon falling to the back. Had VER or VET fall to the back at the start today it would have been exactly the same.
Dane
24th June 2019, 2:04
What is that remark supposed to mean?
Mark in Florida
23rd June 2019, 22:44
What a great race overall. Rossi drove like a demon and never looked back.Herta is quickly becoming the Verstappen of the Indy league. He will pass anyone any where and make it stick, that kid is entertaining to say the least. His tire strategy really caught him out at the end of the race. That is too many laps on the reds and that crappy pit stop put him back a ways. But considering his handling deficit towards the end he did well. Dixon put on a driving clinic as usual. From second place back it was a fun race to watch. But nobody was in Rossi league today.
budchekov (@budchekov)
23rd June 2019, 22:57
Worth the price of admission to watch Dixon’s recovery, evidently Rossi’s a free agent next year, are you paying attention Ferrari?
I’m sure Penske is.
GechiChan (@gechichan)
24th June 2019, 9:18
Red Bull should grab Rossi, maybe bring him at Torro Rosso for one year and then, if he does OK (which I’m sure he will) and Gasly continues to underperform, get him beside Verstappen.
Dane
24th June 2019, 12:25
Would he really want to give up being a title contender in IndyCar in order to be a midfielder in F1?
GechiChan (@gechichan)
24th June 2019, 19:28
probabil not, but if he wins Indy this year and get that out of the way, why not take another shot at F1 with a big chance of a RedBull spot. And RBR with Honda will hopefully be a title contenter in the near future.
Canderous (@yoshif8tures)
28th June 2019, 0:12
Torró Rosso would be a step down. Why would he choose to scrap for points with no chance of winning over being a regular contender in Indycar?
Placid (@placid)
23rd June 2019, 23:49
Rossi deserves to be in that F1 grid. And Renault could be a sleeper if they decide to pair him with Riccardo. Only Penske and even Chip Gannasi are the ones to keep him stateside.
Dongster
24th June 2019, 11:56
Or, considering his ties with Honda, STR could be an option.
Anyway, I would love to see him back in F1
James Neutron (@phillyspur)
24th June 2019, 0:45
Look at that. The former F1 driver destroys the competition when you’re not just going in circles.
Dane
24th June 2019, 2:22
Where was Ericsson or Chilton?
Dongster
24th June 2019, 7:14
Rossi is also awefully good in racing in circles.
GeeMac (@geemac)
24th June 2019, 9:49
Indeed. A win and a (close) second in the daddy of them all…
Dane
24th June 2019, 2:27
It’s interesting to see the reactions from today’s F1 and IndyCar races, both of which saw one driver dominating. F1 needs to stop being so elitist and maybe take notes on where to improve.
GeeMac (@geemac)
24th June 2019, 9:54
It was a great race, Rossi was supreme and Dixon just showed the world why he is a 5 time champion. The title battle is getting seriously interesting, just 7 points in it.
Also, I know there is talk of Rossi being out of contract at the end of the season, but I thinkAndretti would be mad to let Rossi go and Rossi would be mad to leave Andretti. The team knows how to win the 500 and is clearly capable of putting together a competitive season. Why should Rossi leave an environment he is clearly comfortable in?
Hugh (@hugh11)
24th June 2019, 11:16
The commentators keep saying about how Rosenqvist’s seat is under pressure due to Rossi being a free agent. But why on earth would he leave a competitive Andretti team to go to a slightly under-performing Chip Ganassi team? The only team I can see him leaving for would be Penske, and that’s if a spot even opens up there. Or alternatively, Haas should give him some testing time as a possible replacement for Grosjean next year.
GeeMac (@geemac)
24th June 2019, 17:09
Even if he was tempted by the option to join Ganassi, to me that is changing like for like @hugh11. He’d be changing from one team that knows how to win for another, with the downside that Ganassi is Dixon’s team. He’s best to stick with Andretti and try get some more cash out of them than move (if he has an option to that is, and I can’t see why Andretti wouldn’t want to keep him). If he really does want to get back into F1, which I’m finding hard to believe…why go from winning races to being an also ran, Haas would probably be the best bet.
Hugh (@hugh11)
24th June 2019, 11:12
The fact that I get to watch F3, F2, and Indycar on the same day is the reason why I don’t mind so much that F1 is pretty boring.
Hugh (@hugh11)
24th June 2019, 11:13
Of course, I would prefer it to be more exciting, but I can cope is all I’m saying, thanks to the great racing we get elsewhere.