O’Ward holds off Power to win first Milwaukee race as championship closes up

Pato O’Ward blasted his McLaren team’s “unacceptable” performance when he finished 15th in Portland a week ago, but rebounded in style with victory in Milwaukee.

O’Ward claimed his third victory of the season by soaking up pressure from Will Power over the closing stages of today’s 250-lap race. The Penske driver’s second-place finish allowed him to take a bite out of championship leader Alex Palou’s advantage.

Conor Daly joined them on the podium after a superb drive from 25th on the grid. The driver who took over from Agustin Canapino two races ago claimed the Juncos Hollinger team’s best result of the season.

O’Ward passed Colton Herta and Scott McLaughlin shortly before half-distance to claim the lead of the race. He led to the chequered flag after the third and final restart on the 204th lap race.

Behind him, Power worked his way past Santino Ferrucci, who restarted in second, but lost two further places to Daly and Palou after the Penske came by. He fought back to reclaim fourth from Palou before the finish.

Linus Lundqvist, who passed pole winner Scott McLaughlin for the lead during the first stint, finished sixth after losing time at his first pit stop. Alexander Rossi took seventh off McLaughlin on the run to the flag. Christian Lundgaard took ninth, while Scott Dixon finished his 400th start in 10th place. Christian Rasmussen, Kyle Kirkwood and Felix Rosenqvist were the only other drivers to finish on the lead lap.

Colton Herta dropped out of contention when his front-left tyre changer failed to attach his new wheel at his final pit stop, which came off the car soon after he rejoined the track. That triggered the third and final caution period of the day.

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Katherine Legge triggered the first with a harmless spin from which she was able to continue. Josef Newgarden did not cause a caution period despite striking the barrier with his right-rear tyre at one stage.

He did contribute to the second caution, however, when he tangled with Marcus Ericsson, sending both into the barriers. Ericsson was trying to pass the Penske at the time but unwilling to take to the less grippy inside line as Newgarden squeezed him.

Race result

P.	No.	Driver	Team	Engine
1	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren	Chevrolet
2	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
3	20	Conor Daly	DRR-Cusick	Chevrolet
4	13	Santino Ferrucci	Foyt	Chevrolet
5	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
6	8	Linus Lundqvist	Ganassi	Honda
7	7	Alexander Rossi	McLaren	Chevrolet
8	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
9	27	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
10	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
11	25	Christian Rasmussen	Carpenter	Chevrolet
12	22	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti	Honda
13	29	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank	Honda
14	18	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
15	30	David Malukas	Meyer Shank	Honda
16	16	Jack Harvey	Coyne	Honda
17	6	Nolan Siegel	McLaren	Chevrolet
18	24	Pietro Fittipaldi	RLL	Honda
19	28	Katherine Legge	Coyne/WR	Honda
20	14	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
21	11	Marcus Armstrong	Ganassi	Honda
22	21	Colton Herta	Andretti/Curb-Agajanian	Honda
23	26	Sting Ray Robb	Foyt	Chevrolet
24	32	Romain Grosjean	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
25	4	Kyffin Simpson	Ganassi	Honda
26	23	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti	Honda
27	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet

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IndyCar

• Andretti confirms he’s stepping down in charge of racing team
• Ilott gets first seat in Prema’s new IndyCar team
• Palou clinches third IndyCar title as Herta passes O’Ward to win finale
• Kirkwood takes pole for finale, Palou only 24th after penalty
• Ferrucci secures second Foyt IndyCar seat for 2025 alongside Malukas

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