The first race of IndyCar’s Iowa double-header event took place on Saturday evening, and it was a mostly precessional affair with drivers spread out and unable to make passes except on restarts.
Scott McLaughlin leapt into the lead curtesy of an excellent pit stop by his Team Penske crew, and was able to hold onto the top spot the remainder of the way. The win gives him his first oval victory since joining IndyCar in 2021.
Pato O’Ward finished second with Josef Newgarden just behind in third. Newgarden climbed all the way from 22nd to earn the podium, and was by far the biggest mover of the day.
READ MORE: IndyCar Iowa – Full Race 1 Report
Colton Herta looked like the driver to beat, but then lost the top spot to McLaughlin during a pit cycle and then was caught on the wrong side of a caution on the next pit cycle. He ended the day in a disappointing 11th.
Another race is on tap in just over 14 hours’ time, with the second half of the double-header weekend serving up another 250 lap race in the heat of the day.
| # | Driver | Time /Gap | Laps Led | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:44:41.1172 | 164 | 53 |
| 2 | Pato O’Ward | 0.4814 | – | 40 |
| 3 | Josef Newgarden | 1.5174 | – | 35 |
| 4 | Scott Dixon | 5.0041 | – | 32 |
| 5 | Rinus VeeKay | 6.5656 | – | 30 |
| 6 | Santino Ferrucci | 7.4575 | – | 28 |
| 7 | Kyle Kirkwood | 8.4200 | – | 26 |
| 8 | Alexander Rossi | 9.3425 | – | 24 |
| 9 | Marcus Ericsson | 10.3770 | – | 22 |
| 10 | Marcus Armstrong | 11.4006 | – | 20 |
| 11 | Colton Herta | 11.8114 | 86 | 21 |
| 12 | Nolan Siegel | 12.4651 | – | 18 |
| 13 | Felix Rosenqvist | 12.4651 | – | 17 |
| 14 | Kyffin Simpson | 13.5048 | – | 16 |
| 15 | Sting Ray Robb | 14.0242 | – | 15 |
| 16 | Graham Rahal | 1 lap | – | 14 |
| 17 | Katherine Legge | 1 lap | – | 13 |
| 18 | Will Power | 9 laps | – | 12 |
| 19 | Pietro Fittipaldi | 22 laps | – | 11 |
| 20 | Ed Carpenter | 22 laps | – | 10 |
| 21 | Linus Lundqvist | 41 laps | – | 9 |
| 22 | Christian Lundgaard | 72 laps | – | 8 |
| 23 | Alex Palou | 75 laps | – | 7 |
| 24 | Romain Grosjean | 202 laps | – | 6 |
| 25 | Jack Harvey | 222 laps | – | 5 |
| 26 | David Malukas | 250 laps | – | 5 |
| 27 | Agustin Canapino | 250 laps | – | 5 |
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