Romain Grosjean finished second in Saturday’s IndyCar race from the Indianapolis road course, coming up just short of a win to race winner Will Power.
A couple late cautions helped the Frenchman get past Colton Herta for second, but he was not able to mount a charge for the lead before the laps ran out.
This was partly due to the fact that Grosjean had completely used up his Push-to-Pass allocation before lap 65 of the 85-lap race, leaving him with no extra boost in the final laps.
The Push-to-Pass system gives the engine an extra 40 horsepower on demand, and drivers have 200 total seconds to use as they see fit throughout the length of the race.
Even with no more of the crucial aid available, Grosjean revealed that his allocation was put to better use earlier in the race and it didn’t actually hurt his result.
“It didn’t do us any favors to try to go for the win, but I needed to go through some back markers early on,” said Grosjean after the race. “It didn’t hurt.
“I did use [Push-to-Pass] quite a bit with Chilton, and he used it to defend. So you burn it for kind of not much.
“I need to pass, as well, and probably on some races it just goes faster than others. Some races it’s been very easy to keep some.
“I think on the last stint we were stronger than [Power] was. I knew it was going to be tight and tough.”
The second consecutive second-place finish at the Indianapolis road course cements Grosjean’s fondness for the 2.44-mile track, and places him just seven points behind Scott McLaughlin for the Rookie of the Year lead.
Next weekend, however, he will try a completely new discipline when he contests the short oval of World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, his first ever race on an oval track.
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