Scott McLaughlin held off teammate Will Power after the race’s final restart to win the third round of the IndyCar Championship at Barber Motorsports Park as Penske made it a double. An unusual incident also occurred during the race.
McLaughlin started from pole position and knew how to use his three pit stop strategy perfectly. The New Zealander led 58 of the 90 laps, finishing more than a second ahead of teammate Pauwer, who had an engine change before the race.
Season debutant Linus Lundqvist showed a great performance, finishing in third place. It is the first podium for the Swedish driver in his IndyCar career.
The Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix saw four yellow flags around the track. The last of them was only five laps before the finish, when McLaughlin was already 3.5 seconds ahead of Power. Christian Rasmussen crashed.
Two laps before the finish, the battle resumed, but McLaughlin managed to escape a little from his teammate, who in turn was trying to attack Lundqvist. This is how the trio finished, but the first five were completed by Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou.
The winner of the previous stage in Long Beach, Scott Dixon, did not do so well this time – the veteran finished only in 15th place.
Colton Herta collided with Santino Ferrucci but fought his way to an eighth place finish. It is the driver of the Andretti team who is now the overall leader. Hert has only one point advantage over Power, while Palou loses three points to the leader. Dixon is fourth after this stage, seven points behind.
During the race, a mannequin mounted there fell from the pedestrian bridge that crosses the track. It landed right next to the asphalt and some cars also caught it a little.
The fourth round of the season will be held on May 11 at the twisty version of the Indianapolis circuit, followed by the legendary Indy 500 on May 26 at the Indianapolis Oval.
Alabama GP Results:
Overall score after stage 3:
