Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global wins the IndyCar Grand Prix of Washington

After an eventful 250 miles Kyle Kirkwood became the first American IndyCar driver to win the IndyCar grand prix on the streets of Washington. 

(Image Credits to @kyle_kirkwood on Instagram)

After starting in second place Kirkwood takes the lead from Alex Palou who started on pole position on the opening lap of the race despite both drivers being off to a good start. On Lap 2 of the race Marcus Armstrong went into the back of Christian Rasmussen. Although both drivers were able to continue there was debris from the contact on the track which resulted in a full course caution. 

Lap 37 of the race saw David Malukas out of the running after he clipped the inside of turn seven causing him to crash against the outside. Lodged in a dangerous area with low visibility meant that drivers coming into turn seven were unable to see the number 12 car of Malukas, which ultimately caught Sting Ray Robb causing them both to be out of the race. 

While pitting on Lap 42 Alex Palou hits the tire of Mick Schumacher causing a drive through penalty for the number 10 car and championship leader. Once all the debris and cars were cleared from the track and the safety crew determined the barriers were sufficiently repaired the race went back to green on Lap 43. 

Once again Armstrong found the back of Rasmussen which resulted in a spin that caught out Rinus Veekay sending him out of the race. While both Armstrong and Rasmussen were able to continue in the race, Armstrong received a penalty for avoidable contact. After a dominant last stint at the Honda Indy of Markham last time out, Marcus Ericsson once again proved why he can never be counted out. 

On the Lap 68 pitstop Palou’s team struggled to get the left front wheel nut onto the tire which resulted in him coming out of the pits a lap down from Kirkwood in 21st position, despite starting on pole. 

Interestingly the two front runners Kyle Kirkwood and Christian Lundgaard were on two different tire strategies on Sunday afternoon. Kyle Kirkwood saved two soft tires to finish off the race while Lundgaard and the number 7 Arrow McLaren team chose to do their first two stints on softs leaving them with hard tires for the final two race stints. 

With 37 laps to go Ericsson was the first of the front runners to make his final pitstop. Kirkwood pitted a lap later releasing him in fourth position behind Will Power, who chose to go long, pumping out quick laps under the 1 minute mark.

With only 25 laps to go Alex Palou experienced a third mistake in one afternoon which resulted in him crashing into the wall at the exit of turn three bringing out yet another caution and sending him out of the race. 

Ultimately, Kyle Kirkwood, currently second in the championship won the grand prix of Washington with Christian Lundgaard in second, and Will Power rounding off the podium places. Kyle Kirkwood now has 462 points going into the last three races of the season. Alex Palou still leads with 553 points. 

Article Written by Israa Ihab