In a mixed-up technique race, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Lundgaard dominated the opening stint however a yellow at half distance after Romain Grosjean crashed his Andretti Autosport automobile set off a sequence of occasions that meant he needed to battle his method again to the pinnacle of the sphere.
Lundgaard handed factors chief Alex Palou, up from 15th on the grid, for the victory within the last third of the race for his first win within the collection.
Palou completed second regardless of his poor beginning place and a badly broken nostril part on his Chip Ganassi Racing automobile that was hanging off his automobile by the end.
Polesitter Lundgaard, who began on the softer alternate tires, led the sphere to inexperienced on the 11-turn, 1.786-mile Exhibition Place road course from McLaughlin on the more durable main rubber, Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) and the Ganassi entries of Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon – the latter leaping as much as fifth from seventh on the grid.
An eight-car pileup occurred on the exit of Flip 1, as an preliminary three-car collision between Jack Harvey (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing), debutant Tom Blomqvist (Meyer Shank Racing) and Ryan Hunter-Reay (Ed Carpenter Racing) obtained collected by Alexander Rossi (McLaren), Sting Ray Robb (Dale Coyne Racing) and the AJ Foyt Racing vehicles of Santino Ferrucci and Benjamin Pedersen. Graham Rahal additionally ploughed into Pedersen, however neatly reversed and used the run-off loop beneath Princes’ Gate to keep away from going a lap down.
The race went inexperienced once more on lap 10, Lundgaard main McLaughlin, O’Ward, Ericsson and Dixon. Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti Autosport) grabbed sixth from Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist at Flip 3.
From 14th and 15th on the grid, the out-of-position Colton Herta (Andretti) and Palou (Ganassi) each gained a few spots firstly. They switched positions straight after the restart, however Palou then clipped Grosjean at Flip 3 and dropped again behind Herta, who himself jumped forward of Grosjean and Marcus Armstrong (Ganassi) on successive laps to run 10th by lap 14.
On the entrance, Lundgaard sprinted away from McLaughlin by 4s on his alternates. Rosenqvist was the primary of the frontrunners on alternates to pit for primaries on lap 17, whereas Kirkwood and Josef Newgarden (Penske) rapidly adopted go well with.
Lundgaard pitted from the lead on lap 19, struggling a slight delay on his right-front nook change, and though he rejoined behind all pitters he was mired in midfield site visitors. O’Ward ran a lap longer, and was the final of the alternate starters to cease.
That left primary-tired starters McLaughlin, Ericsson, Dixon, Will Power (Penske), Herta, Grosjean and Palou on the head of the sphere, as Lundgaard battled his method again into the highest 10 previous the long-stint working main midfielders. When he did get some clear air, Lundgaard was in a position to make use of his contemporary tires to retain his web lead however occurred upon a cussed Rinus VeeKay (ECR) – who defended his eighth place laborious.
Forward of them, Palou pulled an outstanding lunge on Grosjean to seize sixth at Flip 5 at one-third distance, which prompted the Frenchman to grow to be the primary of the primary-tire starters on lap 32.
McLaughlin pitted from a 6.4s lead over Ericsson on lap 35, as early-stoppers Lundgaard and O’Ward labored their well past VeeKay within the pack. He rejoined between Lundgaard, who was 5s forward, and simply in entrance of O’Ward.
Dixon, Energy and Palou ran the longest, till pitting on lap 37, with Energy leaping forward of Dixon out of pitlane. Palou was pressured to drag an elbows-out transfer on Rosenqvist at Flip 2 to make sure ninth, with the massive gainers within the first stint being Kirkwood (as much as fourth) and Newgarden (as much as sixth). Herta fell again to 11th, forward of Grosjean.
Lundgaard led by over 6s simply earlier than half distance, with McLaughlin – on alternates – pulling 2s away from O’Ward, with Kirkwood a distant fourth.
However every part modified on lap 42 as Grosjean slammed the wall at Flip 10, his automobile all of a sudden ploughing head-on as he admitted the steering wheel was pulled out of his palms over the notorious bumps in that part. That brought about the second full-course warning, beneath which Kirkwood, Palou and Herta pitted – placing them in vary of the end if there have been extra laps beneath warning.
The race briefly went inexperienced with McLaughlin wanting poised to cross Lundgaard on the restart however Helio Castroneves spun his MSR automobile at Flip 11, after being hit by Kirkwood, and Palou clipped each Helio and the wall earlier than it went yellow once more.
The vast majority of the sphere pitted, however McLaughlin, Dixon and VeeKay – on alternates – stayed out. Lundgaard simply beat O’Ward, Ericsson and Energy out of the lane, rejoining seventh.
The race restarted on lap 52 within the order McLaughlin, Dixon, VeeKay, Kirkwood, Herta, Palou, Lundgaard, O’Ward, Ericsson and Energy. Palou pounced previous Herta, as Kirkwood hit the wall and slowed, stacking the sphere up and sending him into the pits.
Lundgaard battled his method as much as sixth, with O’Ward following his tracks. Lundgaard then handed Herta for fifth at Flip 5, as Palou scampered away because the main primary-tired runner in fourth – however he had a damaged nostril part.
McLaughlin pulled a second away from Dixon, with VeeKay falling again and pitting on lap 60, forward of Palou, Lundgaard, Herta and O’Ward. McLaughlin stopped for the ultimate time on lap 62, simply earlier than Lundgaard battled his well past Palou at Flip 3 and 4, which quickly grew to become for the lead as Dixon pitted a lap later.
Lundgaard immediately pulled properly away from Palou and Herta, as Energy muscled his well past O’Ward for fourth on lap 64. O’Ward tumbled down the order thereafter to complete eighth.
Lundgaard scored victory by over 11s, as Palou, Herta, Energy and Ericsson fought an entertaining battle to the end behind him.
There was a sting within the tail for Energy and Ericsson, who needed to pit on the ultimate lap for extra gasoline, elevating Dixon to fourth, forward of Newgarden and McLaughlin. Ericsson completed 11th and Energy 14th, as a number of vehicles ran out of fuel on the in-lap.
