The Indycar series opened up its 2023 campaign with a crash filled race in St. Petersburg. Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin crashed out while battling for the lead allowing for a battle between Marcus Ericsson, Pato O’Ward and Ericsson’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates to settle the win amongst themselves. Ericsson would take the win after O’Ward’s machine suffered a plenum fire that temporarily cut power to his engine. It was Ericsson’s fourth win of his career.
BAD DAY FOR ANDRETTI
While Andretti Autosport entered the season opener with a strong qualifying effort; starting three cars in the top six spots; it would turn into a one of the worst days in the team’s history. All four of Andretti’s Dallara-Hondas were involved in wrecks. The most devastating was the aforementioned Grosjean crash with McLaughlin while battling for the race lead. Grosjean started on the pole and led 31 laps before that crash.
Grosjean’s teammate Colton Herta was involved in a crash a little earlier in the race. Herta was squeezed by Will Power forcing Herta into a tire barrier. Meanwhile, the other two Andretti teammates went airborne during the first 42 laps of Sunday’s race. Devlin DeFrancesco was t-boned by rookie Benjamin Pedersen on the first lap of the race sending DeFrancesco skyward. And Kyle Kirkwood, making his first career start for Andretti, briefly took flight when he went sailing over Jack Harvey, who had slowed when Rinus Veekay spun.
TOP 10 FINISHERS
- Marcus Ericsson
- Pato O’Ward
- Scott Dixon
- Alexander Rossi
- Callum Ilott
- Graham Rahal
- Will Power
- Alex Palou
- Christian Lundgaard
- David Malukas
NEXT UP
Indycar has almost a month off before they return to the circuit. The next Indycar race will be Sunday, April 2 at the Texas Motor Speedway where Josef Newgarden won last year. Andretti will look to rebound, while Ericsson looks for win number two on the season.
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