LEXINGTON, Ohio — Scott McLaughlin picked up a second-run IndyCar victory, going down to one of the single most exciting wins of his career because of his parents’ presence at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
The New Zealander won a pittance watching Sunday with his nervous mom and dad out of the lane. McLaughlin had not seen his family for 31 months because of the pandemic, but his parents were finally able to attend New Zealand in May at Indianapolis.
Wayne and Diane McLaughlin booked their trip, increase visas and planned a nine-nation IndyCar tour to the United States. It took four to drive off his only son as Team Penske stepped in to victory lane.
When he won his first race in February at the St. Louis street course Petersburg, Florida had with her parents via FaceTime.
“I really wanted to win here with Mom and Dad,” said McLaughlin, who had won three V8 Supercars championship in Australia.
The race took a turn for the five Chevrolet drivers faced with various problems, and Andretti Autosport began to compete internally.
Alexander Rossi and Romain Grosjean kept bumping wheel to wheel, and in their final contact the steering wheel knocked Rossi out of hand, leaving him unable to turn as the car got off.
Rossi finished 19, Grosjean was 21, and Colton Herta led the middle with 15, and Andretti finished with a class-best four cars.
IndyCar champion Alex Palou finished second for Chip Ganassi Racing and Honda, and Will Power had a brilliant career as Penske driver ranked second on the podium. Punished for power in qualifying, he started 21, shot in the opening laps and ran through the field to end third.
The race potential for IndyCar stations to be set after the top three drivers in the post — Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, Power and Penske teammate Josef Newgarden — all had poor qualifying efforts. He placed Pato O’Ward, who was fourth in points in polo, with a chance to close out the majors in the title game.
Instead, he and Arrow McLaren SP-teammate Felix Rosenqvist shook out two out of five Chevroletis this morning (even with mechanical failures) and Ericsson held his post. Power leads by 20 points. McLaughlin pitched two spots to seventh, 69 points behind Ericsson.
Rinus VeeKay finished fourth with Ed Carpenter Racing and was followed by Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Ericsson.
Jimmie Johnson finished 16th for the best event in his road and road career. He won 11 places in the track.
O’Ward and Rosenqvist started competing on Sunday looking for a victory. However, both McLaren SP entries were beaten out of the race for early issues with the Arrow.
O’Ward, who started from the pole, called out to his radio: “I conquer my courage! Rosenqvist retired with some electrical or mechanical problem just 18 laps in the race.
“Fuel-delivery-wise, it just kept getting worse and getting worse, and it just failed,” O’ward said. “It’s a bummer. We throw the podium down there easily.”
O’Ward’s attempt was just one of the top three contenders standing in front of the championship. but finished 24th.
Rosenqvist, who is on a mission to get his seat in the IndyCar with McLaren with strong races that will bring his McLaren replacement to the advancing Formula E team, has begun to seek a fourth podium for the first time this season. Riverside ended its first day with Chrysler Sweden.
Rosenqvist is furious and tossed his gloves after he got out of the disabled car.
“It’s just unfortunate. I had a really, really good run. It was a great loss for us today,” he said. “You don’t know what happened next, but I really felt like we were sailing. We fight for the balcony to finish and I’m back and I’m doing it again.”
Rosenqvist entered the race finishing with four consecutive top-10 attempts to make the No. 7. He signed. McLaren signed a multi-year extension, but the company doesn’t know if Rosenqvist will drive next year. in IndyCar or Formula E
Scott McLaughlin needed a special win with his parents on hand to win the Middle Ohio race first appeared in NBCSports.com