IndyCar Barber: McLaughlin beats Grosjean for fourth win

Grosjean led Alex Palou away but Pato O’Ward was inside Palou into Turn 1 - however, when O’Ward also tried to get around Grosjean at Turn 5 he lost momentum, and Palou was able to draft by him into Turn 8 to reclaim second.

Further back, Scott Dixon got around McLaughlin, as all three Penske drivers were struggling with pace on primary tyres, although Josef Newgarden did move up to sixth, but only after side-by-side contact with Felix Rosenqvist at Turn 1 that looped the Arrow McLaren machine into a spin.

Newgarden was the first to commit to a three-stop strategy, ducking into the pitlane at the end of lap 13 of 90 to take on a set of alternates - and this early stop paid off, as he jumped ahead of McLaughlin, who pitted two laps later.

The two-stoppers started coming in on lap 28, while Grosjean and Palou went a lap longer even than Dixon, who got in a tight battle with O’Ward on the pit exit, the Ganassi driver conceding.

Palou emerged from his stop ahead of O’Ward but, on cold tyres, he didn’t have a chance of stemming the McLaren driver. In fact, Palou’s colder tyres meant he accidentally bottled up team-mate Dixon, allowing the opportunistic Christian Lundgaard to lunge inside the six-time champion at the final turn.

Having cycled to the front, McLaughlin snatched the lead from Newgarden and Tim Cindric called the erstwhile leader in for scuffed alternates on lap 37.

When Sting Ray Robb stopped his Dale Coyne Racing car with a mechanical issue, McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Will Power and Rosenqvist were called in before the pitlane closed under caution. Rossi and Rosenqvist took on more primaries, unlike the Penske drivers.

The caution helped the two-stoppers save fuel, but now the fastest three-stoppers were in the same boat as them – requiring just one more pitstop – and they had alternate tyres.

Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport Honda

Photo by: Gavin Baker / Motorsport Images

Grosjean took the lap 43 restart ahead of McLaughlin, O’Ward, Palou, Lundgaard and Dixon but Newgarden was on a charge and had soon climbed to sixth.

Up at the front, McLaughlin was pressuring Grosjean as the lead duo pulled clear of the chasing pack.

Grosjean had eked out a 1.5-second lead over McLaughlin by the time he stopped on lap 60. 

But, when McLaughlin pitted three tours later, he emerged ahead of Grosjean and had to vigorously defend over the next lap.

He initially kept the place before Grosjean completed off a brilliant over-under move at the penultimate corner to muscle down the inside into the final turn.

Power, meanwhile, stayed out until lap 66 and his sequence of flying laps while in the lead meant he was able to grab a set of used reds and emerge in third. He was 10s behind the lead battle, but clear of the O’Ward vs Palou tussle behind.

Out front, the battle was fraught, Grosjean leaning on his push-to-pass to fend off McLaughlin. When he ran wide at Turn 5 on lap 72, he had none left to fend off McLaughlin at the exit. The #3 Penske driver hit his boost on the long drag that followed and had him clean before Turn 8.

McLaughlin eventually took the win by almost 2s over Grosjean, his fourth IndyCar victory, and the fourth different winner in the first four races of the season. 

With 10 laps to go, Power had closed his deficit to the lead duo to just 2s but the progress slowed a little thereafter and he ultimately had to settle for third. 

Behind O'Ward and Palou, Lundgaard delivered well for the previously struggling RLL to complete the top six, beating Dixon, Rossi and Rosenqvist.

Marcus Ericsson completed the top 10 ahead of Ganassi team-mate Marcus Armstrong, who clawed his way up from 26^th on the grid.

Race result: