Josef Newgarden

Newgarden’s hunt for a first Indycar championship looked set to follow the Penske ‘curse’ that Simon Pagenaud endured in his opening season – he struggled in 2015 before winning the title last year.

A dreadful Month of May for Newgarden finished with him 19th at the Indianapolis 500 and falling to 59 points behind series leader Helio Castroneves in eighth position in the standings. “May was our lowest point of the year,” agrees Newgarden.

But that became the catalyst for a remarkable charge. One week later he took a podium in the second race at Detroit – the first of seven podiums in the last 10 races that won him the title.

That charge came as Newgarden grew familiar with a Penske-run Dallara-chevrolet that didn’t suit him and required fine-tuning, aided by the experienced crew left behind by Newgarden’s predecessor

Juan Pablo Montoya.

There was a brief wobble in the championship charge at Watkins Glen as his title lead fell from 31 points to three ahead of Scott Dixon after a self-inflicted mistake in the pitlane. It would be the only sign of inexperience in a title race. It was poorly timed, leaving him narrowly ahead in a six-way battle for the crown at the season finale. Pressure could have told, but Newgarden seized pole and, if not for Pagenaud’s superior race strategy, he could have won the race as well as the title.

Second proved enough, though, and was worthy of a driver who has gone from Indycar’s best driver outside of the ‘big three’ teams to a worthy champion.