One of my top drives: McLaughlin
“I’m just super proud of the execution.’’ Scott McLaughlin
Little wonder Scott McLaughlin felt some emotion welling up after he won the Alabama Indycar Grand Prix for a second successive year.
The champion Kiwi driver avoided a bizarre hazard – a mannequin on the side of the track – as he powered to victory at Barber Motorsports Park yesterday to cap a rollercoaster week for him and Team Penske.
Just days earlier, IndyCar erased teammate Josef Newgarden’s victory and also disqualified third-placed McLaughlin from the season opener in St Petersburg, Florida. Two-time Indycar series champion Newgarden was stripped for manipulating the push-to-pass function system on his car.
Said McLaughlin: “We know our job, we know what we need to do. I’m just super proud of the execution. A couple of yellows didn’t fall our way, but we just showed our pace. We just keep rolling, man.
“Definitely one of my best drives in terms of execution and just knocking out the laps.”
McLaughlin led 58 of the 90 laps and raced to the win coming out of a caution with two laps to go, with team-mate and runnerup Will Power his only threat. The Australian secured his 100th podium finish.
“It was a little emotional, for sure. It was just a nice cap after obviously it was a pretty tough week,” McLaughlin said.
Then there was the mannequin, to complicate what appeared a straightforward victory for the three-time V8 Supercars champion (2018-2020).
Nicknamed Georgina by the track’s creator George Barber, the mannequin which hangs from a pedestrian bridge over the street circuit came loose and fell to the grass just beside the racetrack.
There was no yellow flag when Georgina toppled over just as Santino Ferrucci’s No 14 Dallara-Chevrolet went past at full speed. The obstacle was removed during a caution flag three laps later for a Sting Ray Robb crash.
McLaughlin told NBC with a laugh: “I was a little mad. Then I realised that someone else had hit the fence. That wasn’t what the yellow was for.
“I love the artistic stuff, but it probably doesn’t need to be above the track to cause a yellow like that. It’s probably what will change next year.”
There was no panic, at least, with none of the drivers thinking it was a
human being on the track. Said Power: “I knew exactly what it was. They’re going to have to seriously get some good cables (in the future). Did someone run over it?”
Six-time Indycar series champion Scott Dixon, who led the series points entering this event, lost the top spot with his 15th-place finish.
Colton Herta took the points lead for the first time – by one point over Power – after finishing eighth. Alex Palou is third, just three points behind Herta, with another seven points to New Zealander Dixon in fourth.
Focus now switches to the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, starting with the Sonsio Grand Prix on May 11, then the 108th Indianapolis 500 on May 26.