Road America Race Wrap-up
The 2023 edition of the Sonsio Grand Prix is now in the books. As expected, it was not a clean race at all. That became evident just after Turn One, when Kyle Kirkwood spun into the gravel trap, bringing out a full course caution on Lap One.
As usual, we left the grid just before the command to start engines and made a mad dash to Turn One, where I got the start on video. I missed the spin, but you see the aftermath.
Romain Grosjean saw a bad weekend get worse, when he spun in Turn Three on Lap 13 for the second full course yellow. That was the cue for many teams to pit. With four miles per lap, that’s about the opening of the fuel window. Different teams had different pit strategies, which makes it interesting throughout the race because you never know how it will play out. When Will Power was leading just past the halfway point, I didn’t feel like he was a legitimate contender for the win, but you never know how the yellows will play out. Power finished thirteenth.
The strangest caution of the day cam as the field was about to take the green on the ensuing restart after the Grosjean spin. Jack Harvey was a little too aggressive in going back to the green, and possibly brushed the car in front, causing him to lose control and go into the Turn Fourteen runoff area and straight into the tire barrier. It was technically another caution period, but the green flag flew for only a few seconds.
Marcus Armstrong was the victim of poor strategy. His team left him out, when he should have pitted. Then on the last lap, he had an off-track excursion. As Armstrong got back on track, he was going slow through the Kettle Bottoms sector of the track.
In the post-race press conference, Palou said he was approaching at speed in a section that he said the radio transmission is iffy, and the team decided to make no communication in that area to avoid confusion. Suddenly, he came upon Armstrong and had to back off. But with a five second lead, he was not too worried.\
With Palou’s second win in a row, and his third in the last four races – Palou has extended his lead in the championship to a whopping seventy-four points over Marcus Ericsson. With nine races still to go, this championship is not over – but those drivers trailing him need to have some really strong finishes, while also hoping some bad luck falls Palou’s way.
Congratulations to Alex Palou. This race looked like it was Colton Herta’s to win, but when Palou passed Herta on Lap 49 – Herta was saving fuel due to an early pit stop, and you felt like Herta was toast at that point. When the checkered flag flew, Herta finished fifth behind Palou, Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon respectively. Palou definitely earned today’s win.
That will do it for us today. I will be here tomorrow with my usual Monday morning Random Thoughts. Thanks to everyone for following along this weekend. I keep thinking at some point we are going to have a weekend at Road America that will disappoint us. After eight straight years here, it hasn’t happened yet. Please check back tomorrow.
George Phillips
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