– At the IndyCar series road course race on the most sacred streets of the United States of America for the 250th anniversary of the USA, Mick Schumacher improved his best result outside of ovals. He finished the Freedom 250 in eleventh place. (Freedom 250 results)
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He had to fight through, because unlike his teammate Graham Rahal (RLL-Honda; 13th), the son of Formula 1 legend Michael Schumacher could not benefit from an early yellow phase. There were six cautions in the race, four of which fell into the first third of the race and two were a “double caution” (“Yellows breed Yellows”). In between, there was a green phase lasting more than 70 laps.
During this, Schumacher showed a respectable performance with several good overtaking maneuvers, including against Dennis Hauger (Coyne-Honda; 15th). He gained positions due to incidents involving other drivers but also showed quite good speed, which Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had been missing all weekend. And he avoided being lapped, which was important.
Just as the race seemed to be winding down quietly, it was Alex Palou (Ganassi-Honda; 20th) who caused a caution that turned everything upside down again. The points leader experienced a true horror day (see below).
After the caution, there was another accident when Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet; DNF) attempted an impossible maneuver to win the race and wrecked the car. At the same time, Indy 500 winner Felix Rosenqvist (MSR-Honda; 19th) spun independently, so Schumacher gained two positions and was now eleventh.
At the final restart 13 laps from the end, he had to yield to a charging Romain Grosjean (Coyne-Honda; 10th), but shortly afterwards overtook Alexander Rossi (ECR-Chevrolet; 12th) and thus brought home eleventh place as the best driver from Rahal Letterman Lanigan.
Kirkwood delivers dominant home victory for USA
It couldn’t have gone more fittingly for the big patriotic spectacle: Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda; 1st), an American, dominated the race from start to finish. Right at the start, he snatched the pole sitter Palou with a strong move on the outside. That was just enough time before the first yellow phase was called due to debris.
The only time he had to give up the lead for a longer period was during the second caution on lap 16, also for debris. With Graham Rahal (RLL-Honda; 13th), Grosjean, and Kyffin Simpson (Ganassi-Honda; 5th) having already pitted, Rahal gained a few laps in the lead. Nevertheless, Rahal fell behind Schumacher at the end, and only Simpson was able to really capitalize on the advantage until the finish.
During the long green phase, Kirkwood was untouchable and built up a lead of almost 20 seconds over McLaughlin. This was wiped out by the caution, and Kirkwood was on hard tires while his rivals behind him were on the softer alternates.
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McLaughlin’s attack at the restart was then completely overmotivated and ended in retirement. “Kyle was fast all weekend, so I really wanted to win the position against him. Then I locked up the rear axle and we were gone,” said the New Zealand-born driver, who is now a US citizen.
With that, Lundgaard took second place ahead of Will Power (Andretti-Honda; 3rd), who, as in Markham, showed a remarkable comeback and again made the podium, followed by his teammate Marcus Ericsson (Andretti-Honda; 4th), who also fought his way forward from the back.
Alongside Simpson in fifth place, Nolan Siegel (McLaren-Chevrolet; 6th) and Caio Collet (Foyt-Chevrolet; 9th) also celebrated remarkable results. Especially for the Brazilian rookie, the first top-10 result in the series is a huge burden that should be lifted from his shoulders. Scott Dixon (Ganassi-Honda; 7th) and Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet; 8th) also made it into the top 10.
Penske crashes and Palou debacle
Newgarden was the only surviving Penske driver, as besides McLaughlin, David Malukas (Penske-Chevrolet; DNF) also hit the wall. In doing so, he took Sting Ray Robb (Juncos-Chevrolet; DNF) out of the race. It was the only serious crash in this race but had serious consequences.
When most of the field came in for the subsequent pit stop, disaster began for Palou. He knocked away the ready tire of Mick Schumacher when leaving the pit box and received a drive-through penalty for it. Shortly after, his team botched the next pit stop. Finally, he ended the race with the driving error that caused the last two cautions. At least all conceivable mistakes came together in a single race.
At the following restart, yellow had to be shown again immediately because Marcus Armstrong (MSR-Honda; 17th) attempted a divebomb against Christian Rasmussen (ECR-Chevrolet; 14th) and Rinus “VeeKay” van Kalmthout (Juncos-Chevrolet; DNF) and took both out. For VeeKay, the race was over; Rasmussen and Armstrong dropped out of the lead lap due to repairs and penalties respectively.
The race will be remembered above all for a patriotic show by the United States of America. With no less than seven flyovers by the Air Force, the race initiated by Donald Trump and Roger Penske set a new record in this regard.
The fast-paced IndyCar season finale continues next weekend with the double-header in Milwaukee.
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