Indy GP Notes: On the Podium Again Power Now Wants An Easy Win

Will Power has basically perfected the art of finishing in second place.

Power was the No. 2 guy on the podium again Saturday in the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, scoring his third second-place run in four races this year.

Power, who chased winner Alex Palou to the finish Saturday, rolled into the weekend with Team Penske still carrying the burden of harsh IndyCar penalties from the season-opener at St. Petersburg and the reverberations of four Penske team members, including President Tim Cindric, being suspended by owner Roger Penske this week.

All in all, considering the turmoil, second didn’t look too bad, but Power, now second in series points, can be forgiven for wondering where and when the next win will come. Luck hasn’t exactly fallen his way.

“Every win I get, it's just the hardest-fought win,” Power said. “I'll take an easy one at some point. I'll take that, the next one. The next race. If it was an easy, ‘give me’ -- and I got absolutely lucky, I would be very proud of that. If I got just a total luck -- like the dude should not have won, he wasn't the quickest, but he did. I'd be like, yes, I'm taking that. I'm taking it.”

Power has carried the Penske flag in the last two races, giving the team podium finishes despite the swirling controversy.

“Everyone has got their head down,” he said. “They're working hard. Yep, disappointed all that sort of played out. But focusing forward, not even thinking about sort of the penalties.

“Man, I've just kept my head down, tried to block out all the noise. Looking forward. That's my job. My job is to turn up every week and give my absolute best and be professional and race to the best of my ability, and that's what I'm doing. I'm working hard and trying to get a win but just being smart.”

Lundgaard Eyeing The Mountain Top After Strong Finish

Christian Lundgaard sprinted into first place seconds after the green flag and led the race’s first 18 laps, eventually finishing third behind Alex Palou and Will Power.

Lundgaard now focuses on the May 26 Indianapolis 500 and the climb the Rahal Letterman Lanigan team still faces.

“We are definitely going to be better than we have been the past two years,” he said. “I think the statement that we're going to want to make is the last two years was the last two years. We are moving forward, and we've forgotten about that, and we have made improvements. The question is how much better is it going to be.”

Practice for the 500 is scheduled to begin Tuesday. Qualifying is set for this weekend.

Pits Propel Palou

A fast pit stop on the 41^st lap of 85 gave Alex Palou all the momentum he needed to score consecutive wins on the Indy road course.

Christian Lundgaard’s early-race aggression had given him control of the first part of the race, but Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing team sent him out of the pits in front of Lundgaard in the day’s crucial pit-road exchange.

Palou, the defending series champion, led most of the rest of the race, surging away from Power after a late-race caution period and winning by 6.61 seconds.

“It’s great to be back-to-back from last year, and we’re going to continue this May,” Palou said. “A win helps a lot, especially if it’s a pole and a win and the way we won it. We’re going to celebrate, for sure, but we’re going to switch this afternoon our focus to the big one.”

Palou replaced Colton Herta atop the point standings.

Ferrucci And Grosjean ‘Enjoy’ Each Other’s Company All Day Long

Driver irritation levels were spiking high even before the green flag flew over the 2.439 road course.

In the prerace warmup, a lot of action was packed into 30 minutes. Santino Ferrucci, driving for A.J. Foyt Racing, was on the edge of colliding with Romain Grosjean of Junco-Hollinger Racing, an incident that Ferrucci later described as retribution for a warmup encounter with Grosjean at Barber Motorsports Park.

Ferrucci “saluted” Grosjean with an obscene gesture.

The Grosjean-Ferrucci brouhaha continued into Saturday’s race, leaving little doubt that their disagreement still boils.

On the third lap, Grosjean’s radio exploded with expletives after he tried to pass Ferrucci near the back of the pack.

Two laps earlier, Marcus Ericsson was penalized for hard contact with Andretti Global teammate Colton Herta, an incident that lit up Herta’s radio communications. The penalty, for avoidable contact, dropped Ericsson five positions.

That didn’t wipe away Herta’s irritation. “Your teammate is leading the championship, and you race him like an ass like that,” Herta said post-race. “I don’t know what you’re thinking. You’ve got to be smarter than that, man. So, so dumb. I’ll let him know what I feel, yeah.”

Herta fell from the point lead into a tie for third.