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Arrow McLAREN Iowa Speedway Doubleheader: Race 2 Report

"He was right in the fight there until the end for the win"

Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team logo

A hard-fought day at Iowa Speedway for Race 2 of the doubleheader weekend.

Felix Rosenqvist led the Arrow McLaren IndyCar Team with a team-high finish of fourth after starting 16th.

Pato O'Ward started the race 11th, gained five positions in the opening two laps and climbed as high as third. Ultimately, he finished the race in 10th after battling handling issues late in the race.

Alexander Rossi started 18th, and quickly moved into the top 10 on the opening stint, but battled with handling woes as well and finished 15th.

Before we go to Nashville in a few weeks, see what each driver and Racing Director Gavin Ward said after racing in Iowa.

Race Dates

Saturday, July 22

Sunday, July 23

Rounds

11 of 17

12 of 17

Total Laps

Race 1: 250 laps

Race 2: 250 laps

Total Race Distances 223.5 miles / 359.69 km
Length 0.88 miles / 1.41 km
Number of Turns 4

Felix Rosenqvist, Driver, No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"Big thanks to Arrow McLaren and NTT DATA, just a phenomenal car, and congrats to Team Chevy on the win. We had a lot of speed here this weekend and a few mega stints to push from P16 to finishing P4.  We got through traffic pretty smoothly until we'd got held up by some lapped traffic. The restart didn't go that well, and then I was on the outside of Will Power and he pushed me up into the marbles. Anyways, big shoutout to the team. We were scratching our heads a bit after yesterday's race, so it was a hell of a turnaround."

Qualifying - Race 2 16th 176.844 mph
Starting Position 16th  
Finishing Position 4th  
Championship Standings 12th 233 points

Pato O'Ward, Driver, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"I don't have an explanation for what happened today. We obviously went the wrong way, at least that's what it seems like. The team is going to sit down and see what we missed in that transfer from yesterday. The pure fact that we didn't end up in an accident with ourselves or someone else feels like a win. I don't know. You come into these weekends knowing where you usually have been in the past and with a chance to be able to kind of bounce back, and, obviously, today it feels like we threw that away. I don't have an explanation for that, and I don't think any of us really know why. It felt like it was the right direction, and I'm just confused."

Qualifying - Race 2 11th 177.217 mph
Starting Position 11th  
Finishing Position 10th  
Championship Standings T-5th 329 points

Alexander Rossi, Driver, No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:

"This was pretty much a lost weekend for us. With it being a doubleheader, double points, we needed to capitalize here, and it just didn’t happen. We were outside the window and just didn’t have the pace we needed to compete. We have a lot to look into before Nashville. We’re all hungry for more than what showed this weekend."

Qualifying - Race 2 18th 176.664 mph
Starting Position 18th  
Finishing Position 15th  
Championship Standings 10th 265 points

Gavin Ward, Racing Director, Arrow McLaren, said:

"Felix showed some speed here today, and he was right in the fight there until the end for the win. He got a little unlucky with the restart, and it didn't quite go our way, but it was a great result for the whole No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet crew. Pato was right up there for the first half of the race. Then, all of a sudden, seemed to struggle with the rear. We'll have to look into why. It seemed like Alexander's car went the same way, too, loose with the balance. Around here, that's pretty tough to handle, so he did a good job bringing it home in one piece."