
Texas INDY 375 Race Report
"The team gave me an absolute rocket ship"

In the Lone Star State, Arrow McLaren leaves the Texas Motor Speedway with its second-consecutive podium finish.
Pato O'Ward climbed through the field quickly, starting fifth, before ultimately leading 91 laps and finishing second under yellow.
Following a caution before the first pit stops of the race, Alexander was hit exiting his pit stall, leading to a 23rd-place finish, seven laps down.
Felix Rosenqvist took pole during Saturday's qualifying session, leaving Alexander Rossi and Pato O'Ward starting the race in third and fifth, respectively. Under 75 laps remaining, Felix had an incident exiting Turn 4, ending his day and finishing 26th.
Read what all the Arrow McLaren drivers and Racing Director Gavin Ward said postrace.
Race Date | Sunday, April 2 |
Round | 2 of 17 |
Total Laps | 250 laps |
Total Race Distance | 375 miles / 603.5 km |
Length | 1.5 miles / 2.41 km |
Number of Turns | 4 |
Pato O'Ward, Driver, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:
"It's been a hell of a start to the year. The team gave me an absolute rocket ship. Everybody that was watching the race midway through saw that. It was an absolute joy to drive this No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet today. We've had two second-place finishes, so we're still waiting for that win this year, but that's a great start to the championship year and that's what we need. We're going to keep chipping at it to get that first win and then try to rack some more up."
Starting Position | 5th | Â |
Finishing Position | 2nd | Â |
Championship Position | 1st | 82 points |
Alexander Rossi, Driver, No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:
"We had a really strong car. That's obvious with qualifying and Pato's result. It got taken away from us in the first stop to no fault of our own. It was an inconsistent ruling from INDYCAR and very disappointing from Kyle. It was a wasted day for the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, but the car was good and that's all that matters."
Starting Position | 3rd | Â |
Finishing Position | 23rd | Â |
Championship Position | 9th | 40 points |
Felix Rosenqvist, Driver, No. 6 NTT DATA Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, said:
"Tough call today, ending up in the wall. I got too wide in the marbles in Turns 3 and 4 and just spun around and crashed. It was a tough race for me. I thought we were competitive, but I was not super comfy with the balance of the car. But it was on me, that one. It sucks, but we'll just have to bounce back stronger. It was a shame for Pato as well. He looked like the strongest guy out there. We look forward to Long Beach."
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Starting Position | 1st | Â |
Finishing Position | 26th | Â |
Championship Position | 25th | 18 points |
Gavin Ward, Racing Director, Arrow McLaren, said:
"Heartbreak for P2 again. If we keep being this mad about finishing second, we'll be just fine. Pato had a great race, and if it stayed green, I think he was going to get it done. At the end of the day, Josef Newgarden and Penske put themselves in a position to win there, and they deserve it. Hats off to them, and hats off to Chevy for bringing the power. At one point there were only two cars in the lead lap, both Chevys. We'll regroup from there, but coming out of the race leading in championship points, you can't complain too much.
"For the rest of the team, it was a couple more difficult days. We'll be tackling Rossi's pitlane incident first. We're a little confused about getting docked with the penalty there. We've seen these instances happen before, but coming in from the fast lane like Kirkwood did, you kind of expect to be given a little room to you. We'll have that conversation to try to understand the rules of engagement going forward, and we'll have a look at our own processes to see if we could have done any better, but at the end of the day, we got the car running again to get a few more points. If we keep bringing good pace, we'll get there.
"Felix had a top-eight, top-five car, and he was managing his race. He wasn't super comfy with the rear of the car, but at the end of the day, he just got a little too high trying to get around Carpenter. That's racing – slim margins. I've got no doubt that if we keep giving him what he needs, he going to crush it and I look forward to doing that."