Scott McLaughlin Wins First Hybrid IndyCar Oval Race At Iowa
He started on the front row and ended in front.
Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin put in a dominant performance to win the first of the Hy-Vee 250s at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night to notch his first victory on an oval.
The twin race weekend uses an unusual two-lap qualifying format, where the first lap counts for Saturday’s race and the second for Sunday’s race.
McLaughlin started behind pole-sitter Colton Herta on Saturday, but his 188.248 mph second lap broke a decade-old record and secured Sunday’s pole.
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The Iowa race was almost certain to be blazing, thanks to the combination of fresh pavement in the turns and IndyCar’s new hybrid powertrain that debuted at Mid-Ohio last week. The system charges supercapacitors under braking, which the driver can then use for short 60 hp boosts while accelerating.
As at Mid-Ohio, the race got off to a shaky start when David Malukas lost control on the first lap and brought out the yellow flag. He collected the cars of Augustín Canapino, ending both of their days, and Christian Lundgaard’s car was also damaged in the incident.
The race restarted on lap 20 and didn’t see another yellow until Graham Rahal slowed with car trouble on lap 81.
Season leader Alex Palou hit the wall on his own on lap 177 and Lundgaard, who returned to the race, brought out another yellow when his car finally gave up, leading to what looked like the final restart with 30 laps to go.
Colton Herta, who had pitted on lap 175 and and lost position due to the yellow, then got loose without contact, but caused another caution period.
The restart came with 21 laps to go, but Will Power ran into the back of Christian Fittipaldi on the restart and turned his car, which was then hit by Ed Carpenter to bring out another yellow flag.
McLaughin was in the lead for the restart with 12 laps to go ahead of Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden, who won both Iowa races last year, and the New Zealander drove away without much of a challenge in the closing laps, ultimately leading 164 of the 250 laps run.
The former Australian Supercars driver said after the race, “I never was going to call myself an IndyCar driver until I won on an oval, so I’m going to call myself an IndyCar driver now.”
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