Alexander Rossi won for the first time in 37 months when his Honda crossed the line first to win the Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on Saturday in Indianapolis.
Rossi snapped a 49-race winless streak by finishing 3.5441 seconds of ahead of rookie Christian Lundgaard’s Honda. The victory is the eighth of Rossi’s career.
“It’s a relief, man,” Rossi said. “It’s been so many things for so long. Thankfully something came our way.”
Rossi led for 44 of the 85 laps. His most recent victory was when he won at Road America in Wisconsin on June 23, 2019.
Will Power finished third, Scott McLaughlin placed fourth and Josef Newgarden was fifth.
Newgarden sustained a concussion after collapsing after a race at Iowa Speedway last Sunday but was cleared to compete Saturday by IndyCar’s medical staff.
Rossi’s No. 27 took the lead for good on Lap 42 after teammate and then-leader Colton Herta had a mechanical issue with his car. Herta finished 24th in the 25-car field.
“I do feel for Colton; I do,” said Rossi, whose average speed was 114.483. “I think he was definitely strong. We had pretty much the same race car. It would have been interesting. I don’t want to take away anything from what he did from ninth (position). To get to that position was incredible. But it was the 27’s turn. That’s awesome.”
Rinus VeeKay finished sixth and Graham Rahal was seventh. Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou rounded out the top 10.
–Field Level Media