David Malukas was denied a maiden IndyCar victory once more after engine gremlins struck at the Milwaukee Mile. In a race that was interrupted by rain, Malukas had looked dominant, but a technical issue left him to settle for his sixth career runner-up finish.
Race 1 on Sunday (AEST) was halted after 90 laps due to heavy rain. After attempts to dry the track failed, officials postponed the race to Monday. Race 2 was then brought forward, and once completed, Race 1 resumed just two hours later.
In both races, Pato O'Ward emerged victorious, beating Scott McLaughlin in Race 2 and David Malukas in Race 1.
Malukas, who started 12th, chose an off-strategy approach, running deep into the stint to gain a tyre advantage later on. The plan worked perfectly as he controlled the race until a crash involving Caio Collet of AJ Foyt Racing with 37 laps to go brought out a caution.
On the restart with 24 laps remaining, Malukas' car stumbled with an apparent engine issue. That was enough for O'Ward to pounce, taking the lead and holding it to the end of the 250-lap contest.
“Man, I've dreamt of weekends like this before,” said O'Ward. “Having the double-headers just a couple of times in my career and wishing... I want to win both of them and we got to win both in a day. That's definitely a dream come true for myself and I'm sure for the team. I'm just so happy that we were able to get back on our oval form because I know we've been slacking all year.”
O'Ward also praised Malukas. “David was so quick. He was so good in traffic. I was just going to have to wait for something like that to happen in order to have a chance on him, because otherwise it was just going to be pedalling until the end. He had that [issue] in Race 1. I don't know if there was something that they were having with gearing. I sure was having issues so I was starting in a different gear other than the preferred.”
Malukas, 24, expressed his frustration. “I'm just so frustrated. We had the car, we did everything right, and I don't know. We're just cursed. I literally believe I have some sort of curse. Everything was in our favour there. Both races we were having issues with the engine on restarts, coming out of the pits, needing to lift and having these events where we just lose power. That one's really let us down.”
Behind them, Rinus VeeKay of Juncos Hollinger Racing completed the podium after a late pass on Scott McLaughlin. Christian Rasmussen, Christian Lundgaard, and Josef Newgarden made it an all-Chevrolet top seven, while Marcus Ericsson, Marcus Armstrong, and Alex Palou rounded out the top ten.
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