Iowa winner O’Ward: “This is the momentum we need”

In Saturday’s Iowa race, one slightly early pitstop in a stint, a flawless stop by the #5 AMSP crew and a strong in- and out-lap by the driver vaulted O’Ward ahead of polesitter Will Power into second behind Josef Newgarden.

The same thing occurred today, only this time a component failure sent Newgarden spinning into the wall on the 0.894-mile oval, leaving O’Ward to lead the final 66 laps of the race and claim the fourth victory of his career, beating Power by 4.25sec.

The Mexican ace told NBC: "The #5 Arrow McLaren SP guys in the pits were awesome. Obviously I did the job in the car to keep her safe.

“I knew we had the pace but it's tough going through the traffic, it's different every lap. Super-stoked and super-happy, it was about being there when it counted.

“It was very, very enjoyable. The guys did a great job calling when to pit."

The result cemented him in fifth on the championship table just 36 points behind Marcus Ericsson, whose Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda finished sixth today. Second and first on consecutive days in Iowa is a strong bounceback for the #5 team that lost potential podiums in Road America and Mid-Ohio to engine failure and fuel-feed issues respectively.

"Hopefully we can win a couple more, that would be fantastic,” said O’Ward. “We've had a good year but we've dumped two wins in the past couple of months. It's been a frustrating yet rewarding few weeks.

“This is the perfect momentum we need going into August and September."

Teammate Felix Rosenqvist, who crashed out in Saturday’s race with a snappy, oversteering car, also had a more successful Sunday event, finishing a fighting seventh, behind compatriot Ericsson. The Swede, who still doesn’t know in which category he will be racing in 2023 – although he will remain a McLaren driver –bounced back up into ninth in points.