Round 9 of the 2026 IndyCar season has been completed at Gateway, view the full report of the race here.
Alex Palou bagged a fourth consecutive pole, beating his main title rivals David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood to the top spot. The top 10 was stacked with oval winners and top quality talents.
Once more Christian Rasmussen had a disappointing qualifying in P19. However, after previous brilliant comebacks on ovals, the 2025 Milwaukee Mile race winner was one to keep an eye on. Will Power in P21 also faced a big task.
Sadly for Dennis Hauger, he never started due to an issue with his car.
Green flag at Gateway for its 2026 IndyCar race
Palou held the lead from Malukas, Kirkwood and Rosenqvist. Josef Newgarden (+3) and Scott McLaughlin (-3) swapped their starting spots. An incredible first lap from Caio Collet saw him vault up to 15th, using the high line.
From 12th on the grid, Marcus Ericsson passed Dixon, O’Ward, McLaughlin and Armstrong in quick succession to move up to P6.
Palou led Malukas, Kirkwood, Rosenqvist, Newgarden, Ericsson, Armstrong, McLaughlin, O’Ward and Dixon at the end of lap 10.
Meanwhile Rasmussen and Power were on the move, climbing to P15 and P16 as both made quick work of Ferrucci.
Kyffin Simpson was handed a drive-through penalty for jumping out of line before the start.
Newgarden and Ericsson moved past Rosenqvist to demote the current Indy 500 champion to P6. The MSR driver started to fall away quite quickly from the top 5 from there. The #2 and #28 then also caught and passed Kirkwood to take P3 and P4.
As the top 2 caught backmarkers, Newgarden and Ericsson both overtook Malukas. The Swede then passed the #2, with the Team Penske man getting a bit high in the last corner and Malukas got through.
Ericsson to the front
On lap 47, Marcus Ericsson overtook race leader Alex Palou as the Spaniard was checked up trying to clear Robb.
As the first stops took place, Marcus Ericsson had a great stop and kept P1. Newgarden jumped Palou, with Dixon, Malukas and Kirkwood completing the top 6.
First caution
On lap 55, Alex Palou went down the inside of Nolan Siegel into turn 1 but did not seem to realise the McLaren driver was still on his outside, and the #6 ended up in the wall after contact. No action was taken.
Restart
The race resumed on lap 64 and it got very hairy. Newgarden and Ericsson battled for P1 and had tyre contact but continued.
Caio Collet and Christian Rasmussen were flying, vaulting up to 7th and 8th. They passed McLaughlin and O’Ward.
Ericsson led Newgarden, Palou, Malukas, Kirkwood, Dixon, Collet, Rasmussen, VeeKay and McLaughlin was the top 10 on lap 70.
Struggling for speed, the six-time champion saw Collet, VeeKay and Rasmussen pass him, dropping to P9.
Second caution is thrown
After almost all the big guns boxed for tyres and fuel, Graham Rahal crashed on old rubber on lap 114. The car got loose on entry and there was no chance to save it.
With only Ericsson and Collet on the lead lap of those who had boxed before the caution, Scott Dixon rejoined in P3, ahead of Newgarden and Power. Rasmussen, Palou, Kirkwood, VeeKay and Malukas completed the top 10.
Under the caution, Kyffin Simpson grinded to a halt as he ran out of fuel in the #8. His night was done.
Red flag
Due to rain falling, a red flag appeared on lap 137.
A long delay but the race resumes at Gateway
Before the action resumed, Dixon, Palou, O’Ward, Malukas, McLaughlin and Rosenqvist boxed, with a mix of topping up on fuel and changing tyres.
After a few laps trying, Newgarden overtook Collet for P2 to try and go chase Ericsson. Power, Kirkwood, Rasmussen, VeeKay, Dixon, Palou and Lundgaard was the rest of the top 10 on lap 150.
The #21 continued his charge through the field, passing Kirkwood and Power to move into 4th.
Into turn 4, Christian Rasmussen got high but somehow missed the wall. VeeKay was then right behind him as he cleared the #27 and #26.
Through their pit cycle, Newgarden managed to overcut Ericsson and get ahead. However, Dixon and Palou could run longer on fuel having taken fuel before the race resumed earlier.
On lap 197, the caution appeared again as more rain hit. Three tours later, the red flag was thrown once more because of the weather.
Huge drama as the race turns on its head
Scott Dixon had to take emergency service and would drop to the back of the lead lap runners. Meanwhile, Alex Palou looked to have made it without doing that but ran out of fuel on entry, losing two laps as he did not get going from his box for ages.
Restart once more
Newgarden, Rasmussen, Ericsson, VeeKay, Collet, Kirkwood, Power, Malukas, McLaughlin and Lundgaard was the top 10 on the restart. Dixon was 15th. Palou was two laps down in 19th.
On lap 215, Christian Rasmussen dived down the inside of Newgarden into turn 1 to take the lead. Four laps later, the #2 reclaimed it, before the Dane hit back into turn 1.
Eventually with 40 laps to go, Newgarden made the pass and held it. Five tours later, Ericsson cleared the Dane for 2nd.
Caution
Running in 8th, Caio Collet’s engine packed in with smoke appearing from it.
Green flag
McLaughlin boxed for new tyres. 9th on the restart, he quickly cleared Malukas and Ferrucci to move into P6. The Kiwi then got Kirkwood for 5th. Power was on an absolute rampage, moving up from P14 to P8 in the space of six laps after the restart.
Josef Newgarden managed the final laps beautifully to take his sixth win at Gateway and his second of 2026. Marcus Ericsson and Christian Rasmussen produced outstanding drives as well for P2 and P3. Rinus VeeKay bagged a superb 4th for JHR.
