IndyCar | Race | Road America | Palou wins incident-filled, fuel save thriller - Motorsport

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Round 9 of the 2025 IndyCar season at Road America is in the books as the race has been run, full report and results below.

Rookie Louis Foster started on pole for the first time following a stunning lap in the Fast 6, with championship leader Alex Palou lining up alongside him.

Title contenders Palou, Kirkwood and O’Ward all started on blacks. They were joined by Rahal, Rosenqvist, Armstrong, Ferrucci, Shwartzman, DeFrancesco, Daly, Simpson, Rossi, Dixon and Abel.

Louis Foster held the lead off the start as Kirkwood and McLaughlin quickly cleared Palou. The Kiwi also passed the Andretti driver. He even looked around the outside at turn 1 on the Brit for the lead but the RLL driver got his elbows out.

After dropping to 5th, Rahal overtook Palou into turn 6. As the Spanaird ran wide, Power took advantage to drop the Spanaird to 7th.

A caution was thrown before the end of the opening lap. David Malukas got it all wrong on the brakes into turn 3 as he clipped the back of Christian Lundgaard and ended up in the gravel. He simply broke too late was and fortunate not to take the Dane out.

Armstrong, Dixon, Daly, Rossi, Simpson, Robb, Abel and Malukas pitted under caution. They were P20-P27 on the restart.

A poor run out of turn 14 left Louis Foster exposed on the restart and Scott McLaughlin used the slipstream to take the lead.

Meanwhile behind them, Christian Lundgaard overtook Kirkwood into turn 6 for P3. A few corners later it all kicked off. As Power looked to defend from Palou into Canada corner, he was out of control and sent it on the Andretti. Kirkwood did a magnificent job to avoid a collision. Palou loved it as he overtook both of them on exit for P4.

The second caution quickly followed the first as Robert Shwartzman lost it into Canada corner under braking and ended up in the gravel after finding the tyres. It was game over for him due to damage.

Pato O’Ward came in from 11th, changing to the reds and rejoined just outside the top 20 as others topped up on fuel.

Once again RLL struggled when the green flag was thrown as their top speed was not great. Rahal got overtaken by Newgarden and Rahal to drop to P9.

Unfortunately for Foster, his lack of straight line speed was brutally exposed as Lundgaard swept by into turn 1 at the start of lap 9.

A third caution within the first ten lap was required as Sting Ray Robb had a sizeable shunt. Under braking heading into turn 5 he lost the car as he looked to avoid Marcus Armstrong, finding the wall on the right hand side and ultimately the tyre barriers.

This was the caution that triggered a flurry of stops from those who had yet to box. Scott Dixon cycled to the front, with O’Ward, Rossi, Simpson, Abel, Malukas, Daly and VeeKay also staying out after coming in under the first and second cautions.

On the other strategy, Lundgaard jumped McLaughlin. That was for P9 at the time. Power, Newgarden and Kirkwood all jumped Palou and Foster as they completed the top 15.

Christian Lundgaard cleared VeeKay into turn 3. McLaughlin looked like he would also get the Dutch driver but he pulled his right hand wheels on the grass looking to create a gap to attack the Dane.

As Power got wide on the exit of the Carousel, he opened the door for Newgarden to take position. Kirkwood went big time on the Aussie into turn 12 and they both ran wide, handing an absolute gift to Palou and Rahal. Foster dropped back behind all of them and Colton Herta would also pass him.

Abel was swallowed up as Lundgaard, VeeKay McLaughlin, Newgarden, Kirkwood all cleared him quite fast.

It all kicked off on lap 18 as Josef Newgarden sent it on Scott McLaughlin into turn 5. Both ran very wide, and it gifted the Spaniard a spot over the two-time IndyCar champion. Palou then got the Kiwi into Canada corner.

Dixon led O’Ward, Rossi, Simpson, Malukas, Daly, Lundgaard, Palou, VeeKay and Newgarden on lap 20. Newgarden passed his teammate McLaughlin eventually on his softer tyres.

O’Ward triggered the second stops for the guys who topped up early, followed by Dixon, Malukas, Daly and Newgarden a lap later.

On the other strategy, Alex Palou overtook Christian Lundgaard for position.

Caution number 4 arrived on lap 22. A desperate lunge from Conor Daly on David Malukas into turn 5 saw him brake way too late and he ended up stuck in the gravel.

A mixture of decisions were made regarding stops. Palou, Rahal, Power, McLaughlin, Herta, VeeKay and more came in.

On the restart Lundgaard led Kirkwood, Rosenqvist, Foster, Armstrong, Ilott, Dixon, O’Ward, Rossi and Malukas. Palou was 13th.

They got back into ultra aggressive immediately as Kirkwood swept around the outside at turn 1 for the lead. However, he got wide and it allowed Lundgaard to come back through into turn 3, even using the grass.

VeeKay hit Rahal at turn 5, with both of them losing a lot of positions. Herta was an innocent victim of it as he was in the outside of the RLL driver.

Following good avoidance to not hit Scott Dixon, Alex Rossi lost out to Josef Newgarden into turn 8. They went side-by-side again on the next tour as they both ran off in T5. That allowed David Malukas to pass Rossi.

Lundgaard and Rosenqvist boxed at the end of lap 27, with Kirkwood and Armstrong coming in a lap later. The Swede used his hot tyres to sweep around the outside of the Andretti into T5.

Dixon led Newgarden, Malukas, Rossi, Palou, Abel, McLaughlin, Simpson, Ferrucci and Herta as the race hit lap 30.

However, as the lap came to an end, Josef Newgarden made a bad unforced error, getting too wide in turn 14 and went across the track as he lost the car, hitting the tyres. His left rear suspension and wing was broken.

Green flags were flown on lap 33 as Dixon led Rossi, Palou, McLaughlin, Simpson, Ferrucci, Herta, Rahal, VeeKay and Power. Ferrucci passed Simpson into turn 1 for 5th.

The speed of Rahal continued to be very good as he swept past Herta into turn 1 on the next tour.

Lundgaard and Rosenqvist started to come through as they both quickly cleared Power and Ericsson. Unfortunately for the Dane, it all went wrong as he tried to overtake Colton Herta. He dropped it on the exit of Canada corner as he got the nasty kerbs off track and spun. Herta had defended cleanly on the inside to hold position. Kirkwood had to take to the grass to avoid Lundgaard’s out of control McLaren.

Lap 37 saw Santino Ferrucci pass Scott McLaughlin for 4th as the AJ Foyt cars showed great pace once again.

From P2 Rossi boxed at the end of lap 37, with Scott Dixon coming in a lap later as they desperately tried to stretch their fuel as far as they could. A bunch of cars including Ferrucci, McLaughlin, Power, Herta and Rahal boxed at the end of lap 39 as they could not quite stretch the fuel another lap.

Championship leader Alex Palou, who led by over 9s from Rosenqvist before boxing, came in at the end of lap 40. The Swede and Kirkwood went a further two laps, meaning they had no fuel worries until the end.

Critically for Rosenqvist, he could overcut Santino Ferrucci and Scott McLaughlin to move him into 4th with 11 laps to go.

Dixon led Palou, Rossi, Rosenqvist, Ferrucci, Kirkwood, Armstrong, Simpson, McLaughlin and Malukas on lap 45/55.

Armstrong and Malukas benefitted from running long and the fact they were able to go flat out.

It was a horrible final stint for Scott McLaughlin as fuel saving saw him fall behind Malukas, VeeKay and Siegel.

Alex Rossi had to pit from P3 with five laps to go for fuel, rejoining in 13th. Scott Dixon had to accept he could not make it and came in from the lead at the end of lap 53.

It was a perfect day for Alex Palou yet again as he took a sixth win from nine races in 2025 as he got to the end on fuel. Felix Rosenqvist came home P2, just over 2s behind the Spaniard. Santino Ferrucci completed the podium as he barely had enough fuel to make the line as he stopped at turn 1.

Kirkwood, Armstrong, Simpson, Malukas, Siegel, Dixon and VeeKay rounded out the top 10. Will Power, Colton Herta and Pato O’Ward were P14, P16 and P17 respectively.