For the second IndyCar race in a row, Pato O’Ward found himself wondering what could have been.
At the season-opener on the streets of St Petersburg, an issue caused his engine to cough and briefly conk out.
In that instance, it was too little too late as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Ericsson blew by to snatch the lead and the win with just a handful of laps remaining.
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During the latest round at Texas Motor Speedway on Monday, a chance to challenge for the win was taken out of O’Ward’s hands when Romain Grosjean spun on the penultimate lap.
O’Ward had been running side-by-side with eventual race winner Josef Newgarden for the best past of five laps before the incident brought out the yellow flag.
Having just slotted in behind Newgarden and setting himself up for a slipstream pass, the race was neutralised under the control of the safety car.
With no overtaking possible, Newgarden took the chequered flag first for Team Penske.
“Come on man!” O’Ward wailed over the radio as the yellow flag was drawn.
“Yeah, kick in the balls, my friend,” his crew chief replied.
“You had the car to win there. Hell of a race. Another helluva point day. Great job all day, you couldn’t have done anything different there.”
O’Ward congratulated the team before letting out another groan.
It was an agonising end to the 250-lap affair, which at one point saw the young Mexican driver lap every car up to second place.
It was his teammate Felix Rosenqvist who ended the run after he crashed out, allowing cars that were down one lap to return to the lead lap.
Despite leading the points, O’Ward said he was disappointed to be the bridesmaid again.
“I had the timing right,” said O’Ward.
“The lap before we crossed the line, my nose was slightly in front of his.
“There was no way it was going to finish in single file. Yeah, the racing gods had other plans.
“I knew I could have won,” he added.
“It’s just there was really no other way to do it besides timing it. You had to do it the last lap because if not, they were probably going to do it to you.
“Just the timing of the last yellow is what really killed us to be honest.
“All the other ones, you can’t judge when they fall or didn’t fall. If they did, it would probably be a very different story.”
O’Ward sits atop the standings on 82 points from Ericsson while quiet achiever Scott Dixon sits third.
The Mexican hailed his team’s efforts, labelling his car ‘a rocket’ and commended Alex Palou and Newgarden for fair and hard-fought racing.
“I don’t think there’s another way to put it. I was really comfortable in the car,” said O’Ward.
“It was fun, I have to say. Like, it’s got to be the best Texas race in the last four, five years. It was freaking awesome.
“Really, really nice that I got to drive and race with guys that I have so much respect for.
“You can push it to the limit, but you always give each other the room that you need. I think that’s what we gave the fans. That’s what they deserve.”
The IndyCar Series returns with the Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 17.
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