LONG BEACH — Pato O’Ward was one of three IndyCar drivers with a chance to win the series title in 2021 entering the final race of the season at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, which was pushed back from April to September that year because of the COV1D-19 pandemic.
Alex Palou had the best chance because all he had to do was finish 12th or better to secure the title. Palou finished fourth in the race and first in the series, with O’Ward taking third in the championship behind Josef Newgarden, who took second. O’Ward had gear-box issues in the race, finishing 27th after completing just 43 of 85 laps.
But O’Ward, of Team Arrow McLaren, is young and he’s fast and has all the makings of a driver who could be crowned champion one day in the near future.
O’Ward, 23, of Monterrey, Mexico, is off to a fine start this year ahead of Sunday’s Grand Prix of Long Beach. He finished second at St. Petersburg and second at Texas Motor Speedway. With 82 points, he currently sits atop the series standings.
“It’s been the best start to a championship we’ve had the last four years now, so I can’t complain,” O’Ward said. “There’s a lot of positives to take out of what we’ve kind of brought. Speaking of first St. Pete, which arguably was our worst track last year, we had a very strong showing there.
“I’m looking forward to trying to replicate that here in Long Beach. It’s a track where we’ve sort of been there in the mix. But we need to take one more step to kind of really be the leader, so hopefully we’ve rolled off even stronger here than we have in the past, get something to work with for qualifying and then work on the race car.”
Friday was the first IndyCar practice and O’Ward had the fastest lap time of 1:06.6999. Saturday is qualifying with the race Sunday on the streets of Long Beach.
O’Ward is no different than any driver in this series or any other – winning is everything.
“It’s a long championship, right,…
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