Late mechanical issue costs Marcus Armstrong shot at first IndyCar win

Marcus Armstrong lost a near-certain victory at the XPEL Grand Prix at Road America after a late-race mechanical failure forced him to retire with just four laps remaining.

After starting third, the 25-year-old New Zealander out-lasted a complex blend of strategies courtesy of a chaotic 55-lap race that featured five cautions and constantly shook up the running order. He was out front for 14 laps, including the closing stages of the race where he held more than a 2.5s advantage over Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard with less than five laps remaining.

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However, disaster struck as Armstrong’s #66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda began to slow with four laps to go, allowing Lundgaard to overtake him for the lead. Moments later, Armstrong exited the final corner of the 14-turn, 4.014-mile natural terrain road course, smoke began to appear and brought out the final caution, forcing him to pull off track and retire, while setting up a one-lap shootout that saw Lundgaard fend off Team Penske’s David Malukas for the win.

Armstrong confirmed to FOX Sports after the race that he received no advanced warning on his dashboard or from his engineers before the issue.

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“No,” Armstrong said. “No, I mean, it was all smooth sailing. I came out at Turn 6 and the engine just started spluttering like it was out of fuel, but clearly it wasn’t. And then it just completely died. So I don’t know, we have to speak to Honda, see what the issue was, but it was… there was no indication that there was something wrong.”

Despite leaving with a 24th-place result, Armstrong praised the operational execution of his Meyer Shank Racing team, noting that they fielded the fastest car of the weekend.

“I’m massively proud of the guys, the guys and girls on the #66, because we had the quickest car out there today,” Armstrong said.

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“I think we had the quickest car really this weekend. Obviously, Alex was quick too, but yeah, I mean, my engineers did everything right. My pit crew as well, like every pit stop was spot on. And I thought that was, you know, that was ours to lose. We had, I had some time in the pocket already. So for Lundgaard, obviously he was coming, but yeah, just gutted really.”

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Christian Lundgaard wins IndyCar thriller at Road America

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