Ericsson wins rough IndyCar season-opening race

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Jack Harvey was taken to a hospital for observation and Helio Castroneves needed an ice pack and X-rays. A pair of cars went airborne, the leaders crashed into each other and the entire Andretti Autosport fleet was eliminated.

Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, meanwhile, won the IndyCar season-opening race.

Ericsson outlasted the chaos on the downtown streets of St. Petersburg for a surprise victory for Chip Ganassi Racing on a swampy Sunday in Florida. It was the fourth career IndyCar victory for the Swedish former Formula One driver.

But it was supposed to be an Andretti car in victory lane, at least based on the speed the team showed all weekend. Romain Grosjean and Colton Herta started on the front row, but things began to unravel right at the start.

A seven-car accident on the first lap knocked five cars out of the race, including Andretti driver Devlin DeFrancesco, who was sent airborne when rookie Ben Pedersen slammed directly into his stopped car. Castroneves, a four-time Indianapolis 500 winner, limped away from the accident while his Meyer Shank Racing teammate Simon Pagenaud clutched his hand.

Castroneves left IndyCar’s new mobile medical care center with an ice pack on his right hand, and a clean X-ray taken on his right knee. Pagenaud said a finger was bruised, but he was fine.

Harvey wasn’t so lucky and was transported to a hospital — IndyCar said it was for an evaluation out of “an abundance of caution” — after Kyle Kirkwood became the second Andretti driver to go airborne and sailed directly over Harvey’s head. Rinus VeeKay had slid into a tire barrier, Harvey ran into the back of VeeKay and Kirkwood launched over both cars.

Michael Andretti slammed his hand on the pit stand in disgust.

But there was more to come.

Herta was sent into a tire barrier by contact from reigning IndyCar champion Will Power, who received an avoidable contact penalty, to leave Grosjean as the last remaining chance for Andretti.

But as Grosjean and defending race winner Scott McLaughlin raced side by side for position, the two cars touched in what appeared to be a game of chicken headed into a corner. Neither driver lifted and both cars slammed into a tire barrier.

Grosjean was furious, first throwing his arms up in disgust, and then pounding his first on the stack of tires as he screamed. McLaughlin received an avoidable contact penalty. Andretti muttered an expletive and buried his head in his hands.

Ericsson, meanwhile, passed Pato O’Ward for the win with three laps remaining when O’Ward suffered a brief loss of power. O’Ward pounded his fist in disgust as Ericsson sailed past for the win for Honda.

O’Ward was second in a Chevrolet for McLaren and followed by six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon of Ganassi and Alexander Rossi in his debut race with new team McLaren.

Callum Ilott finished a career-best fifth for Juncos Hollinger Racing and was followed by Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and then Power of Team Penske. Alex Palou of Ganassi was eighth while RLL driver Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas rounded out the top 10.

Marcus Armstrong, a rookie who moved from F2 in Europe to race for Ganassi in IndyCar this season, finished 11th in his series debut to make Chip Ganassi, and not Andretti, the team of the day.

UP NEXT: IndyCar next races April 2 at Texas Motor Speedway, where Josef Newgarden is the defending race winner.

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