Alexander Rossi hadn’t led a lap or finished in the top 10 in his first three IndyCar Series races at Road America, but he sure made up for that Sunday.
The 27-year-old Californian grabbed the lead from pole-sitter Colton Herta with a bold move on the first lap and steadily pulled away for a convincing victory in the REV Group Grand Prix, giving up the top spot only during his final pit stop.
"To be able to go do that today was sensational," said Rossi, who started second. "After thinking about it, that's probably the best race car I've ever had."
The race ran under the green flag from start to finish for the second consecutive year.
The victory was Rossi’s second victory of the season, following a similarly dominating performance in April on the streets of Long Beach, California. In the five races since, the Honda driver had three runner-ups.
"You don't want to complain too much about getting second places, because they're good results, but we knew we had the pace," Rossi said. "The motivation for this week was higher than ever and we were able to execute."
Rossi led a record 54 of 55 laps, earning his seventh win since joining the series. The victory was the first on the rolling 4.014-mile Road America layout for Andretti Autosport and its 64th in IndyCar.
Will Power, the winner in 2016, finished second, 28.4391 seconds back, his best result of the season.
Defending winner Josef Newgarden held off Graham Rahal for third, and Scott Dixon rallied for fifth.
Herta, who on Saturday became IndyCar’s youngest pole-sitter, lost the lead to Rossi in Turn 1 when Rossi used Herta’s draft and made a bold outside move in the challenging right-hander. Herta then struggled as his tires degraded through the first stint, had a fueling glitch during his first pit stop and ran off course throughout the race. Herta finished eighth.
