Kyle Kirkwood
He charged ahead, and with the correct strategic decisions from his Andretti Global team, they secured victory at the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix through a tactics-laden contest.
This marks Kirkwood’s fourth career series victory and his second for this year in 2025, coming after he won at the Long Beach race in April; notably, all these wins have been achieved on street tracks.
Kirkwood stated, “This AWS Honda was unstoppable throughout the entire weekend. There certainly were some hurdles we faced. Passing our way forward wasn’t easy at all; it was far from being a leisurely stroll. Kudos go to those Andretti guys. Phenomenal pit stops and brilliant strategies.”
The vehicle performed flawlessly. We undoubtedly had the quickest speed, and during restarts, the car really came into its own.
Kirkwood’s Andretti team-mate
Colton Herta
headed the pack to start the race, with Kirkwood and Arrow McLaren’s
Christian Lundgaard
glanced at both sides of Herta during the initial turns, yet the driver from California maintained his position while Kirkwood fell back to fourth place.
The initial disadvantage turned out to be temporary. Kirkwood rapidly maneuvered past the Indianapolis 500 champion.
Alex Palou
Lundgaard moved up to second place. Herta maintained the lead during the initial pit stops when the frontrunners switched to alternative tires on Lap 12. However, upon exiting the pits, he found himself still in front.
Nolan Siegel
The Arrow McLaren prospect, having begun with primary tires, employed a daring maneuver to pass him.
Kirkwood positioned himself directly behind Siegel and managed to overtake him to claim the leading spot. Once at the front, the driver from Florida established himself as the one to catch, with Herta trailing behind.
Will Power
and others at bay. But unlike the procedural races of the season’s early stretch, Detroit was ready to provide some drama.
Christian Lundgaard, Arrow McLaren
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Two initial slowdowns due to caution hindered the run – with the first being particularly impactful.
Felix Rosenqvist
rotate and then lose a wheel
Devlin DeFrancesco
‘ s device five laps behind.
Scott McLaughlin
managed to stop for tires under caution during the initial phase and took the lead from Kirkwood momentarily, but caused an incident with Siegel upon the subsequent restart and consequently received a drive-through penalty.
Yet another untimely issue disrupted the finale as yet another wheel came off, shaking up the competition once more during the last leg of the race.
Callum Ilott
’s #90 Chevrolet.
Santino Ferrucci
,
Kyffin Simpson
and
Marcus Armstrong
had already been cleared and managed to remain outside, securing the first three positions as Kirkwood and Power attempted to catch up.
However, this edge was brief. Kirkwood systematically made his way forward, claiming third place with 24 laps left, moving up to second the next lap, and ultimately seizing the lead from Ferrucci with 22 laps still to go.
This period saw the most significant threat to Kirkwood’s race emerge. While competing fiercely for second place with Simpson, they collided twice, which damaged Kirkwood’s front wing and potentially reduced his speed. However, Kirkwood managed to catch a lucky break nonetheless.
“The wing was damaged, but it didn’t cause too many problems. We experienced some loss in performance, yet the car handled quite well,” he stated.
After a hard hit involving Felix Rosenqvist, a final restart presented the ultimate test for Kirkwood.
Louis Foster
led the race until it was temporarily halted with 13 laps remaining due to a red flag. However, the Andretti driver remained unchallenged throughout, crossing the finish line ahead by 3.5931 seconds.
Ferrucci was unable to maintain the lead position, but he made good use of a lucky opportunity to claim second place. Although Power surpassed Ferrucci momentarily, the A.J. Foyt Racing driver fought back and managed to get ahead of him once again. He then successfully defended against Herta’s challenge towards the end, securing what turned out to be the finest performance of his IndyCar racing career.
Santino Ferruccia at A. J. Foyt Enterprises
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
Herta secured the third spot on the podium, followed by Power and Simpson completing the top five. Armstrong, Pato O’Ward, and Lundgaard were next in line.
Josef Newgarden
and
Alexander Rossi
completed the top-10.
Following an impressive start to the season, Palou encountered some trouble in Detroit. The champion of the Indy 500 was rear-ended by the driver who qualified second.
David Malukas
On Lap 73, he collided with the tire wall at the first turn, which knocked him out of the race, placing him 25th overall. As a consequence, Malukas received a drive-through penalty and dropped to 14th position.
In total, there were seven DNFs during the challenging afternoon, with only 20 vehicles still operational at the end.
The worst affected was Rosenqvist, who crashed heavily into the Turn 3 tire barrier after being rear-ended by Foster due to a suspension failure.
Meyer Shank Racing
The star exited his vehicle unaided, yet he reported discomfort in his legs and was subsequently carried away on a stretcher.
Now that Detroit is finished, the IndyCar series will enjoy a well-deserved break for one week before resuming competition at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 15.
