O’Ward took over the lead following the clash between polesitter Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin, and was working hard to hold off the charging Ericsson in the closing stages of the event. However, exiting the final corner at the end of Lap 96 of the 100-lap IndyCar season-opener, the Chevrolet engine in his Arrow McLaren suffered a flash plenum fire, which forces a driver to briefly back off the throttle.
The hiccup was just long enough to allow Ericsson’s Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda into the lead, and O’Ward barely held off the Swede’s teammate Scott Dixon in the final four laps.
“We did everything right today, I've got to give it to the team,” said O’Ward, who is now in his fourth year with the team. “Arrow Electronics and everybody, not just our #5 car, but Felix [Rosenqvist], Alex [Rossi], their groups, as well – I feel like we've all really collaborated fantastically and come with a package that has been a massive step up to where we were last year, so that's super promising. Super happy with that…
“Sadly, it’s just very annoying to give it away like that. Nothing else I could have done… It shut off with a plenum fire. You have to let off, get back to it… It comes up randomly. You can't really predict it. So yeah, we just have to have a look into it.
“We ended up with some great points. We started the year like we wanted to, right? But they're very valuable points at the end of the day. We just got 10 points thrown away. We'll have a look at all the data and stuff and then just make sure how for that not to happen and look forward to Dallas. I really like that place.
“I think as a team we've arrived with something that's just so much better than where we were last year. Obviously every single track is different. You can be great one weekend, you can get to the next one and be like, ‘Where are we?’ But this is a great first step to where we want to be, and we're in great position to challenge in Texas and so forth.
Despite Ericsson’s comments to the contrary, O’Ward is confident he could have held on to the lead through to the checkered flag, had he not suffered the plenum event.
“I think we would have been just fine. We were managing a one-second gap, and I don't think Marcus was going to get us. Right at the exit [of the final turn], we kind of lost drive and gained it back. We were lucky not to get passed by Scott. I don't know what else to tell you. It's very unfortunate.”
His new Arrow McLaren teammate Rossi came home in fourth, while Rosenqvist was eliminated by damage from a coming together with Dixon on the opening lap.
