Ericsson's late move on O'Ward to secure victory arrived after polesitter Romain Grosjean and Scott McLaughlin collided while dueling for the lead the sent the duo into a tyre wall.
This allowed Arrow McLaren's O’Ward to hit the front, but a small engine issue for the leader allowed Ericsson to slip past and sprint away in the closing lap.
A disconsolate O’Ward held off Scott Dixon to the chequered flag, while Alexander Rossi came home fourth in his first race for Arrow McLaren, and Callum Ilott took a brilliant fifth for Juncos Hollinger Racing.
The race was red-flagged on the opening lap, after a collision triggered by Santino Ferrucci of AJ Foyt Racing, who nerfed Helio Castroneves into a spin. The second Meyer Shank car of Simon Pagenaud and Dale Coyne Racing’s rookie Sting Ray Robb was also involved.
Devlin De Francesco skidded his Andretti Autosport car to a halt in a vain attempt to avoid the carnage but was hammered by rookie Benjamin Pedersen, whose Foyt machine sent De Francesco into the air and spun the stricken car through 180 degrees before it landed again.
Nearer the front, Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist had bounced off Scott Dixon’s car left-rear wheel as Dixon thought his Ganassi machine was clear of the Swede. The impact sent Rosenqvist into the outside wall at Turn 3 and was left limping to the pits with left-rear damage.
Polesitter Grosjean and Colton Herta had kept their Andretti Autosport entries ahead of O’Ward and Ericsson, but Palou had moved up to demote Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti) and McLaughlin – the highest starter on the Firestone primary tyre.
For the restart, McLaughlin would line-up ahead of fellow primary runners Dixon and Penske team-mate Will Power.
Ahead of the restart, Josef Newgarden, Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly pitted, Newgarden took on a new set of primary tyres after picking up a right-rear puncture.
The restart was clean until the run from Turn 3 to Turn 4, when David Malukas’s Coyne w/HMD car made contact with rookie Marcus Armstrong’s Ganassi machine, puncturing its right-rear tyre, and sending the New Zealander limping to the pits. Lundgaard made an error that saw him lose 10th to Malukas but the DCR driver soon pitted as Race Control ordered him to serve a drive-through penalty.
Up front, Grosjean held a one-second lead over Herta, but by lap 12 they had over four-second margin over O’Ward. Behind O’Ward, the drivers ran in line, a little under one second apart, clearly all planning to make only two pitstops. McLaughlin, Dixon, Power and Arrow McLaren’s newest recruit Alexander Rossi filled seventh through to tenth.
By lap 23, Grosjean had dropped Herta by 5.5s, and Herta was dropping into the clutches of O’Ward and Ericsson. Into Turn 10 on lap 25, the Arrow McLaren driver claimed second. Simultaneously, another Andretti driver, Kirkwood, lost sixth and seventh place to McLaughlin and Dixon, and on lap 26, Power, Rossi and Jack Harvey (Rahal Letterman Lanigan) also demoted the 2021 Indy Lights champion.
Herta then pitted on lap 27, and Kirkwood on lap 28. Then it was Palou’s turn to feel his alternates go off, and he lost places to McLaughlin and Dixon on consecutive laps, before pitting on Lap 30, along with team-mate Ericsson. The latter’s stop was excellent, and jumped the Indy 500 winner out ahead of Herta.
O’Ward closed the gap to Grosjean to five seconds before stopping on Lap 31, while Grosjean went a lap longer but with tired rubber he lost time.
That left McLaughlin, Dixon and Power in the top three positions for one lap on their primary rubber, but the two Penske drivers pitted on lap 35. McLaughlin emerged from the pits ahead of Grosjean and the pair went side by side down to Turn 4. But McLaughlin was on the inside and even on cold tyres could brake just deep enough to protect his position from the polesitter.
That gave him the net lead – although it nearly didn’t! The yellows flew just as Dixon pitted, due to Daly spinning and stalling after being tagged by Kirkwood, but on checking the blend line, Race Control ordered Dixon to drop to fifth.
At the restart McLaughlin led Grosjean, O’Ward, Ericsson, Dixon, Power, Herta, Rossi, Palou and Graham Rahal, with the three Antipodeans and Rossi now on alternate tyres.
That softer rubber was nursed through the caution that followed, when VeeKay slid into the tyres at Turn 4 while being passed by Newgarden. It left Harvey with nowhere to go, and then Kirkwood struck the RLL car in the rear and launched over it.
For the second time in 45 laps, an Andretti car was sent into the air. Kirkwood was, remarkably, able to hobble back to the pits, but Harvey took a while to emerge from the cockpit of his car, and VeeKay was also out on the spot.
Dixon took advantage of his softer rubber to dive down the inside of Ericsson on the lap 50 restart. But when Power also tried to make a move on the Swede, he found the door closed and bumped wide. That allowed Herta to draw alongside the #12 Penske on the outside, but the pair made contact and Herta went into the tyres at Turn 8. Power was adjudged to be at fault and would have to serve a drive-through penalty.
Thankfully the next restart was clean and stayed clean, and Grosjean did a superb job on primary tyree to hang on to McLaughlin on alternates over the next laps. The pair dropped O’Ward. The McLaren driver was also having to keep his eye on his mirrors for Dixon and Ericsson who were both edging away from Rossi, Palou, Newgarden and Callum Ilott of Juncos Hollinger Racing.
Palou made his final stop on lap 65, and Dixon did the same next time by, with Rossi, O’Ward and Newgarden all ducking into the pits shortly after.
In the lead battle, it was Andretti Autosport who blinked first, bringing Grosjean in for fresh Firestone primary tyres, while McLaughlin stayed out a lap longer and got held up by a backmarker.
As he emerged from the pits next time by, the pair were battling for the lead with McLaughlin on the inside, Grosjean on the outside. This time Grosjean was a tad further ahead on the hot tyres and while he left room for McLaughlin, the defending St. Pete winner squirrelled under braking before contact sent the Andretti car into the tyre wall. The impact also straightened the Penske and sent it into the tyre wall too. Grosjean was out on the spot, while McLaughlin was bumpstarted and went to the pits.
This left O’Ward up front ahead of Dixon, Palou, Newgarden, Rossi, Ilott, Rahal, Lundgaard, highest rookie Agustin Canapino of Juncos Hollinger, Power, and Malukas.
O’Ward staved off Ericsson on the restart, and the Swede had his mirrors full of Dixon. Rossi, Ilott, Palou and Rahal pounced on Newgarden after he ran wide at the final turn, and the following lap Power also demoted his team-mate after passing Canapino and Lundgaard on the restart lap.
Newgarden’s messy weekend got worse when, with five laps to go, he had fire emerging from his left-rear corner, but all eyes were on the front.
However, at the front O’Ward got sideways off the final turn, an issue with his Chevrolet engine temporarily caused the Arrow McLaren to cough, and that was all Ericsson needed to claim the lead which he held to the finish.
A desperately frustrated O’Ward held off Dixon by half a second, with Rossi, the overachieving Ilott completing the top five. Rahal and Power demoted Palou on the final lap to claim sixth and seventh.
