Kirkwood strikes again in red-flagged IndyCar Detroit GP

Kyle Kirkwood charged forward and his Andretti Global team made the right calls in a strategy-filled race to take victory in the IndyCar Detroit Grand Prix. 

The result is Kirkwood’s fourth career series win and second of 2025, following a triumph in April’s Long Beach race - while all four victories have come on street circuits. 

“This AWS Honda was on rails all weekend long,” Kirkwood said. “There were some challenges out there, that’s for sure. We had to pass our way back through. It was definitely not a walk in the park. Hats off to these Andretti boys. Epic pitstops. Epic strategy.

“The car was flawless. We were definitely the fastest, and on restarts the car just came alive.” 

Kirkwood's Andretti team-mate Colton Herta led the field to open the race, as Kirkwood and Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard looked to either side of Herta in the opening corners, but the Californian held serve while Kirkwood dropped to fourth.

That early deficit would prove to be short-lived. Kirkwood quickly made his way past Indianapolis 500 winner Alex Palou and Lundgaard to rise to second. Herta held the top spot through the opening round of pitstops for leaders to replace alternate tyres on lap 12. But when he emerged ahead of Nolan Siegel, who had started on primaries, the Arrow McLaren prospect used a bold move to overtake him.

Kirkwood sat just in Siegel’s wake and followed through to take the net lead. From there the Florida native became the driver to beat, keeping Herta, 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 early cautions slowed running - first for a Felix Rosenqvist spin and then for a lost wheel from Devlin DeFrancesco’s machine five laps later. Scott McLaughlin was able to pit under yellow during the first sequence and briefly led Kirkwood, but spun Siegel on the ensuing restart and was issued a drive-through penalty.

Another timely caution shook the race up entering the closing stages when another wheel was lost, this time from Callum Ilott’s #90 Chevrolet. Santino Ferrucci, Kyffin Simpson and Marcus Armstrong had already pitted and were able to stay out, taking the top three spots with Kirkwood and Power in pursuit.

But that advantage would also prove to be short-lived. Kirkwood methodically worked his way back to the front, taking third with 24 to go, second the following lap and finally securing the lead from Ferrucci with 22 laps remaining.

It was during this stretch that the biggest risk to Kirkwood’s race arose. The 26-year-old and Simpson made contact twice while battling for second, damaging Kirkwood’s front wing and leaving him at risk of diminished pace. But Kirkwood ultimately caught a break.

“The wing was damage, but it wasn’t really causing that much of an issue. We did lose a little bit of performance, but the car actually felt fine,” he said.

A final restart offered the last challenge for Kirkwood after a heavy shunt involving Felix Rosenqvist and Louis Foster led the race to be briefly red-flagged with 13 to go. But the Andretti star was never under threat, marching off to a 3.5931s win.

Ferrucci couldn’t hold onto the top spot, but the Connecticut native took advantage of his fortunate break to secure second. Power overtook Ferrucci at one point, but the A.J. Foyt Racing driver battled back past him and fended off Herta in the closing stretch for the best result of his IndyCar career. 

Santino Ferrucci, A. J. Foyt Enterprises (Photo by: Penske Entertainment)

Herta completed the podium in third, with Power and Simpson capping off the top-five. Armstrong, Pato O’Ward, Lundgaard, Josef Newgarden and Alexander Rossi completed the top-10.

After dominating the early stretch of the season, Palou finally found misfortune in Detroit. The Indy 500 winner was hit from behind by second-place qualifier David Malukas on lap 73 and nosed into the tyre barrier in the opening corner, knocking him out of the race in 25th. Malukas was issued a drive-through penalty and relegated to 14th as a result. 

There were seven DNFs in total on an attrition-filled afternoon, leaving just 20 cars running at the finish.

Worst off among them was Rosenqvist, who slammed into the Turn 3 tyre barrier hard after being hit from behind by Foster when he suffered a suspension failure. The Meyer Shank Racing star climbed out of his car under his own power, but complained of leg pain and was taken off on a stretcher.

With Detroit complete, the IndyCar field will take a hard-earned week off before returning to action at World Wide Technology Raceway on June 15.

IndyCar Detroit GP race results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	Mph	Pits	Points	Retirement
1	K. Kirkwood Andretti Global	27		100	2:00'20.0264		82.022	3	53
2	S. Ferrucci A.J. Foyt Enterprises	14		100	+3.5931 2:00'23.6195	3.5931	81.981	3	41
3	C. Herta Andretti Global	26		100	+4.9427 2:00'24.9691	1.3496	81.966	3	37
4	W. Power Team Penske	12		100	+5.4488 2:00'25.4752	0.5061	81.960	3	33
5	K. Simpson Chip Ganassi Racing	8		100	+6.2189 2:00'26.2453	0.7701	81.951	3	30
6	M. Armstrong Meyer Shank Racing	66		100	+8.5237 2:00'28.5501	2.3048	81.925	4	28
7	P. O'Ward Arrow McLaren	5		100	+9.1683 2:00'29.1947	0.6446	81.918	3	27
8	C. Lundgaard Arrow McLaren	7		100	+9.7823 2:00'29.8087	0.6140	81.911	3	24
9	J. Newgarden Team Penske	2		100	+18.7691 2:00'38.7955	8.9868	81.809	2	22
10	A. Rossi Ed Carpenter Racing	20		100	+19.4492 2:00'39.4756	0.6801	81.802	3	20
11	S. Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing	9		100	+19.9431 2:00'39.9695	0.4939	81.796	3	20
12	S. McLaughlin Team Penske	3		100	+20.4172 2:00'40.4436	0.4741	81.791	3	19
13	M. Ericsson Andretti Global	28		100	+20.7988 2:00'40.8252	0.3816	81.786	3	17
14	D. Malukas A.J. Foyt Enterprises	4		100	+21.5169 2:00'41.5433	0.7181	81.778	3	16
15	R. Robb Sting Juncos Hollinger Racing	77		100	+22.1711 2:00'42.1975	0.6542	81.771	3	15
16	R. Shwartzman Prema Racing	83		100	+29.0575 2:00'49.0839	6.8864	81.693	3	14
17	C. Daly Juncos Hollinger Racing	76		100	+33.6641 2:00'53.6905	4.6066	81.641	3	13
18	J. Abel Dale Coyne Racing	51		100	+48.9180 2:01'08.9444	15.2539	81.470	4	12
19	N. Siegel Arrow McLaren	6		98	+2 Laps 2:01'03.4727	2 Laps	79.901	4	11
20	G. Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	15		97	+3 Laps 2:00'59.3391	1 Lap	79.130	3	10
21	F. Rosenqvist Meyer Shank Racing	60		83	+17 Laps 1:37'56.0165	14 Laps	83.650	3	10
22	L. Foster Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	45		83	+17 Laps 1:37'56.8470	0.8305	83.638	3	9
23	D. DeFrancesco Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	30		83	+17 Laps 1:47'13.8650	9'17.0180	76.397	5	7	Mechanical
24	C. Rasmussen Ed Carpenter Racing	21		80	+20 Laps 1:34'39.1289	3 Laps	83.421	3	7	Mechanical
25	A. Palou Chip Ganassi Racing	10		72	+28 Laps 1:23'51.9448	8 Laps	84.735	3	5	Accident
26	C. Ilott Prema Racing	90		66	+34 Laps 1:15'08.7031	6 Laps	86.688	3	5	Accident
27	R. van Kalmthout Dale Coyne Racing	18		6	93 laps
View full results

In this article

Aaron Bearden

IndyCar

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