The Argentine driver was 12th and repeated his best result in the category, but a penalty at the end sent him back in the eighth round, which was won by Álex Palou.
The eighth date of IndyCar’s 2024 fiscal year was a twisted seesaw for Agustín Canapino. Something like the mythical Corkscrew curve that so identifies Laguna Seca, the track where the competition was held. Finally, The Argentine driver was 18th on his return to car 78 of Juncos Hollinger Racing after the forced license that the team imposed on him on the Road America date.
The first half had him in the fight for the top 15 and he reached ninth when many rivals stopped under a yellow flag and the JHR team decided to leave him on the track with a different strategy. But there came a mistake by the four-time TC champion when he suffered a mistake in the stretch before Sacacorhcos. His time on earth dropped him to 13th place. After the whole series of stops, the Titan was once again 16th.
Towards the end, gifts began to fall from heaven. Dismissal by Scott McLaughlin, Christian Lundgaard who wanted to do a bit of a rally in the Corkscrew and Agustín was 14th, threatening Kyffin Simpson’s position. And Canapino’s mistake arrived. Simpson, nothing like Bart or Homer, was touched from behind by the Argentine. The friction cut the left rear tire of team driver Chip Ganassi, who could not avoid the spin, ended up in the middle of the track and was severely hit by Graham Rahal. The race resumed, after the yellow flag regime, four laps from the end and the Titan surpassed Felix Rosenqvist to be 12th, a position that would equal his best result in IndyCar. But… Things happened.
Clear, The touch on Simpson did not go unnoticed by race direction, which determined a penalty of passing and continuing through the pits.. No matter how many explanations he gave on the radio in a chat with his team, he had to serve the sentence and went straight to 19th place. But in this roller coaster that was Laguna Seca for the Argentine, he gained a position in the closing due to the mistake of Josef Newgarden. Canapino closed out a difficult race on his return to the track, with an appropriate penalty for his maneuver. Even though Simpson came out a little slow in the corner, that does not invite a hit from behind. The Argentine will have revenge in two weeks in Mid-Ohio, where the ninth round will be played.
While, Álex Paolu, who had started from pole, took the victory, his 11th in the category. The Spaniard, current champion, was relentless in the most important moments and celebrated his second success of the year on points (he also won in The Thermal, a special event for financial prize).
For the Juncos Hollinger Racing teamwho was left chewing a bit of anger with Canapino’s sanction, Romain Grosjean’s huge fourth place was leftthus closing two races in a row among the ten (he had just finished seventh at Road America).
LAGUNA SECA RACE RESULT
CHAMPIONSHIP POSITIONS
