Marcus Ericsson Wins Inaugural Big Machine Grand Prix In Exciting Fashion

/in /by

Marcus Ericsson celebrating the Big Machine Music City Grand prix win in Victory Circle. Photo: Courtesy of Elicity PR.

After three-days of racing, concerts and special ceremonies, IndyCar newcomer Marcus Ericsson walked away victorious in the inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix with Scott Dixon taking second and James Hinchcliffe in third. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver took the lead around the 58th lap after a string of cautions, holding off the fastest car of the weekend and the pole winner Colton Herta and teammate Dixon.

Ericsson had one of the most improbable wins of the season so far after colliding with Sébastien Bourdais nose-first on a restart on the fifth lap of the race, launching his car into the air before hitting the pavement. He had to replace his front wing but didn’t suffer any significant damage.

“I thought my race was over there,” said Ericsson in a post-race press conference. “There was definitely some damage on the car but I thought I’d try to recover as many positions as possible and try to get top 15, which was my game plan from there.”

Ericsson was also hit with a penalty forcing him to the back of the field. However, with nine cautions and two red flags, Ericsson and others were able to fuel up and change tires without losing significant laps. He quickly found himself in first with about 20 laps to go and never looked back.

“It feels amazing,” said Ericsson. “I think it backs up what I said, that that was probably the best performance of my career to keep [Herta] behind me for that long. When he pulled off behind me, I was thinking this is not going to work. We’ve seen all weekend how fast he’s been. I’m thinking, I’m not going to be able to hold him back.”

Photo: Courtesy of Elicity PR

Herta kicked off the weekend on Friday with the fastest lap in the first practice, running a 1:1.58 lap ahead of Dixon and Alexander Rossi. Ericsson ran the fifth fastest at 1:17.21. Herta also took the second practice, running the fastest lap at 1:15.35 and showing how comfortable he was on the new course. On Saturday afternoon, he won the pole, his second of the season, with the fastest lap of 1:13.68, one half of a second difference between P2 and almost a full second faster than P3.

“The car felt really good on the [Firestone tires],” said Herta in a post-qualifier press conference on Saturday. “I feel really confident for tomorrow. The car was really stable and something I could probably take right into the race and be happy with.”

The race started over the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge but quickly went into a caution after Dalton Kellett‘s car stalled on lap two, giving just a taste of things to come as many drivers had issues with their cars stalling after cutting turns. The race was tight as many drivers had issues turning some of the corners without making contact with other drivers or the wall. Turn eight coming off the bridge, was where many drivers faced difficulties all weekend. However, Herta took advantage of turn eight and was fast off of it all day.

Herta raced brilliantly and led 39 laps, fighting his way back towards the top after falling out of the top 5. With just over 60 laps to go, Herta was in sixth but passed Romain Grosjean, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Hinchcliffe and Dixon to take second. Herta trailed Ericsson by 1.5 seconds, but the Swedish racer continued to keep a great pace into the final 10 laps. There was fear that Ericsson was low on fuel and couldn’t push the car to the limit to keep Herta off, but that all changed when Herta went into the wall with only five laps to go.

“I feel terrible,” said Herta in a post-race interview with NBC Sports. “We had the car all weekend to win and I just threw it away. I feel really bad, but I’m okay. I know I didn’t get my hands off the wheel, but they’re okay… This [track] is brutal.”

At the end of the race, 33 laps had been driven under caution, forcing the race go later than planned and unearthing concerns as the sun went down with no proper lights for the street course. The race finished in time, though, with Ericsson winning his second career IndyCar race and picking up 51 points for the championship standings.

“I was really trying to just use all my experience to try and figure out how I was going to keep [Herta] behind me,” said Ericsson. “I was really proud of doing that. I think he definitely deserved to be on the podium so I feel bad for him crashing, but that also showed he was pushing to the limit as well to try to get that victory.”

Nashville’s Josef Newgarden of Team Penske started 12th and finished 10th in his hometown race, 7.5286 seconds behind Ericsson.

Steven Boero
Latest posts by Steven Boero (see all)