Kyle Kirkwood remains the anti-Alex Palou with second IndyCar win in 2025 - See full results from Detroit GP

Kyle Kirkwood won the 2025 IndyCar Detroit GP after starting the race in P3. As Alex Palou crashed out of the race, Kirkwood took advantage and remained the only driver apart from the Spaniard to win an IndyCar race in 2025. Santino Ferrucci and Colton Herta completed the Top 3.

Herta took the pole position for the 2025 IndyCar Detroit GP. David Malukas and Kyle Kirkwood rounded up the Top 3 starting positions, with Lundgaard, Rahal, and Palou rounding out the Top 6.

2025 IndyCar Detroit GP Highlights

Colton Herta began in pole position and maintained his lead during the first lap. Arrow McLaren's Christian Lundgaard threatened to take the lead away at the first corner, but Herta was able to negate the same. Alex Palou, who started P6, also made up three spots on the start and got up to P3.

Kyle Kirkwood dropped a couple of positions at the start, but was able to overtake Lundgaard and Palou in the first 10 laps. The first round of pit stops began on Lap 11 when Colton Herta pitted from the lead, and was followed by the other race leaders.

Felix Rosenqvist was involved in a crash 15 laps into the race as the MSR spun around, bringing out the first caution. The IndyCar race restarted on lap 18, and Nolan Siegel was spun around by Scott McLaughlin. The Arrow McLaren driver’s left rear was given a small tap by Scott McLaughlin’s Team Penske.

On lap 19, Rinus VeeKay lost one of his rear tires, and another caution was thrown. McLaughlin was in the effective race lead as he pitted for the tires under safety car, putting him ahead of the likes of Herta and Kirkwood.

Christian Rasmussen, who started on the hard primary tires, led the field to green once again on Lap 22 and maintained the lead of the race, followed by RLL drivers Graham Rahal and Louis Foster.

Alex Palou tried making a move on Santino Ferrucci on Lap 31, which opened the door for Christian Lundgaard behind the Spaniard to attack the #10 CGR. Unfortunately, the Arrow McLaren driver wasn't able to make anything serious out of the pressure.

Graham Rahal was the first of the primary tire starters to pit on Lap 33, suggesting that a two-stop was off the table for the RLL driver. The #15 RLL driver faced issues with the fitment of the right rear tire, and pitted again on the very next lap. The tire was stuck, causing a delay and putting Rahal three laps down.

Christian Rasmussen hit the rear of the ECR into the barrier but was lucky not to sustain any damage and continued to run. The Ed Carpenter Racing driver only lost a couple of positions as a result of his contact with the wall.

A little over midway through the race, with all drivers making their second pitstop, Kyle Kirkwood was the effective race leader. Will Power, Colton Herta, Alex Palou, and David Malukas completed the Top five.

Pato O'Ward and Josef Newgarden were also in contention for the race win in P6 and P7.

Callum Ilott crashed two-thirds of the way into the race after an issue with the wheel nut cover. The PREMA Racing driver slammed into the barrier and brought out the caution. All the leaders pitted on Lap 70 and came out in more or less the same order they pitted in.

Alex Palou crashed on the restart lap after David Malukas hit the rear of the #10 CGR going into Turn 1. The Spaniard ended up in the tire barrier on the outside of Turn 1 and brought out the caution.

Kyle Kirkwood, in the effective race lead, made up a couple of positions on the opening lap after the restart, and got up to P2. The Andretti Global driver passed the race leader, Ferrucci on the very next lap to take the lead of the race.

Louis Foster met with a suspension failure with a little over 15 laps left, and wasn't able to slow down going into the hard braking zone of Turn 3, and collected Felix Rosenqvist on his way towards the barrier. Both drivers retired from the race.

A caution was brought out for the same, followed by a red flag as the drivers came to a halt in the pit lane. IndyCar rookie Louis Foster was taken to the infield medical centre and was cleared by the medical team.

Kirkwood, Power, Ferrucci, Herta, and Simpson were the top five as the race restarted with 12 laps to go. The Andretti Global driver was able to pull out a lead in half a lap as everyone got off to a clean restart.

Santino Ferrucci overtook Will Power on the second lap after the restart, and Colton Herta soon passed the #12 Team Penske IndyCar.

Kyle Kirkwood maintained the race lead and won the IndyCar Detroit GP. The Andretti Global driver remains the only driver besides Alex Palou to win a race in the 2025 IndyCar season. Santino Ferrucci finished P2, and pole sitter Colton Herta rounded out the podium positions.

Kyle Kirkwood wins the 2025 IndyCar Detroit GP

Kyle Kirkwood was among the favorites to win the IndyCar Detroit GP. The Andretti Global driver was on his way to take pole position in the Fast Six but made a mistake on his final lap, which cost him the top starting spot.

However, Kirkwood was able to make his way through the grid, maintain the lead on the restarts, and win the race. Speaking with FOX after the race, Kyle Kirkwood said:

“You know what, for some reason, the wing, it was damaged, but it wasn't really causing that much of an issue. This AWS Honda was on rails all weekend long. And there were some challenges out there, that's for sure.”

“We had to pass our way back through a handful of times, and it was definitely not a walk in the park, especially with that front wing damage at the end. We did lose a little bit of performance, but the car actually felt fine. The car was flawless, we were definitely the fastest.”

2025 IndyCar Detroit GP: Full Results

• P1 #27 Kyle Kirkwood: Andretti Global Honda
• P2 #14 Santino Ferrucci: AJ Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
• P3 #26 Colton Herta: Andretti Global Honda
• P4 #12 Will Power: Team Penske Chevrolet
• P5 #8 Kyffin Simpson: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• P6 #66 Marcus Armstrong: Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• P7 #5 Pato O'Ward: Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
• P8 #7 Christian Lundgaard: Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
• P9 #2 Josef Newgarden: Team Penske Chevrolet
• P10 #20 Alexander Rossi: Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
• P11 #9 Scott Dixon: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• P12 #3 Scott McLaughlin: Team Penske Chevrolet
• P13 #28 Marcus Ericsson: Andretti Global Honda
• P14 #4 David Malukas: AJ Foyt Enterprises Chevrolet
• P15 # 77: Sting Ray Robb: Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
• P16 #83 Robert Shwartzman: PREMA Racing Chevrolet
• P17 #76 Conor Daly: Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet
• P18 #51 Jacob Abel: Dale Coyne Racing Honda
• P19 #6 Nolan Siegel: Arrow McLaren Chevrolet
• P20 #15 Graham Rahal: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
• P21 #60 Felix Rosenqvist: Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• P22 #45 Louis Foster: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
• P23 #30 Devlin DeFrancesco: Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda
• P24 #21 Christian Rasmussen: Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet
• P25 #10 Alex Palou: Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• P26 #90 Callum Ilott: PREMA Racing Chevrolet
• P27 #18 Rinus VeeKay: Dale Coyne Racing Honda