INDIANAPOLIS — Alex Palou took care of business by winning Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix from the pole for his second win in a row in the road course race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the 10th IndyCar win of Palou’s career.
Next up for the two-time and reigning NTT IndyCar Series champion at Chip Ganassi Racing is to take care of some unfinished business in the Indianapolis 500 on May 26.
“Absolutely, no doubt about it, and we’ll be back,” Palou’s chief mechanic, Ricky Davis, told SPEED SPORT from the team’s pit area as Palou was taking his victory lap on Saturday.
It was one year ago when Palou started the 107th Indy 500 on the pole and was a leading contender for victory in the first half of the race. But when he made a pit stop on lap 107, Rinus VeeKay’s No. 21 Chevrolet collided with Palou’s No. 10 Honda, sending it spinning into the pit road wall.
Although Palou’s car was not badly damaged, the incident dropped him all the way back to 28th place when the green flag waved on the next restart.
Palou proved why he is one of very best IndyCar drivers of his generation by racing his way back to a fourth-place finish.
Beginning with Tuesday’s opening day of practice for the 108th Indianapolis 500, Palou, Davis and the rest of his Chip Ganassi Racing crew will begin their quest to take care of unfinished business.
“Yeah, I couldn’t agree more,” Palou told SPEED SPORT in a private interview after his formal media availability on Saturday. “We’ve been really good in the 500 since 2021 when we finished second to Helio Castroneves. We were seventh in 2022 and fourth last year.
“We always feel like we have the chance but didn’t really have a perfect race. So, we’re going to try and get a perfect race this year and hopefully get the win in a couple of weeks.”
A win in the Indianapolis 500 remains one of the few major accomplishments the young driver from Spain has yet to achieve, but his second-straight win in the Sonsio Grand Prix looked very familiar.
It was his win on the IMS road course in 2023 that began his incredible championship run that allowed him to become the first IndyCar champion since Sebastien Bourdais’ Champ Car title in 2007 to wrap it up before the last race of the season.
It was the start of a four-wins in a five-race stretch, including three wins in a row for Palou. He won the Sonsio Grand Prix, finished fourth in the Indy 500, and then won the next three races including Detroit, Road America, and the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio on July 2.
Palou would get a season-high fifth victory in the Portland Grand Prix on September 3 in the race where he clinched his second IndyCar championship.
“Last year was special,” Palou said. “We got the win here, the pole at the GP, then three wins in a row. It felt amazing every time we were on track we were P1, so that felt super good. But it’s tough.
“If something doesn’t go 100 percent nowadays in IndyCar, there’s someone there to take the win from you. At Barber, I thought that we were in a really good position and then a yellow just took us out of the race for the win.
“I think this year it’s been like that. We’ve been feeling that we’re there, ready to fight, and didn’t really get a chance until today except St. Pete where we didn’t really have speed.
“Hopefully we can get that momentum that we have now and carry it the same way as we did last year.”
Palou’s victory on Saturday put him in the lead of the championship standings for the first time this season. He leads Team Penske’s Will Power by 12 points heading into the Indianapolis 500.
“For sure this place brings us really good memories with the win here in 2023 and just carried our momentum throughout the season,” Palou said. “We got really good results after this one so hopefully we can carry that we can improve that hopefully, with the Indy 500.
“I can’t wait for more races to come.
“We are fired up. We can’t wait to get started on Tuesday, try and dial in the car step by step and get ready for qualifying.”
There were several years where Team Penske’s Power came close to a May Sweep of winning the pole for both races as well as the road course race victory and the Indianapolis 500. Power, however, could not complete the May “Grand Slam” at Indy.
But Palou has a chance to do that this year if he can win the Indy 500 pole for the second year in a row on May 19 and get his first Indy 500 win on May 26.
“Man, if we’re able to pull that off, I think it’s going to be some crazy weeks after the Indy 500,” Palou said. “We’re working towards that. We know we have a fast car.
“Obviously, we got the pole here last year. But the competition is tight and tight. They never give you anything.
“The focus now is on qualifying, trying to get the pole. But we want to win the Indy 500.
“In a couple of hours, I’ll switch to Indy 500 mode.
“It would mean everything to win the Indy 500.”
Palou is a winner, and winners are constantly motivated to win races. That is what fuels Palou’s focus and energy in IndyCar as he is on the cusp of potential becoming an Indy 500 winner.
“I love winning,” he said. “Every race is important. That’s what I think about every day I wake up.
“But the 500 would mean — I think it’s so big, it has so much history behind it, has so much potential, and it separates the drivers from just normal drivers to legends, everybody that has won it.
“Yeah, would be amazing to win it.”