ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing is turning the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series championship race into a runaway.
The Spaniard’s latest victory in Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America was his third win in the last four races and he has increased his lead in the IndyCar Series championship to 74 points over Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson.
It came on the site of his first career IndyCar podium in 2020 and was the 250th all-time victory for Chip Ganassi Racing across all forms of racing that it has participated in.
“That’s a big number,” Ganassi said. “A lot of people have a lot of blood, sweat and tears in those 250 wins. It’s all about the team.”
It was also an impressive drive for the race winner, according to Ganassi.
“The kid is a phenomenal driver,” Ganassi said. “It’s obvious. We saw it with his first win and his first win with us in 2021 in Alabama.
“The kid has a lot of heart, a lot of drive, he loves Indianapolis and that is a big thing in this series
Palou defeated Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden by 4.5610 seconds. Palou was in a Honda, Newgarden in a Chevrolet.
Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward was third followed by Scott Dixon’s Honda.
“It was a day where you needed drivability and to look after those Firestones,” Dixon said after starting 23rd following a tumultuous Saturday. “Congrats to the 10 car (Palou). He’s having a hell of a championship run.
“It’s time for us to get back to work and try to close that gap on him.
“The tires went surprisingly well.”
Pole winner Colton Herta, who led 33 of the 55 laps, finished fifth as he faded toward the end.
“We had the best car and we never got to show it because we were trying to save fuel,” Herta said. “Fifth is nice, but that isn’t what we wanted. That’s why this is so frustrating.
“It does suck. It’s a top-five with nice points, but I could care less about it.”
There were four cautions for 10 laps.
Palou, the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series champion, has an iron grip on this year’s points race as the series takes next weekend off before resuming on July 2 for the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio.
Several cars ran out of fuel just after the checkered flag and came to a stop inside turn five. But it was Palou’s Honda that took the right-hand turn into victory lane at Road America after scoring the seventh win of his IndyCar career.
It came just one day after he crashed in Saturday morning’s practice session as his crew had to go to work to rebuild the Honda.
“It’s been an amazing weekend,” Palou said. “We started with a lot of speed, and I made a big mistake in practice two. The crew did a great job rebuilding the car and it was an amazing day for the American Legion Chip Ganassi Racing car. We’re going to keep this going.
“It was amazing. Saturday was a tough day for the team. They had to rebuild my car and also Scott Dixon’s car. It was amazing. We will try to keep it rolling.
“Colton Herta was faster on the first couple of laps after a restart, but we were able to catch him.”
Despite the huge lead in the points, Palou is taking nothing for granted in the championship.
“Nothing. Zero percent,” he said. “Man, it’s IndyCar. You never know. We will keep focus on the next race.”
Newgarden believed Palou was better than any other driver on the last stint of the race.
“I chose a lane on the restart, and I chose the wrong lane and lost a couple of spots,” Newgarden explained. “If I made a difference choice there, I might have been fighting for it at the end.
“I have to be pleased with second, but it’s tough when you have an opportunity to win and don’t seal the deal.”
Newgarden said the repaved racing surface changed the nature of the race course and said Team Penske will have to figure it out before next year to come up with a winning setup.
The new pavement and the tire configuration brought by Firestone made the race a passing frenzy. There were 444 on-track passed including 386 passes for positions. There were 110 passes in the top 10 and 32 passes int he top five.
All are the most since IndyCar starting recording this statistic when it returned to Road America in 2016.
As It Happened
It was an eventful beginning as Kyle Kirkwood ran into the back of Pato O’Ward entering turn one and spun off at the start, but the race remained green. O’Ward was shuffled back in turn five because of the incident. Before Kirkwood got restarted, IndyCar Race Control threw the yellow.
Several cars came down pit lane on the second lap for new tires and fuel, including Felix Rosenqvist, Scott Dixon, Ryan Hunter-Reay and Kirkwood.
“The start was my fault,” Kirkwood said after fighting his way back to a ninth-place finish. “I don’t know if I was too deep, but I ran into the back of Pato and I’m sorry about that. I was able to pass cars on the track, we had good strategy and pit stops and were able to get back in the top 10.”
Herta pulled away on the lap four restart with Palou and Armstrong close behind.
Herta was in the lead when he pitted on lap 12. Palou was scored as the leader, but he also pitted for tires and fuel. As that was being completed, Romain Grosjean spun off course in turn three for another caution.
Lap 16 restart was short lived as Jack Harvey crashed into the gravel and tire barrier in turn 14.
Another yellow.
The race was green flagged on lap 20, with Herta gaining a good jump as he was pursued by Palou and Newgarden. Pagenaud went off the course and through the grass before getting back on the track.
But on Lap 26, David Malukas ran off course and that brought out another yellow flag. At the end of that lap, pit road opened, and the entire field came down pit road for another round of pit stops.
Palou was able to beat Newgarden out of the pits.
The green flag waved on Lap 28 and Palou got by the lapped car driven by Harvey. Armstrong and Power were listed as the leaders, but those two drivers did not pit during the previous caution period.
Dixon, who had already used the mandatory Firestone Reds earlier in the race, was on Firestone Blacks, which were the preferred tire for the new pavement at Road America.
Palou was on the Firestone Reds and was passed for position by Herta, who was listed in third place behind the two drivers that had pitted out of sequence.
Armstrong pitted on lap 32, giving the lead to Power, who pitted for the sixth time of the race on lap 34. That put Herta back in front, 0.695-of-a-second ahead of Palou.
The leader pitted with 15 laps to go, and he was in and out of the pits when the leading contenders in the race all pitted one lap later. As they were leaving pit lane, Herta was at speed coming down the front straight and zipped past the cars leaving pit lane to retain the lead.
Power, who was 13 laps out of sequence, was shown as the leader of the race, but with 13 laps to go, was going to have to pit one more time.
The Team Penske driver pitted with nine laps to go and Herta was back in the lead, but had Palou closing in.
With eight laps to go, Herta’s lead over Palou was just 0.4626 seconds.
Palou got a run and passed Herta for the lead with seven laps to go. Herta’s Honda began to fade as Newgarden’s Chevrolet passed him down the long frontstraight with six laps to go to take over second place.
O’Ward’s Chevrolet passed Herta for third place and Dixon began to pursue Herta’s Honda for position. After Dixon took over fourth, he set his sights onto O’Ward’s Chevrolet for third place.
That was the only battle as Palou pulled away for the victory.