STEAM CORNERS, Ohio — Alex Palou’s greatness was on full display at last year’s Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio when the Chip Ganassi Racing driver scored his third-straight IndyCar victory and his fourth IndyCar win in a five-race period.
The win at the 2.258-mile, 13-turn road Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course gave the Honda driver from Spain a firm grip on the 2023 NTT IndyCar Series Championship, and he never looked back from that point forward.
When Palou scored his IndyCar Series high fifth win of the season at the September 3 Grand Prix of Portland, he became the first driver since Sebastien Bourdais in 2007 to clinch the IndyCar Championship before the final race of the season.
The road to the championship didn’t begin at Mid-Ohio, but the decisiveness of Palou’s victory gave him complete control of title race.
He led 48 laps in the 80-lap race and defeated teammate Scott Dixon by 5.024-seconds. He left the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course with a 110-point lead in the standings.
With a maximum of 53 points available in each IndyCar Series race counting one point for the pole and two points for leading the most laps, Palou had what amounted to a two-race lead over his closest championship pursuer when he left the rolling hills of Ohio.
But it’s the accomplishment of winning three straight races and four wins in a five-race period that makes Palou most proud.
It started with a win at the GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course on May 13 when he led 54 of 85 laps. He won the pole for the 107th Indianapolis 500 and looked like a leading contender for victory before he was involved in a collision with Chevrolet driver Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing leaving pit lane on lap 94.
Palou went from the front of the field, all the way to the back but was able to race his way from 28th place to finish fourth in the Indy 500.
The following race, Palou challenged the streets of downtown Detroit to take the victory starting on the pole and leading 74 of 100 laps. He made it two-in-a-row with a win in the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America, leading the final 10 laps for the checkered flag.
When he drove to victory at Mid-Ohio on July 2, 2023, he served notice that the NTT IndyCar Series Championship was his for the taking, and he was going to take it.
“Oh yeah, it was huge, and we had an amazing car,” Palou reflected on last year’s Mid-Ohio victory. “To win one race is good, but to win two in a row was like, ‘Oh my God, it’s happening.’
“But three in a row just felt like we were on a bubble, and we actually were.
“It was an amazing time. I remember the confidence we got from that race and how special it felt to do it at Honda GP was pretty awesome.”
Palou is one of the many drivers that love the challenge of racing on the Mid-Ohio Sports Car course because of its high-speed nature, its flowing turns and unique areas of the track such as the keyhole and the carousel.
“It’s super challenging,” Palou said. “It’s really fast. It’s really busy. You cannot really rest much, and I heard that it’s going to be even one step busier this year with the repave, that will make it a lot faster.
“We’re going to have also the Hybrid power unit for the first time in a race at Mid-Ohio, so It’s going to be a lot of unknowns, which I’m looking forward to, but it’s one of the best tracks that we have for sure.”
After much development, Honda and Chevrolet in conjunction with IndyCar will utilize a Hybrid system on the engines beginning with the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio. The Hybrid will store up energy from braking and paddle controls, and when it is deployed on the track, it will create an additional burst of horsepower.
Drivers can also use the hybrid assist unit and push to pass at the same time for a combined 120 extra horsepower.
“It will be a huge change at Mid-Ohio,” Palou said. “I expect to see a really busy practice with everybody running as quick as we can just to get information and data.
“Everybody will have a little bit of experience with the hybrid at that point, but nobody knows how the car is going to handle going as fast as possible and trying to get the fastest lap time, so, it will be interesting and I’m sure that the fans will enjoy it.”
Palou looks forward to the new tool that the hybrid assist will provide. It’s one more part of the package that Palou can use to help him achieve victory.
“Honestly to be able to be really, really aggressive, especially on the really high speed and tight turns that we have, is the most important thing if you are going to win at Mid-Ohio,” Palou explained. “Turn one is going to be probably super quick this year with a repave.
“But I would say the real key to victory is executing and being able to be on the limit but without making mistakes.”
The driver from Spain loves the holiday weekend in the Amish country of Ohio. There are many Amish settlements on the way to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course as the flashy IndyCar team transporters encounter horses and buggies on the way to the race course.
“I remember I tried an amazing honey from an Amish farm last year and hopefully I can get some more this here,” Palou said. “It reminds me of the part of Spain where my parents live. It’s all green with vegetation and you don’t really have many, many people living there.
“There are very big spaces between houses, a lot of farms, so it’s actually pretty close.
“We’re not used to living on the center, in downtown cities and anything like that. It’s always great to be there.”
For the IndyCar Series, the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio is like spending a weekend at Boy Scout camp. It’s a great way to sit around the campfire with old friends and make new friends in the process.
“It feels like everybody there is happy to be there,” Palou said. “I think the feeling and the atmosphere that everybody with the campers or just with the tents that they have there.
“I always take time in the afternoon or at night once we’re done from work to just do a lap around the tents and all that stuff.
“You just see that everybody’s enjoying their time there.”
It’s also a time to celebrate Honda’s commitment to motorsports, the NTT IndyCar Series in particular. With its Marysville, Ohio production facility 58 miles away, it’s a chance for the many employees of the American Honda Motor Company to see some high-speed racing action in person and get a chance to meet their favorite Honda drivers.
“Oh yeah, we actually interact quite a lot,” Palou said. “In the last couple of years, we have meet and greets during the weekend on both Saturday and Sunday and obviously we get an amazing support from everyone at Honda, so it’s great to have them there.”