Palou stops Power from taking Barber’s first-ever IndyCar win

by

Youth, speed and perfect racing strategy came together at Barber Motorsports Park on Sunday when Alex Palou took his first NTT IndyCar Series victory for Chip Ganassi Racing.

Palou joins the intoxicating company as the only third driver to win for CGR on his debut, after Michael Andretti in 1994 and the late Dan Wheldon in 2006.

The 24-year-old Spaniard qualified third in the No. 10 Honda and was clear throughout the 90 lap race, crossing the finish line for Team Penske’s willpower in the No. 12 Chevy and teammate Scott Dixon in the No. 12 Chevy and teammate Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda.

“No, it is not!” Palou shouted under the checkered flag after the crossing. “Oh my God. Thanks, team, you’re great. Thanks for the opportunity, everyone.”

At his first test for the team in November, team leaders and mechanics spoke positively of Palou, who had a promising rookie year with Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh. But with a single podium and 16th place in the championship, most said they had high hopes for their new driver, but didn’t know what to expect in terms of where he would perform once the season started.

At Barber he gave the answer with an emphatic victory.

“I mean, it was possible because we had the best team and the best cars,” added Palou. “We did it. It’s great. It was one of those days when everything went well. Come on, what more can I ask for?”

Power was relentless in his pursuit of Palou, but failed to catch the latest IndyCar winner, finishing just 0.4 seconds behind.

“I had to save some fuel, but I was just amazed at how fast Alex was in that first stint,” he said. “Super happy to be on the podium, so it’s great to start the season off right. If we do this week after week, we have a great chance of winning the championship. “

While Dixon didn’t have the pace to get past Power of Palou, he leaves Barber in a great place to pursue his seventh title.

“What a start, double podium for us, big congratulations to Alex”, he said. “It was a race on the track, but hats off to the team. Thanks to all the fans here. “

The final result of Alabama’s Honda Indy Grand Prix was set in motion in lap 20 when race leader Pato O’Ward and second-place Alexander Rossi were called to the pits by their teams, putting them on a three-stop strategy. With that decision their fate was sealed.

The closest challengers went in the opposite direction as their teams countered by keeping them out until just after Round 30, putting players like Palou, Power, Dixon and others on a two-stop strategy. followed. Undeterred, O’Ward rode like a beast to gain time on the two stoppers, knowing he would have to pay an extra visit to the pits. His No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevy kept on attacking until he finished fourth, 3.9 seconds behind Palou.

“Track position was everything today,” he said. “I feel like we did things strategically, but it was the wrong one. We were the fastest car all weekend. Got great points here and would have liked to win. I’m 100 percent sure when St. Pete comes in a few days, we’ll be ready. “

Behind O’Ward, AJ Foyt Racing’s Sébastien Bourdais saved a poor qualifying result by making his way from 16th to fifth in the No. 14 Chevy. Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing took similar long-haul trips, with VeeKay’s number 21 Chevy of 14th to sixth place and Rahal’s No. 15 Honda jumped from 18th to seventh.

While Bourdais, VeeKay and Rahal moved forward in the race, the rest of the top 10 went in the opposite direction as CGR’s Marcus Ericsson fell from sixth to eighth in the No. 8 Honda, Rossi dropped from second to ninth in the No. 27 Honda and Romain Grosjean slipped from seventh place on the grid to 10th in its first IndyCar race.

Grosjean was also the best rookie at Barber, heading off Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin in 14th place in the No. 3 Chevy, and Jimmie Johnson who through adversity persisted to earn 18th in the No. 48 CGR Honda.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was an instant drama to open the season when Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden spun on the first lap, collecting Colton Herta, VeeKay, Felix Rosenqvist, Max Chilton and Ryan Hunter-Reay after climbing the hill at Turn 4.

Less than 30 seconds into the new championship round, two of the leading title contenders – Newgarden and Herta – were on the sidelines as the Andretti Autosport driver had nowhere else to go other than in the No. 2 Chevy with his No. 26 Honda. Newgarden and Hunter-Reay were done in an instant and were credited with P23 and P24 respectively. Meanwhile, Herta’s team repaired his car allowing him to turn a few laps and take P22. AMSP did the same for Rosenqvist, who placed P21 and Chilton, with faster repairs, was four laps down in P20.

“I got loose as I came over the hill, I thought I had the car, but touched the grass,” Newgarden said. “All the cars that got involved, I’m sorry.”

“Man, that sucks,” added Herta. ‘I’m just waiting for him to find a direction to turn in. Sucks for us because we are on the back foot. I don’t know what else I could have done there. “

Jimmie Johnson was lucky enough to miss most of the danger of lap 1, but was not so lucky on lap 10 when he spun alone on turn 13 and brought out a yellow flag. Holding 17th at that point, VeeKay passed Johnson and took the spot that entered the sloping complex. Johnson returned on the 19th after visiting the pits and said, “I learned a lesson about being in dirty air, sorry guys.”

The restart of lap 13 featured a top seven unchanged from qualifying, with O’Ward leading Rossi, Palou, Power, Dixon, Marcus Ericsson and Grosjean.

The first round of pit stops among the leaders took place in lap 20, when O’Ward and Rossi exchanged their worn out Firestone alternate tires for fresh primary rubber, while committing to a three-stop strategy. Palou inherited the lead and stayed out until lap 31, where he built a 6.5-second gap on Power to take advantage of a two-stop plan, and was rewarded when O’Ward and Rossi emerged in the middle of the traffic. neutralized the benefit. of their new tires. Palou came out in P6 with O’Ward in P8 and within a lap O’Ward passed Jack Harvey to take P7.

On lap 35, O’Ward was on the hunt and challenged Palou to enter the hairpin turn. With a strong run out of the corner, he dragged the Ganassi driver to the next corner and took the position. Due to the different fuel strategies in play, O’Ward was in maximum attack mode to build an edge over Palou.

O’Ward extended the lead to about five seconds before being called into the pits on lap 42. His progress was slowed on lap 44 when Sebastien Bourdais dived down the inside of Turn 5 to execute a pass and side- by-side made. contact with O’Ward, which brought Graham Rahal to drop by as well. VeeKay was next to overtake O’Ward as he slid to P8 just after the middle of the 90-lap race.

Palou made a pit stop on lap 62 with Dixon in tow; Ericsson was in the previous round. O’Ward made a pit stop on lap 66 and watched Palou drift down the straight as he sat still as fuel poured into the No. 5 Chevy. Once his tires were up to temperature, O’Ward was 9.9 seconds behind Palou while remaining fifth. Palou was 2.2 seconds above Power on lap 71 with Dixon 3.5 seconds behind in third place. With the top three in formation, O’Ward was fourth over Ericsson on lap 75, while Palou kept a 9.8 second lead over the AMSP driver.

Margins changed slightly in the top four in the remaining laps when Palou got stuck behind Conor Daly, but it wasn’t enough to change their positions. Bourdais took fifth place from Ericsson and VeeKay took sixth place from the Swede and the race was over from there.

RESULTS

Source