Palou avoids Power to get IndyCar’s first victory at Barber

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

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

The third-place finisher in the No. 10 sling, the 24-year-old Spaniard was flawless throughout the 90-lap competition and crossed the finish line against the Will Power of the Penske team at No. 12 Chevy and teammate team Scott Dixon to number. 9 Honda.

“No, waaaay!” Palou shouted after crossing under the checkered flag. “Oh my God. Thank you, team, you’re amazing. Thank you for the opportunity, everyone.”

In their first test for the team in November, team leaders and mechanics spoke favorably of Palou, who had a promising debut year with Dale Coyne Racing with the Goh team. But with a single podium and 16th place finish in the championship, most said they had high hopes for their new driver, but did not know what to expect in terms of where he would act once the season began.

To Barber, he provided the answer with an emphatic victory.

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

Power was relentless in his search for Palou, but was unable to catch the new IndyCar winner with just 0.4 seconds left.

“I had to save some fuel, but it crossed my mind how fast Alex was in that first stage,” he said. “I’m very happy to get on the podium, so it’s great to have a good start to the season. If we do it, week after week, we will have many chances to win the championship “.

Although Dixon didn’t have the pace to overtake Power or Palou, he leaves Barber in a fantastic spot to pursue his seventh title.

“What a start, double podium for us, huge congratulations to Alex,” he said. “It was a position race on the track, but he came out on top. Thanks to all the fans here.

The final result of the Alabama Honda Indy Grand Prix kicked off on lap 20, as race leader Pato O’Ward and runner-up Alexander Rossi were called to the pits by their teams. established a three-stop strategy. Their destinies were sealed with this decision.

The closest challenges went in the opposite direction as their teams countered by keeping them out until just after lap 30, which placed so many of Palou, Power, Dixon and others in a two-stop strategy. followed. Without being discouraged, O’Ward drove like an animal to gain time with the two plugs, knowing he would have an extra visit to pay in the pits. His No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevy continued to charge until he reached fourth place, 3.9 seconds behind Palou.

“The position of the track was all today,” he said. “I think we ran things in terms of strategy, but it was wrong. We were the fastest car all weekend. I got big points here and I would have liked to win. I’m 100% sure that when I get to St “Pete, in a couple of days, we’ll be ready.”

Behind O’Ward, Sebastien Bourdais of AJ Foyt Racing saved a poor result by qualifying at 16th in fifth place in Chevy no. 14. Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing and Graham Rahal of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing made similar long-distance crossings, with VeeKay’s No. 21 Chevy engine from 14th in sixth and Rahal’s No. 15 Honda jumping from 18th in the seventh.

As Bourdais, VeeKay and Rahal advanced in the race, the remaining top 10 went in the opposite direction, as CGR’s Marcus Ericsson fell from sixth to eighth in the No. 8 Honda, Rossi fell from second to ninth. place of No. 27 Honda and Romain Grosjean fell from seventh place to 10thth in his first IndyCar race.

Grosjean was also Barber’s new debutant, leaving Scott McLaughlin of the Penske team at 14th ranked No. 3 by Chevy and Jimmie Johnson, who persevered in adversity to win 18th to number 48 of the CGR Honda.

HOW IT HAPPENED

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

Less than 30 years into the new championship, two of the main contenders for the title – Newgarden and Herta – were sitting on the sidelines, as the Andretti Autosport driver had no choice but to go alongside the No. 2 Chevy with his Honda number 26.. Newgarden and Hunter-Reay were made in an instant and P23 and P24 were accredited, respectively. Meanwhile, Herta’s team repaired his car, which allowed him to turn around and take the P22. AMSP did the same with Rosenqvist, who placed P21 and Chilton, with faster repairs, was four laps behind the P20.

“I let myself get over the hill, I thought I had the car, but I touched the grass,” Newgarden said. “Any of the cars that took part, I’m sorry.”

“Man, this sucks,” Herta added. “I was just waiting for him to find a direction to turn. It’s shit because we’re behind. I don’t know what else he could have done.”

Jimmie Johnson was lucky enough to lose most of the danger of Lap 1, but was not so lucky on Lap 10 when he turned alone on Lap 13 and pulled out a yellow flag. Holding 17th at that moment, VeeKay passed Johnson and entered the rolling complex. Johnson returned to 19th place after visiting the pits and commented, “I learned a lesson about dirty air, sorry, guys.”

The resumption of Lap 13 featured the top seven finishers who did not change as they qualified with Rossi, Palou, Power, Dixon, Marcus Ericsson and Grosjean.

The first round of pit stops between the leaders came on lap 20, as O’Ward and Rossi changed their Firestone alternate tires worn by fresh primary rubber while committing to a three-stop strategy. Inheriting the lead, Palou stayed out and drove until lap 31, where he built a 6.5s difference over Power to make use of a two-stop plan, and was rewarded when O’Ward and Rossi emerged in the middle of the traffic that neutralized the profit. of their new tires. Palou emerged in P6 with O’Ward in P8, and on one lap, O’Ward passed to Jack Harvey to get P7.

On lap 35, O’Ward was on the hunt and challenged Palou to enter the fork of Turn 5. With a strong corner kick, 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 advantage over Palou.

O’Ward stretched the lead to five seconds or so before he was pitted on lap 42. His progress slowed on lap 44 when Sebastien Bourdais dodged inside lap 5 to run a passed and made side-by-side contact with O’Ward, who allowed Graham Rahal to sneak in as well. VeeKay was next to go through O’Ward as he descended to the P8 just past halfway through the 90-lap race.

Palou faced the scoreboard on lap 62 and had Dixon in tow; Ericsson was on the previous lap. O’Ward faced lap 66 and watched Palou pass the straight ahead as he sat as fuel flowed toward Chevy No. 5. Once the tires were at temperature, O’Ward faced a 9.9 deficit with Palou while remaining fifth. Palou held on 2.2 points over Power on lap 71 with Dixon 3.5 seconds behind in third place. With the top three in training, O’Ward took Ericsson’s fourth on lap 75, as Palou held a 9.8-second lead over the AMSP rider.

The margins shifted slightly between the top four of the rest of the laps as Palou was trapped behind Conor Daly, but it wasn’t enough to alter his positions. Bourdais took fifth place from Ericsson, then VeeKay took sixth place from the Swede and from there the race ended.

RESULTS

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