Palou Holds Power to Achieve Barber’s First IndyCar Victory

Palou Holds Power to Achieve Barber’s First IndyCar Victory

by

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

Palou joins the operating company as the only third rider to win for the first time for CGR, after Michael Andretti in 1994 and the late Dan Wheldon in 2006.

The 24-year-old Spaniard was third in the No. 10 Honda and was flawless during the 90-lap race and crossed the finish line ahead of Team Penske’s Will Power in the Chevy No. 12 and teammate Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda.

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

At his first Test for the team in November, team leaders and mechanics spoke favorably about Palou, who had a promising rookie year with Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh. But with a single podium and a 16th place finish in the championship, most said they had high hopes for their new rider but did not know what to expect in terms of where he would perform once the season got underway not.

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,” Palou added. “We did it. It’s great. It was one of those days where everything went well. Come on, what more can I ask for?”

Power was relentless in its quest for Palou, but could not achieve IndyCar’s latest winner and was only 0.4 seconds behind.

“I did have to save fuel, but it struck me how fast Alex was in that first period,” he said. ‘Super happy to get on the podium, so it’s great to start the season well. If we do it week-in-week-out, we have a great chance of winning the championship. ”

Although Dixon did not have the pace to get past Power of Palou, he left Barber in an excellent position to chase his seventh title.

“What a start, double podium for us, congratulations to Alex,” he said. “It was a race track in the track position, but the team did not have the chance. Thanks to all the fans here. ”

The final result of the Alabama Honda Indy Grand Prix was set in motion at round 20, while race leader Pato O’Ward and second place Alexander Rossi were called to the pits by their teams, which put them on a three-stop- strategy. Their fate was sealed with the decision.

The nearest challengers went in the opposite direction as their teams tilted by holding them out until just after Round 30, which put people like Palou, Power, Dixon and others on a two-stop strategy. consequence. Fearlessly, O’Ward rode like an animal to get time on the two-stoppers, knowing he would pay an extra visit to the pits. Sy nr. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevy kept charging until it was fourth, 3.9 behind Palou.

“Track position was everything today,” he said. ‘I feel we did things strategically, but it was the wrong thing to do. We were the fastest car all weekend. Has good points here, and would love to win. I’m 100 percent sure that when St. Pete is coming in a few days, we’ll be ready. ‘

Behind O’Ward, Sebastien Bourdais, AJ Foyt Racing, scored a poor result in the qualifiers by running away from 16.de to fifth in the number 14 Chevy. Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus VeeKay and Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal made similar long-distance tours, with VeeKay’s no. 21 Chevy car from 14de to sixth and Rahal’s no. 15 Honda jumping from 18de to seventh.

While Bourdais, VeeKay and Rahal went ahead in the race, the rest of the top 10 went in the opposite direction when Marcus Ericsson of CGR fell from sixth to eighth place in the number 8 Honda, and Rossi fell from the second place to the ninth place in the no. 27 Honda and Romain Grosjean slipped from a starting spot in seventh place to 10de in his first IndyCar race.

Grosjean was also the leading rookie at Barber, and Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske was in 14de place in the No. 3 Chevy, and Jimmie Johnson who persisted through adversity to earn 18de in the no. 48 CGR Honda.

AS IT HAPPENED

It was an instant drama to open the season when Josef Newgarden of Team Penske turned on the first lap and collected Colton Herta, VeeKay, Felix Rosenqvist, Max Chilton and Ryan Hunter-Reay after making the turn at the 4th turn.

Two of the leading candidates – Newgarden and Herta – sit less than thirty in the new championship because the Andretti Autosport driver has nowhere to go except on the side of the number 2 Chevy with his no. 26 Honda. Newgarden and Hunter-Reay were done in an instant and given recognition to P23 and P24, respectively. Meanwhile, Herta’s team repaired his car, which allowed him to turn around a few laps and take P22. AMSP did the same for Rosenqvist, who placed P21 and Chilton, with faster repairs, was four rounds lower in P20.

“I got loose over the hill, I thought I had the car, but touched the grass,” Newgarden said. “I’m sorry for any of the cars involved.”

“Man, it’s struggling,” Herta added. ‘Just wait for him to find a direction to turn into. Suck for us because we are on the back foot. I do not know what else I could have done there. ”

Jimmie Johnson was happy to miss most of the Lap 1 danger, but was not so happy on Lap 10 when he in turn turned 13 on his own and brought up a yellow flag. Holding 17de At the time, VeeKay passes Johnson and takes the spot where he enters the rolling complex. Johnson returned in the 19th time after making a turn at the pits, saying, “I learned a lesson about the dirty air, sorry guys.”

The restart of the Lap 13 series showed a top-seven unchanged from qualifying, with leaders Rossi, Palou, Power, Dixon, Marcus Ericsson and Grosjean.

The first round of pit stops among the leaders took place on Round 20 when O’Ward and Rossi swapped their worn Firestone alternative tires for fresh primary rubber while committing themselves to a three-stop strategy. Palou inherited the lead, and he pushed to the 31st round, where he built a 6.5s gap on Power to take advantage of a two-stop plan. of their new tires. Palou appears in P6 with O’Ward in P8, and within a round O’Ward passes Jack Harvey to take P7.

By the 35th round, O’Ward was looking for a challenge and challenged Palou to enter the Turn 5 hairpin. With a strong run leaving the corner, he chases the Ganassi driver to the next corner and takes the position. Because of the various fueling strategies currently in play, O’Ward was in a maximum attack mode to build a lead on Palou.

O’Ward extended the lead to five seconds before being called into the pit on Lap 42. His progress was delayed on Lap 44 when Sebastien Bourdais dived into the inside of turn 5 to execute a pass and made side-to-side contact with O’Ward, who also allowed Graham Rahal to sneak through. VeeKay passed O’Ward when he went down to P8 just past the halfway point of the 90s lap.

Palou sat on Lap 62 of the lead and had Dixon on tow; Ericsson was in the previous round. O’Ward sat on lap 66 and watched Palou flash right at the front as he stopped while refueling for the Chevy No. 5 stream. Once his tires were at a temperature, O’Ward had a 9.9s backlog on Palou while holding fifth. Palou held 2.2s over Power on Lap 71, with Dixon 3.5s behind in third place. With the top three in appointment, O’Ward Ericsson took fourth place on Lap 75 as Palou maintained a 9.8s lead over the AMSP rider.

The margins changed slightly below the top four in the remaining rounds as Palou got stuck behind Conor Daly, but that was not enough to change their position. Bourdais took fifth place from Ericsson, and VeeKay took sixth place from Sweden and from there the race was completed.

RESULTS

.Source