Palou holds on to Power for Barber’s first IndyCar victory

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

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

Qualifying for the third place in Honda no. 10, the 24-year-old Spaniard was impeccable throughout the 90-lap competition and crossed the finish line in front of Will Power of the Penske team in Chevy no. 12 and his teammate Scott Dixon in the No. 9 Honda.

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

At his first test for the team in November, team leaders and mechanics spoke favorably of Palou, who had a promising novice year with Dale Coyne Racing with the Goh team. But with only one podium and a 16th place 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 will evolve once the season begins.

At Barber, he offered the answer with an emphatic victory.

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

Power was relentless in pursuing Palou, but failed to catch the newest IndyCar winner, finishing just 0.4 seconds behind.

“I had to save some fuel, but it blew my mind how fast Alex was in that first period,” he said. “I’m very happy to be on the podium, so it’s great to have a good start to the season. If we do this, week by week, we will have a great chance to win the championship. ”

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

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

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

The closest challengers went in the opposite direction, as their teams countered by keeping them out until immediately after lap 30, which put Palou, Power, Dixon and others on a two-stop strategy. followed. Unsurprisingly, O’Ward drove like an animal to gain time on the two corks, knowing he would have an extra visit to the pits to pay. His arrow no. 5 McLaren SP Chevy continued to charge until he finished fourth, 3.9 seconds behind Palou.

“The position of the track was everything today,” he said. “I feel that we have done things in terms of strategy, but it was wrong. I was the fastest car all weekend. I got great points here and I would have loved to win. I am 100% sure that when St. Pete comes in a few days, we will be ready. “

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

While Bourdais, VeeKay and Rahal went ahead in the race, the rest of the top 10 went in the opposite direction, Marcus Ericsson of CGR fell from six to eight in Honda No. 8, Rossi fell from second to second. ninth in Nr. 27 Honda and Romain Grosjean dropped from seventh to 10th placeof in his first IndyCar race.

Grosjean was also the best debutant at Barber, ahead of Scott McLaughlin of the Penske team, in 14of place in Chevy no. 3 and Jimmie Johnson who persevered through adversity to win 18of in Nr. 48 CGR Honda.

THIS IS HOW MUCH HAPPENS

It was an instant drama for the season opener, when Penske’s Josef Newgarden spun in the first round and gathered Colton Herta, VeeKay, Felix Rosenqvist, Max Chilton and Ryan Hunter-Reay as they climbed the hill to Tower 4.

Less than 30 years old in the new championship race, two of the most important contenders for the title – Newgarden and Herta – were on the sidelines, because the driver Andretti Autosport had nowhere to go except in the part of Chevy no.2 with his Honda no. 26. Newgarden and Hunter-Reay were made in an instant and credited with P23 and P24 respectively. Meanwhile, Herta’s team repaired her car, which allowed her to take a few laps and take the P22. AMSP did the same for Rosenqvist, who placed P21 and Chilton, with faster repairs, was four laps down in P20.

“I untied myself coming over the hill, I thought I had the car, but I touched the grass,” Newgarden said. “Any of the cars involved are sorry.”

“Man, this sucks,” Herta added. “We are just waiting for him to find a direction to turn. It sucks for us, because we’re on our backs. I don’t know what else I could have done there. ”

Jimmie Johnson was lucky enough to miss most of the danger in the first round, but he wasn’t as lucky in round 10 when he turned alone at Turn 13 and pulled out a yellow flag. Holding 17of At that moment, VeeKay passed Johnson and took his place entering the rolling stock. Johnson returned at 19 after a visit to the pits, commenting, “I learned a lesson about being in the air, sorry guys.”

The restart of round 13 presented a top seven that remained unchanged from the qualification with the leaders of O’Ward Rossi, Palou, Power, Dixon, Marcus Ericsson and Grosjean.

The first round of career stops between the leaders came in lap 20, while O’Ward and Rossi replaced their used Firestone tires with fresh primary rubber while committing to a three-stop strategy. Inheriting the lead, Palou stayed out and pushed to lap 31 where he built a 6.5-second gap over Power to use a two-stop plan and was rewarded while O’Ward and Rossi appeared in the middle. traffic that neutralized the benefit of their new tires. Palou came out in P6 with O’Ward in P8 and, in a lap, O’Ward passed Jack Harvey to take P7.

On lap 35, O’Ward was on the hunt and challenged Palou into the Turn 5 hairpin. With a strong run out of the corner, he pulled the Ganassi driver’s run to the next corner and took the position. Due to a severely mistimed tackle, O’Ward of FC spent some time on the grass writhing in agony before he could get up and continue the game.

O’Ward extended the lead to about five seconds before being called up in the 42nd lap. His progress was slowed on lap 44 when Sebastien Bourdais escaped inside lap 5 to make a pass and made contact with O ‘ Ward, which allowed Graham Rahal to sneak in as well. VeeKay followed O’Ward as he slid to P8, just halfway through the 90-lap race.

Palou stopped driving on lap 62 and towed Dixon; Ericsson was on the previous round. O’Ward stopped on lap 66 and watched Palou pass to the front right as he stood still as fuel flowed into Chevy No. Once his tires reached temperature, O’Ward faced a 9.9s deficit over Palou, while remaining in fifth place. Palou held 2.2 seconds over Power on lap 71, with Dixon 3.5 seconds behind in the third. With the first three running in training, O’Ward took fourth place on Ericsson in lap 75, with Palou maintaining a 9.8-second lead over the AMSP driver.

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

result

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