Palou Claims Grand Prix of Indianapolis Victory After Overtaking Rahal

Alex Palou claimed his fourth victory in the last five races by winning the Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver lost the lead at the start to Graham Rahal but overtook the American on lap 58. Pato O’Ward finished the race in second place, ahead of Will Power in third.

Even before the green flag waved, there was already plenty of drama on the track. First, Kyffin Simpson was unable to leave the pit lane due to a gearbox issue and would not start the race.

Josef Newgarden then unexpectedly dove into the pits one warm-up lap before the green flag due to radio problems. The American tried to reclaim his original sixth starting position but was sent to the back by race control. To accommodate this, the start of the race was delayed by one lap, ending the long streak of races that had started under green.

At the wave of the green flag, Graham Rahal immediately tucked into the slipstream of polesitter Alex Palou and managed to take the lead under braking into the first corner. Rahal was helped by starting the race on a fresh set of soft, alternate tires, while Palou had started on used soft tires.

The entire field made it through the first few corners without issue, but under braking for Turn 12, Callum Ilott and David Malukas made contact, and Newgarden subsequently tagged Ilott as well. As a result, Ilott fell four laps behind due to repairs in the pits.

After a dramatic qualifying session, the race only got worse for Andretti Global. First, Colton Herta damaged his front wing on the rear of Christian Lundgaard, forcing him into an unscheduled pit stop and dropping him a lap down. A few laps later, Marcus Ericsson had to retire his car in the pits with gearbox issues.

Up front, Rahal was able to build a small lead but saw Palou closing in dangerously after the first round of pit stops. However, Palou managed his tires wisely: he ran the first two stints on used tires, followed by a stint on a new set of hard tires, finishing on fresh soft tires.

Behind the leaders, more drama unfolded. Felix Rosenqvist locked up during an overtake attempt on Rinus VeeKay, clipped the Dutchman, and spun. Lundgaard dropped far back after a drive-through penalty for crossing the white line while exiting the pits. Devlin DeFrancesco threw away a strong race by stalling his engine after his second pit stop.

Palou appeared content to stay calmly behind the leading Rahal, waiting for the final stint to make his move. Rahal, however, ran his penultimate stint on a used set of red tires, which began to degrade badly towards the end of the stint. Palou launched his attack soon after. It didn’t work in Turn 1, but the Spaniard successfully passed Rahal for the lead in Turn 7. Due to tire issues and a slower final pit stop, Rahal eventually dropped back to fifth place.

Aside from the delayed start, it seemed the race would once again run entirely under green. That changed on lap 71 when Malukas had to pull over and retire his car. This was particularly bad news for the leading Palou, who had already built a ten-second advantage.

At the restart, O’Ward attempted to challenge Palou, but beyond one opportunity in Turn 1, he couldn’t get close — within two laps, Palou had already pulled out a two-second lead again. From there, Palou cruised to his fourth victory of the season, ultimately crossing the line five seconds ahead of O’Ward.

Full results of the race on Indianapolis Road Course