By the Numbers: The Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis

The Sonsio Grand Prix of Indianapolis wasn’t the most spectacular race, but it was remarkable for many reasons. For example, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing had never qualified all three of its cars so strongly for a race, a record-long green flag run came to an end, and Alex Palou claimed his fourth win of the season! What else stood out? We summarize the race weekend with a series of numbers.

142 – During the race, 142 on-track passes for position were recorded. This is significantly fewer than last year, when there were 233 passes.

97 – With four wins and one second place finish, Alex Palou already holds a 97-point lead in the championship over second-place Kyle Kirkwood. Even if Palou were to retire first in the next two races (and only score five points), it would still be very unlikely for him to lose the championship lead.

71.8695 – The Grand Prix of Indianapolis was a missed opportunity for Colton Herta. The Andretti Global driver fell a lap behind after an incident on the opening lap, but then showed impressive pace and even set the second-fastest lap of the race: 1:11.8695, or 71.8695 seconds.

71.5412 – On lap 74, Alex Palou set the fastest lap of the race: 1:11.5412, or 71.5412 seconds.

15 – This was the 15th IndyCar victory for Alex Palou, moving him from 33rd to a tie for 30th on the all-time winners list. He now shares that position with Alex Zanardi, Juan Pablo Montoya, and Simon Pagenaud.

15 – Rinus VeeKay gained more positions from his starting spot than any other driver. Despite few caution periods, the Dale Coyne Racing driver fought his way from 24th on the grid to ninth at the finish.

12 – Among the drivers who finished, Devlin DeFrancesco lost the most positions from his starting spot: he impressively started fifth but finished 17th after an issue in the pits.

5 – The race saw no fewer than five retirements — all due to technical issues. So far, this is the highest number of retirements in a race this season.

5 – Devlin DeFrancesco qualified fifth for the race, matching his best qualifying result — also achieved on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

4 – So far, the season has not gone as Marcus Armstrong had hoped, with a 14th place in the championship standings. What stands out, however, is that the Grand Prix of Indianapolis marked the fourth race this season in which he led at least one lap! The only race where he didn’t lead a lap was at The Thermal Club.

4 – In total, four different drivers led at least one lap: Graham Rahal (49 laps), Alex Palou (39 laps), Marcus Armstrong (6 laps), and Devlin DeFrancesco (1 lap).

4 – Due to technical issues, Robert Shwartzman completed only four laps before the start of qualifying — on a track he had never driven before. Unsurprisingly, he qualified last, though the gap was only 1.7 seconds, which wasn’t bad. He performed better in the race, climbing to 18th position — matching his best IndyCar race result.

3 – For the first time since the race at The Thermal Club, the stewards had to issue penalties again. Three were handed out: two drive-through penalties to Christian Lundgaard (for crossing the white line at pit exit) and Christian Rasmussen (for speeding in the pits), while Robert Shwartzman was ordered to drop one position for leaving too large a gap behind the pace car.

3 – The third-place qualifying effort by Louis Foster was not only his best qualifying result in his young IndyCar career, but also the highest start by a rookie since Linus Lundqvist started from pole at Road America last year.

3 – Getting all three Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers into the Firestone Fast 6 was a true milestone for the team; it had never achieved this before.

3 – Alex Palou’s victory in the Grand Prix of Indianapolis was his third consecutive win in this race — he also crossed the finish line first in 2023 and 2024.

1 – Because Josef Newgarden had to be repositioned, the start of the race was delayed by one lap. Officially, that was one lap under yellow, which brought the long streak of green-flag racing to an end. Later in the race, there was another caution for the stalled car of David Malukas.

1 – Because Christian Lundgaard finished 16th in this race, Alex Palou is now the only driver to have finished in the top ten in all five races this season — or in Palou’s case, even the top two!

0 – It was a disastrous Saturday for Kyffin Simpson: due to gearbox issues, he was unable to start the race at all.