IndyCar
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou wins the GMR Grand Prix at Indianapolis
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing and Alex Palou are starting the Month of May at Indianapolis right where they want – in victory lane.
Palou started third in the No. 10 American Legion Honda and drove to a dominating win, beating Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward by 16.8006-seconds in Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“We knew we had a fast car, honestly since practice,” explained Palou. “Since we pulled the car off the trailer it was really, really good. I was comfortable. We just missed a little bit on pole yesterday.”
Palou started the race on the grippier but wear quicker alternate Firestone tires, while pole sitter Christian Lundgaard and the rest of the Top 7 started on the harder, longer-lasting primary Firestone tires. Palou knew he needed to take advantage early because the team didn’t want to keep those tires on for long.
“In the warm-up we found that were struggling a little bit more than others on the alternate tires so that’s why we went red (Firestone alternate tires), black (primary), black, black at the end to try to get the best of what we had,” explained Palou. “We knew with the alternate tires it was a lot easier to get temperature in and I knew it was only for the first couple of laps so I had to go for it.”
Strategist Barry Wanser and the Ricky Davis led crew installed the primary Firestone tires the rest of the way and the strategy worked pefect for Palou, who led a race-high 52-laps.
O’Ward worked the undercut strategy in the second-half of the race, pitting early to ditch the alternate Firestones for primaries on Lap 39, and his final pit stop on lap 62.
“Super-stoked for the team,” said O’Ward. “We put three cars in the Top 5, which is fricking hard to do in this series with how competitive it is. We just made our strategy really work. I just think Palou and Ganassi were very, very strong. We just couldn’t get them in the end.”
O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi finished third as all three Arrow McLaren cars finished in the Top 5.
“To get three cars in the Top 5 is near impossible these days,” said Rossi. “Everyone at McLaren has done a phenomenal job this year. We’ve had a really strong pace on Sunday’s, we just haven’t gotten the results we feel like we deserve.”
Lundgaard walked away feeling like he didn’t get the result he deserved after starting on the pole position and finishing fourth.
“The HyVee car has been great all weekend,” said Lundgaard. “We just didn’t have the pace we needed at the end.”
Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the Top 5 in the No. 6 Arrow Chevy.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon rallied to a sixth place finish after dropping down into the teens after the start of the race. Dixon’s CGR teammates Marcus Ericsson finished eighth and rookie Marcus Armstrong finished 15th.
Now the focus shifts to preparations for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 which begins with practice on Tuesday.
LEBANON, TN (September 15, 2024) – Andretti Global’s Colton Herta passed Pato O’Ward with four laps to go in the Sunday’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix to claim his first oval NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of his career.
“I’m so happy,” said Herta, whose No. 26 Gainbridge Honda crossed the finish line 1.8206-seconds ahead of O’Ward. “We knew we were going to have a hot rod in the race. It’s been an amazing year.”
The victory also vaulted Herta a couple of spots up in the final standings of the year.
“I just saw I finished second in the championship, which is awesome,” said Herta. “Hoping to do a little bit better next year.”
The second place finish was the sixth of the year for O’Ward and the twenty-sixth of his career and said afterwards he was lucky to finish there.
“Yeah, I wish I could have done it a little bit harder on him,” said O’Ward. “Those reds (Firestone alternate tires) at the end, I couldn’t see straight with so much vibrations. Could barely talk to the team with just how much was going on in the car. I think one more lap, Josef would have gotten me for sure. I was dying.”
Josef Newgarden finished third in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevy. The Tennessee native was not in the Championship hunt after being stripped of a season-opening win at St. Petersburg after he and teammate Scott McLaughlin were found to have illegal software that allowed them to use push-to-pass when others couldn’t.
“Team did a great job today,” said Newgarden. “They put a good car on the track, a great car. We’re going to come back next year and hopefully have a little different cadence would be nice. I’m going to be happy to leave all this in 2024.”
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou finished 11th and claimed his second straight Championship and third overall in four years. Dario Franchitti was the last driver to win three championships in four year, winning three straight for CGR from 2009-2011.
LEBANON TN (September 14, 2024) – Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood starts Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale, the Music City Grand Prix, from the pole position.
Kirkwood’s two-lap average in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda of 201.520 mph (47.5189) was .0395-seconds faster than Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden, who will start on the outside of the front row in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet.
Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist starts third in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda with Championship contender Will Power starting alongside in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet for Team Penske. Power trails Championship leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing by 33-points and must finish third or better to challenge Palou for the title.
“We’ll do what we can in the race tomorrow,” said Power, a two-time series Champion. “You know how these things roll. If it’s our day, it will be our day. If not, we’ll try again next year.”
Palou, the reigning series Champion, qualified 15th in the No. 10 DHL Honda, but will start 24th due to a 9-position grid penalty for an unapproved engine change following the last race in Milwaukee.
“The first lap wasn’t too bad, then the second lap was really, really bad,” said Palou, himself a two-time series Champion. “Not what we wanted, not what we needed.”
Palou needs to finish ninth or better to secure his third title in the last four seasons. He led the opening practice on Saturday at 199.862.
“The car was really good this morning. Hopefully we can make up some spots. It’s time to see what we can do.”
Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen, Arrow McLaren’s Alexander Rossi and Rossi’s teammate Nolan Siegel also received the nine-spot grid penalty for changing their engines.
The 206-lap season finale starts Sunday at 3 p.m. ET, and will be televised by NBC, Peacock, Universo, and can be heard on the INDYCAR Radio Network.
NEWTON, IA (July 14, 2024) – NTT INDYCAR SERIES drivers feel something needs to be done to make the Hy-Vee Doubleheader weekend at Iowa Speedway as exciting on-track as it has been historically.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t bummed about the race and how it raced,” said Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren Racing, who finished second Friday night. “Really tough to get that second lane working, compared to I don’t know how many on-track passes we had last year, probably not even a 10th of that. That was a bit frustrating because I thought we had a very strong car, definitely a car that was capable of winning. Just no way to get around a car.”
In 2023 for race one there were 1,502 total passes, of which 319 were for position. Conversely in race one of 2024 there were 192-total passes Saturday night, 100 of those were for position.
“Unfortunately I don’t think our car and our formula works super well for this type of track adjustment,” said Saturday night’s third place finisher Josef Newgarden about the partial track repave. “We’re different than a Cup car. We’ve developed our car differently than they have. It doesn’t always mesh. It definitely didn’t mesh tonight.”
“Bit of a shame that couldn’t really do anything to pass or to do anything,” said Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, who finished second on Sunday. “It’s the most boring thing I’ve ever done. It was yesterday, as well. It’s a shame that we couldn’t really put on a better show. I think everybody will agree that it was a very boring race to drive.”
INDYCAR reduced downforce levels by about 450-pounds heading into the race weekend and tire supplier Firestone came with new right side tires after heat-related issues during a recent test session at the track. The combination led to a parade-like race on Saturday and Sunday.
“I feel like we go into it and not do the right amount of study or whatnot to get it done and to get it to work,” said Saturday night’s winner Scott McLaughlin, who finished third on Sunday. “That’s not a shot at the sport, not a shot at anything. It’s working together with the amazing people and the geniuses we have up and down pit lane. It’s just a matter of making it work.”
“I think INDYCAR could go to work with downforce levels, working with Firestone on a few other things,” McLaughlin explained. “But you just can’t blame the track because at the end of the day they have to repave this at some time.”
“We went from the best oval race we would have all season to potentially the least amount of passing,” said Sunday’s winner Will Power. “Maybe just a softer tire might just work with this downforce level. Just a softer tire. If it degrades, people go out. You can roll to the outside. I don’t know what the answer is, but we certainly got to do something for next year.”
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