IndyCar
Alex Palou survives Turn 1 melee to win Grand Prix of Portland
PORTLAND, OR (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou survived a first lap incident heading into Portland International Raceway’s first turn and came back to win Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Grand Prix of Portland.
The victory was the third of the season for Palou, who regained the Championship points lead with the victory.
“It was massive,” Palou said of the victory. “I don’t think that much about the three wins or two wins. I think that’s important but not super. What I think is important is that even having a really bad start of the race, we were able to fight.”
Palou started on the pole position and was leading the field down the frontstretch with Alexander Rossi to his left in second place and Scott Dixon behind him to Palou’s inside in third when fourth-starting Felix Rosenqvist carried too much speed into the first turn. As Rosenqvist took evasive action he made contact with Dixon, which prevented the six-time series Champion from making turn one. Dixon went straight through the runoff area but that move prevented Palou and Rossi from making the turn too.
“I filled that gap because I figured Rahal or somebody was going to try and scoot down the inside of us,” explained Dixon. “I bailed out of it and then got hit from behind, I think it was Felix (Rosenqvist), and that caused a bit of an interesting moment for all of us on the start there.”
All four drivers went through the runoff area and rejoined the field however more turn one chaos was happening behind them as several drivers made contact or were forced to take evasive action to avoid contact bringing out the caution flag. Among the drivers sustaining damage were Helio Castroneves, James Hinchcliffe, Will Power, Romain Grosjean and Oliver Askew.
INDYCAR race control penalized Palou, Rossi, Dixon and Rosenqvist and sent them to the back of the field for not taking the first turn, which mystified the drivers.
“I got hit at some point,” said Palou. “I knew Scott was on the inside, so I couldn’t really go there, so I knew I had to go through the chicane. I made it through the chicane, and I said, ‘okay, I only lost like five positions’, which is a lot, but I said, ‘at least I’m not out’. And then INDYCAR decided that that was not penalizing enough, and they put me in the back, which I don’t know what they want me to do at that point. Do they prefer me to like completely stop the car and make that corner, making the race unsafe?”
“It was just the craziest thing I’ve ever seen, and I’ve been in racing a little while,” explained Dixon. “I don’t know what they (race control) were thinking or how that came about, but put all of us at the back the field. Be interesting to go talk to them later and see how they came up with that scenario.”
“I thought it was pretty low grip in Turn 1 when Felix, I guess — when Scott and Alex and them kind of slid through, I didn’t really have anywhere to go, and I thought if we got back to the styrofoam chicane, that was acceptable,” said Rossi. “But it was self-penalizing because we all went from like first, second, third to sixth, seventh, eighth, and then they’re like, ‘oh, you’re going to 24th’. It was like, okay, cool. But fortunately it all came around.”
INDYCAR rules state that cars avoiding the collision and remaining on the racing surface at the timing lines embedded in the track through the chicane are placed at the front of the field on the restart, with drivers avoiding the collision but leaving the racetrack placed behind them, followed by drivers involved in the incident.
The reshuffling of the field and subsequent restart saw Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward, who was leading the Championship by 10-points coming into the weekend, take the early lead with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal right behind in second place. Those two remained out front until their first round of pit stops.
The second caution flag came out on lap 52 when rookie Callum Ilott and Dalton Kellett both slowed on different parts of the track. Several drivers elected to pit for service but Rahal elected to stay out and led until Lap 74, when he and second-place Ed Jones pitted to hand the lead to Jack Harvey.
Pit stop strategy eventually worked out in the favor of Palou, Rossi and Dixon. Palou, who made his final stop on Lap 79, one lap before teammate Dixon, took the lead for good on Lap 86 and survived two late restarts and was able to hold off Rossi and Dixon for the win.
Two races remain in the season-long championship, WeatherTech Raceway at Laguna Seca and the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, where the 2021 Champion will be crowned.
“Clearly we are in the fight,” said Palou of his Championship chances. “But I think until Long Beach we are not going to know really who’s what. I think that many people today after the first lap thought that Pato was going to win and that we were going to lose 40 points, and it was the opposite. That’s why INDYCAR is INDYCAR, which is really good. I think that makes the racing super exciting and the championship super exciting until the end.”
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (May 11, 2024) Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is heading into the Indianapolis 500 with momentum after winning Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Palou survived a late race restart and held off Team Penske’s Will Power, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard and CGR teammate Scott Dixon to pick up his first win of 2024, his 2nd straight Sonsio Grand Prix and 10th of his career.
“It was an amazing win,” said Palou. “It’s great to be back-to-back from last year and continue this May.”
Power brought the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet home in second-place, his third runner-up finish of 2024, 7th second-place finish in the Grand Prix.
“You get sick and tired of finishing second,” joked Power. “You’re just racing very tough people and if you’re not exactly perfect you won’t win. I wasn’t exactly perfect in qualifying and I didn’t win. All I know is if you keep knocking on the door, the wins will come.”
Lundgaard brought the RLL No. 45 HyVee Honda home in third despite leading a large portion of the race.
Dixon brought the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda home in fourth followed by teammate Marcus Armstrong in the No. 11 Indiana University Honda, giving team owner Chip Ganassi three cars in the Top 5.
“These are all teams wins,” said Ganassi. “There’s a lot going on pit strategy wise, tire wise. Obviously three guys in the Top 5, it’s a really, really big win heading into the Month of May.”
Palou started on the pole position using the quicker, faster-wearing red sidewall alternate Firestone tires with second-place starter Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard opting for the longer lasting black sidewall Firestone primary tires.
Palou locked up his rear tires going into turn one and overshot the corner a bit, which allowed Lundgaard to make the move to the inside and into the lead.
“I made a little mistake on the start and lost our first position there that we fought so hard for in qualifying,” explained Palou.
Lundgaard led through the first round of pit stops. Will Power pitted before Lundgaard and Palou and was able to pass Palou in Turn 7 while Palou’s tires were coming up to speed.
Lundgaard retook the lead on lap 24 followed by Power, Palou, Dixon, Newgarden and Marcus Armstrong.
Palou stayed out an extra lap through the second round of pit stop and quick work by the No. 10 crew allowed Palou to take the lead on the faster red sidewall Firestones.
“Everybody on all the crew, the engineers and the mechanics did an amazing job in the pits, gave me that lead and we just had to try and get the performance we had all weekend out of the No. 10 DHL Honda car,” said Palou.
“I think if we’d gone longer on that stint it would’ve kept Palou behind us,” explained Power. “He wouldn’t have been able to use his speed. We thought that was the best option at the time. I thought the undercut would be good.”
Palou led the top four into the pits for the final stop of the day and led them off in first with Power leapfrogging Lundgaard on pit road.
Palou maintained the lead on the subsequent restart despite sliding on the entrance into Turn 1, which stifled Power’s attempt to get around the leader. The No. 10 Honda methodically built a gap over the final laps, finishing 6.6106-seconds ahead of the No. 12 Chevy.
Next up for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is time trials and qualifying for the Indy 500 next Saturday and Sunday.
IndyCar
INDY GP Racing Notebook: CGR’s Armstrong Quickest in Warmup as Ferrucci & Grosjean Make Contact plus more.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (Pittsburgh Racing Now) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong is quick in Saturday’s morning NTT INDYCAR SERIES warm-up for the Sonsio Gran Prix as Santino Ferrucci and Romain Grosjean make contact plus Jacob Able scores his second INDY NXT victory and VRD Racing sweeps Friday’s support races and more in the INDY GP Racing Notebook.
Marcus Armstrong Leads Morning Warmup
- Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong led the NTT INDYCAR SERIES morning warmup for the Sonsio Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. Armstrong’s fast lap of 1-minute, 9.8485-seconds in the No. 11 Honda was almost 4-tenths of a second quicker than Andretti Global’s Colton Herta (1:10.2314). Ed Carpenter Racing’s Rinus Veejay was third (1:10.3889) followed by pole-sitter and defending race-winner Alex Palou in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda (1:10.4222). Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal was fifth (1:10.4573). Chip Ganassi had three cars in the Top 6 with Scott Dixon right behind Rahal with a fast lap of 1:10.5407 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda.
Ferrucci And Grosjean Spar In Warmup
- AJ Foyt Racing’s Santino Ferrucci and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean made contact during the morning warmup for Saturday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Sonsio Gran Prix. Ferrucci’s No. 14 Sexton Properties Chevy was inside Grosjean’s JHR Chevy in Turn 10 and Grosjean turned right into Ferrucci’s car. Ferrucci pushed Grosjean back to the left side and gave him a hand gesture as the pair came down the South short chute heading into Turn 12. Ferrucci told NBS Sports afterwards, “If he doesn’t like it, come over here and talk to me about it.”
Abel Makes It 2-In-A-Row In INDYNXT
- Jacob Able is a two-time winner in INDY NXT competition. Able held off Nolan Siegel in a three-lap shootout Friday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. “This is awesome,” said Abel, who led 35 laps in this race. “Unfortunately, we don’t get to celebrate for too long here. We’re getting another chance tomorrow. That was a really great race, though.” Siegel, of HMD Motorsports finished second .5470-seconds behind. Andretti Global’s Jamie Chadwick finished third, the best finish for a female driver in INDY NXT since Pippa Mann’s win in 2010 at Kentucky. INDY NXT Race 1 Results
Nikita Armstrong Wins USFPro200 Race
- 15-year-old Nikita Johnson is 4-for-4 in USFPro2000 competition in 2024. Johnson helped his VRD Racing Team win the day as Max Taylor won the USF2000 race. Rookie Liam Sceats finished a distant second for TJ Speed Motorsports, his best finish of the season. Lochie Hughes finished third for Turn 3 Motorsport. indygp-usf-pro-2000-race-1
Taylor Scores USF2000 Win
- Max Taylor is a winner in USF2000 after taking the first race of a doubleheader on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Taylor took the lead in Turn 1 after a restart following an early full-course caution flag. “My plan was to get into the lead as fast as I could and I did just that. I got to the lead and had a little battle with Evan and just checked out and put some good laps in. The VRD car just drove itself really,” said Taylor. Exclusive Autosport’s Joey Brienza finished second ahead of teammate Evan Cooley who made an impressive USF2000 debut by qualifying on pole position. indygp-usf2000-race-1
Maeta To Perform National Anthem at Sonsio GP
- Maeta, an Indianapolis native who recently peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard R&B chart, will perform the national anthem before the start of the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 11 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Having an Indianapolis native, whose career is just taking off, ensures this performance will be memorable for all involved. Maeta’s rendition is sure to set the stage for an epic race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course,” said J. Douglas Boles, President of IMS.
Sonsio Extends Partnership With IMS
- Sonsio Vehicle Protection is renewing its partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Sonsio Vehicle Protection, an industry-leading provider of vehicle protection and warranty programs, will continue as an Official Partner of IMS and the title sponsor of the Sonsio Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES road course race. Sonsio Vehicle Protection serves more than 82,000 dealerships, F&I service providers, manufacturers, insurance companies, parts suppliers, retail chains and many independent retailers across all 50 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (May 10, 2024) Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou is on the pole position for Saturday’s Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Palou’s fast lap of 1 minute, 9.0004 seconds in the No. 10 DHL Honda during final round of knockout-style qualifying was 0.168-seconds faster than second-place qualifier Christian Lundgaard of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.
“We’ve normally struggled quite a lot on qualifying, so it feels special,” said Palou. “On top of that, today we started a bit slow, struggling a little bit with the car balance in both practices. Yeah, kind of surprised that we are here, but at the same time, we are enjoying the moment and looking forward to tomorrow starting on pole.”
Palou won this race last Spring, which kicked off a string of four wins in five races propelling him to the 2023 series Championship.
“We just had an amazing amount of work by the whole team that allowed me to have the best car every single weekend last year so much in a row and we executed,” said Palou. “We were lucky at some moments, and we took advantage of it. But it helps. Momentum always helps.”
Lundgaard’s fast lap of 1:09:0921 in the No. 45 HyVee Honda gave him three-consecutive front row starts on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile IMS road course. Lundgaard won the pole for this event last May and started second in the Gallagher Grand Prix last August.
“I must say I’m a little disappointed,” said Lundgaard. “There was only one more guy to beat. We’ve done it before. We’ve been on the pole here. We’ve also started second. That will now be the second time in a row that I’ll do that. But I think as a team, we need to be proud of always knocking on the door when we’re here. We’re always competitive, and yet we’re still trying to find different things and make different things work, which was an approach we took for this weekend because we knew we had a place to fall back to.”
Two-time series champion Will Power will start third after his top qualifying lap of 1:09.1636 in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet. Teammate Josef Newgarden will join Power in the second row of the starting grid after qualifying fourth at 1:09.2528 in the No. 2 Snap-on Team Penske Chevrolet.
“Happy to start in that second row,” said Newgarden. “I think we have something to fight with, which is great for the whole team. We’ve struggled from the first outing. Actually one of my best runs — best laps was my third lap out, and then we just went backwards from there, and then we clawed our way back into qualifying.”
Pato O’Ward will start fifth after his best lap of 1:09.3320 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Six-time series champion Scott Dixon rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 1:09.5270 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
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