Alex Palou runs away in GMR Grand Prix for first win of 2023
INDIANAPOLIS — There was much said Friday evening after qualifying about the GMR Grand Prix’s front row, with the Scandinavian lockout, Christian Lundgaard’s first IndyCar pole and Felix Rosenqvist’s hope that a start up front would lead to his long-awaited second career win.
And before the end of Lap 1 in Saturday’s race, Alex Palou snagged the lead and would run away from the field. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver delivered a 16.8-second beatdown by the end of the Saturday’s 85 laps on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course – the first race this season that didn’t go down to the wire since Palou ran away and hid at the Laguna Seca finale a year ago.
“Honestly, we knew we had a fast car since Practice No. 1 yesterday, and once we knew we were starting on reds (with most of the front-runners on black primary tires), we just had to execute,” Palou said post-race on the NBC broadcast. “I’m focused on the championship at the moment. We don’t look at the 500 until Tuesday, so I’m super happy to get my first win of the season now. Last year, it just came too late.”
Here’s how he did it:
A strategy call catches front-runners off-guard
Palou surprised some with his camp’s choice of tires to start the race, opting for the red Firestone alternates; the only driver starting in the top-seven not starting on the black primaries. With the softer, initially-faster tire choice, the 2021 series champ managed to snag the opening lap lead from Lundgaard in Turn 14. Moments later, the race would see its first and only caution, as Dale Coyne Racing rookie Sting Ray Robb collided with teammate David Malukas at the end of the run down the backstretch into Turn 7.
The race returned to green on Lap 5, and not needing to burn up his red alternate rubber for a couple laps during the caution allowed Palou to ride their advantage a bit further than the leaders were on their red stints. The Ganassi driver extended his initial lead on Lundgaard to 4.9 seconds on Lap 15, though it dropped down to 3.7 seconds a couple laps later before he pitted on Lap 18 – handing the lead back to Lundgaard.
Palou retakes lead, then pulls away
The first fuel cycle was complete on Lap 31, with Lundgaard having jumped Palou in the sequence and building a couple-second gap on the Spaniard as he ran his first stint on reds with Palou on blacks. On Lap 35, the RLL driver led Palou by 2.8 seconds, but by Lap 40, it was down to 0.6 seconds. Palou passed the second-year driver on Lap 42 just before Lundgaard jumped into the pits for his second stop.
Lundgaard and Palou suffered lengthy stops, allowing Pato O’Ward to creep up into the picture. On Lap 45, all three could’ve been covered by a blanket racing down the back-stretch, with O’Ward only narrowly ahead of Palou. The latter then grabbed the lead and began his run away from the field to end up leading 52 laps by the checkered flag.
With Lundgaard’s No. 45 crew again opting for red tires for his third stint, Palou turned a 1.9-second lead on the Dane (Lap 50) into 3.6 seconds by Lap 55, 5.4 seconds by Lap 57 and 9.3 on Lundgaard on Lap 58, when O’Ward snagged second place from the RLL driver.
The trio all finished their final stops by Lap 62, with O’Ward needing to pull off a miracle on sticker red tires vs. Palou’s used blacks and an 8-second lead to chew up over 23 laps. With 15 laps to go, Palou had only increased his advantage up to 11.6 seconds, and though it dipped to 10.9 with 10 to go, it shot back up above 16 by the checkered flag.
“I think they were just extremely strong today,” O’Ward said post-race of Palou and the No. 10 crew. “But 2nd-3rd-5th (for Arrow McLaren’s three full-time drivers Saturday) is pretty freaking phenomenal.
“We were just hanging on at the end, and (Ganassi) was just really strong today.”
How the rest of the field fared
O’Ward’s Arrow McLaren teammate Alexander Rossi capped Saturday’s podium – his best finish with his new team – with Lundgaard settling for fourth place one day after saying he’d be disappointed with anything other than a win.
“Right now, I’m satisfied with fourth,” the RLL driver said post-race. “There was a point where I didn’t think we’d finish in the top-10, so to finish fourth is a win right now.”
Rosenqvist finished one spot behind Lundgaard, just as they started Saturday, in fifth. Scott Dixon (6th), Josef Newgarden (7th), Marcus Ericsson (8th), Colton Herta (9th) and Graham Rahal (10th) rounded out the top-10.
Palou now holds the points lead over O'Ward, with Ericsson, the championship leader entering the weekend, in third.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Alex Palou runs away from field in IndyCar's GMR Grand Prix
