Sports Writing (USA), May 13 (EFE).- Alex Palou (Chip Ganassi) dominated the Indianapolis GMR Grand Prix from start to finish this Saturday and reached the lead in the IndyCar championship just two weeks before the dispute of the 500 miles in this same scenario.
It was the first victory of the season for the Spanish driver and the fifth different winner in the five grands prix contested so far in the 2023 Indycar Series.
Only the Danish Christian Lundgaard (Rahal Letterman), who was defending pole position, was able to offer resistance in the initial forty laps.
In the final stretch, the Mexican Pato O’Ward (Arrow McLaren) reached second place and tried to overtake the Catalan, without success.
“It has been a great job from the whole team, I am very happy, I knew since yesterday that we had the fastest car, it has gone very well all weekend”, commented Palou as soon as he got out of the car.
“I am focused on the championship, very happy with the first victory, it has come a little late but we are on the right foot for the championship,” he added.
Palou is the championship leader with 174 points, six more than O’Ward. Both have been very protagonists in this first third of the championship and the most regular on the grid. The Swede Marcus Ericsson, leader until today, finished the race in eighth position.
The last time Palou climbed to the top of the podium was at the last Grand Prix of last season, at Laguna Seca, on September 11. It was his fifth victory in the Indycar Series.
After the start, the Spanish rider gained a position in the first metres. And before completing the first lap he began to lead the test.
He did not find much opposition in the first layouts of the circuit, and then he focused on increasing the distance with the rest of the rivals.
Lungaard retained second place, and behind him, the entire Arrow McLaren team chasing him with the American Alexander Rossi, the Swede Felix Rosenqvist and O’Ward himself.
The Dale Coyne Racing team was met with bad news very early: on the second lap rookie Sting Ray Robb hit David Malukas and both were out of the race.
Palou’s first pit stop came after 18 laps, at a time when the Danish Lundgaard was cutting time.
With Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman) as the leader extending his time in the pits, Lundgaard continued to harass Palou, and even overtook him.
Rahal went through the pits on lap 32 and once again left the top places for his teammate Lundgaard and Palou. Halfway through the race, the Spaniard was cutting time again with the Dane, managing to be less than a second behind.
A comeback that culminated on lap 42. He took the whole game out of his Chip-Ganassi and left Lundgaard far behind. It was the fastest car.
O’Ward fought against his own teammates for trying to reach the podium and seek the first place in the championship. It didn’t take him too long to get rid of Rossi, but with Rosenqvist he needed more patience.
It was not easy for the Mexican to avoid going off the track during the laps in which he had to drive with the front left tire very worn. Once this problem was solved, he resumed his driving and became the only one capable of disturbing Palou.
After the last pit stop, the ten seconds gap between the Spaniard and the Mexican were too much and Palou dedicated himself to ensuring victory in the race and, with it, also the lead.
“It was a weird race, fighting between teammates, I tried to close the gap I had with Alex but he was fastest today,” O’Ward said after the race.
In just two weeks, the legendary Indianapolis 500 will be held at this same circuit, already with the traditional oval, completing what many consider to be the best month of the year in the motor home of the United States.
