INDIANAPOLIS — Alex Palou sent an early message by aggressively passing Christian Lundgaard, who had started in pole position, on the first lap of Saturday’s GMR Grand Prix: Palou was driving to win, and he wasn’t leaving anything to chance.
He delivered on his promise, too. After inheriting the lead on the 65th lap on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, he pulled away from the 27-car field and beat Pato O’Ward across the yard of bricks by 16.8006 seconds.
“We missed a little bit in qualifying, but we knew we had a fast car,” Palou said after producing IndyCar’s widest victory margin since his 30-second season-ending win in 2022. “I knew when we started on the alternates (red tires), we had to go hard. It was right, it was perfect.”
Palou’s team got everything right in his Honda engine-driven Chip Ganassi Racing No. 10, including the crucial tire strategy — opting to start on reds before switching to new primaries, then scuffed primaries and, finally, sticker primaries on his final pit stop.
As a result, the 2021 IndyCar Series champion dominated the race, leading 52 of 85 laps for his first win of the season and his first in 11 combined starts on the road course and oval at IMS. It’s the fifth career win for the 26-year-old Spaniard, who is also the American open-wheel series’ only driver to complete every lap of this season’s first five races.