Alex Palou Continues Magic Carpet Ride with Sonsio GP Victory
INDYCAR
Alex Palou continued his march toward history and immortality by winning the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, his fourth victory in five NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season.
It was the Spaniard's third consecutive victory in this race, an event record, and he became the first driver since Sebastien Bourdais in 2006 to win four of the first five races of an INDYCAR SERIES season.
SEE: Race Results
'I cannot describe the amazing season we've had so far,' Palou said. 'I owe everything to the team, Chip Ganassi Racing, my teammates, everybody who is working behind the scenes to make me look so fast on track. It's amazing. It's unbelievable.'
NTT P1 Award winner Palou drove his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a 5.4840-second victory over the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Honda of Pato O'Ward. That margin may have been considerably larger if not for a late caution period – the first in the series since Lap 1 of the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding – bunching the field before Palou ran away again.
Two-time series champion Will Power finished a season-best third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, 8.4529 seconds behind Palou. His teammate Scott McLaughlin was fourth in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Chevrolet.
Six-time series champion Scott Dixon rounded out the top five in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
After this victory, Palou's report card this season reads four victories (St. Petersburg, Thermal, Barber, Indianapolis road course) and one second-place finish (Long Beach). He leads the standings by 97 points – nearly two races' worth of points – over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global after just five of 17 races this season.
'We need to do something to stop this 10 car,' O'Ward said. 'These guys are really, really on a roll. I don't think I've seen anything like it, especially in INDYCAR.'
Future targets are coming into clear focus for Palou after this win. The first is victory in the next event and the biggest of them all, the 109th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 25 at IMS. Palou has never won on an oval, about his only remaining mountain yet to be climbed in this series.
'Hopefully we get to stay here (Victory Podium) again in a couple of weeks for the biggest race of the year,' Palou said.
Then, the focus could shift to a fourth Astor Challenge Cup as series champion in five years, a feat last achieved by Bourdais when he won four straight titles from 2004-07. It's not a stretch in this moment of dominance with 12 races remaining to conceive of Palou threatening the all-time series record for victories in a season, 10 by legends A.J. Foyt in 1964 and Al Unser in 1970.
Stay tuned for a complete report.
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