Palou and Ganassi Go 1-2 in IndyCar Season Opener at St. Pete

Yahoo

02-03-2025

One of the big questions for the NTT IndyCar Series field entering the 2025 season was how to halt the title march of three-time and two-time defending series champion Alex Palou.
They're still searching for that answer, even after the first race of the season Sunday on the sunny streets of St. Petersburg.
Palou opened his quest for a third consecutive Astor Challenge Cup as series champion in the best way possible, winning the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding in a master class of strategy, speed and patience. He drove his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a 2.8669-second victory over teammate and six-time series champion Scott Dixon, who said afterward that he contested the last 90 laps of the 100-lap race without radio communication in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
'What an amazing job by everybody,' Palou said. 'They gave me everything we needed this weekend to win. I told you yesterday we had a really, really fast car.
'Our strategy changed a lot during that first yellow, but I'm so glad we got that No. 10 in Victory Lane. It's been 138 days since Nashville (2024 season finale), and I've been dreaming about this every single night.'
Spaniard Palou, who started eighth, earned his 12th career victory in the series. The Ganassi team secured its first 1-2 finish since July 2023 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden rounded out the podium finishers in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet after Dixon passed him for second on the final lap.
NTT P1 Award winner Scott McLaughlin finished fourth in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, as Team Penske joined Chip Ganassi Racing with two drivers in the top four. McLaughlin was one of seven drivers out front today, leading a race-high 40 laps.
Florida native and resident Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top five finishers at his home race in the No. 27 Chili's Honda fielded by Andretti Global.
Palou took the lead for good on Lap 75 when Felix Rosenqvist made his final pit stop in the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of Meyer Shank Racing. It was the culmination of a race of split strategies, as drivers who started on the grippier, less durable Firestone Firehawk alternate tires – including Palou, Dixon and Newgarden – jumped into the pits on Lap 3 during the only caution period to shed the alternates for Firestone primary tires.
That proved decisive, yet Palou didn't just inherit the lead at the race's three-quarter mark and cruise to Victory Lane. He produced blazing in and out laps surrounding his final pit stop at the end of Lap 72, undercutting his teammate Dixon, who couldn't discuss strategy with his team and reacted to Palou's pit move by stopping one lap later after being slowed by thick traffic.
After his final stop, Dixon exited the pits behind a charging Palou.
'We were just kind of flying blind out there,' Dixon said of his radio problems. 'Ultimately, I think they were trying to call me in because on that last lap we had before we pitted, there was just so much traffic, and we lost two or three seconds. That's where the 10 car got us.'
Said Palou: 'I think he (Dixon) got trapped in traffic a little bit. That's why the 10 stand decided to pit a little bit early. We had a really clean out lap, could run fast and just opened a gap from there.'
Palou was 4.502 seconds ahead of Newgarden on Lap 75, but that gap didn't last. Newgarden sliced that margin to 2.4 seconds by Lap 88 as Palou coped with turbulent air from the car ahead of him, the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet of Sting Ray Robb, who was racing to stay on the lead lap.
Newgarden took advantage and continued to stalk Palou, pulling to within.8186 of a second after Lap 95. Dixon also was gaining ground in third.
But a potential logjam of three cars battling for the checkered flag was scattered when Palou finally lapped Robb in Turn 1 on Lap 96. Newgarden and Dixon squirted past Robb on
the same lap, but the traffic-free clean air allowed Palou to pull away immediately.
Palou expanded his gap to 1.1959 seconds after Lap 97 and 1.6938 seconds at the white flag at the end of Lap 99. His lead grew even more during the final trip around the 14-turn, 1.8-mile street circuit as Dixon and Newgarden dueled for second. Dixon got past fellow Indianapolis 500 winner and series champion Newgarden in Turn 10 on the final lap.
'I felt like our car today certainly was capable of winning,' Newgarden said. 'Just didn't quite get there for a couple of reasons. Pit cycles, obviously, we needed to go longer, and we had a shift at the end that we didn't realize, so we kind of had to give up that second place.'
2024 St. Petersburg winner Pato O'Ward used a mix of strategy and speed to climb from the 23rd starting spot to finish 11th in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. That was the biggest climb from start to finish by any of the 27 drivers in the field.
The next NTT IndyCar Series race is The Thermal Club
IndyCar Grand Prix on Sunday, March 23 at Thermal, California (3 p.m. ET, FOX, FOX Sports app, IndyCar Radio Network).