Latest news with #DavidMalukas
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Alex Palou's dominant stretch undone by restart shunt in Detroit GP: video
Alex Palou, the two-time defending champion, was restarting seventh with 28 laps to go in Sunday's Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix when he was hit from behind the trailing David Malukas heading into the street circuit's opening corner, nudging Palou's No. 10 Honda into the tire barrier on the outside wall. Unable to get his car refired and out of the barrier, Palou's day came to a shocking, immediate end. He'd already had a comparatively human weekend, finding himself fourth on pace before the prior caution shifted up the running order. But the three-time IndyCar champion was still positioned to make the most of a challenging race. Advertisement Instead he was relegated to 25th at race's end, ending a stretch of unprecedented dominance in the modern era of the series. Malukas was issued a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact. 'I haven't seen it yet, but for sure somebody hit me from behind,' Palou said of the incident. 'Very unfortunate. We did an amazing recovery this weekend. Didn't really have much pace at the beginning and I felt we were running good to try and sneak into the podium at the end. 'Doesn't feel great. But nothing we could have done there, I think.' Palou had entered Detroit looking to continue what had been a year of sheer dominance. Through six races, the Spaniard had secured five wins and a runner-up finish, including his first victory in the Indianapolis 500. His 1.17 average finish had him set up with an untouchable championship lead and dreaming of the first victory for an Indy 500 winner in the ensuing race since Juan Pablo Montoya in 2000. Advertisement Instead, Palou left the Motor City with the second-worst finish for an Indy 500 winner in the next race over the past decade, better only than 2024 winner Josef Newgarden's 26th-place result at the same track. The result marked Palou's first DNF since the first leg of the Iowa Speedway doubleheader in July 2024. It was just the third race the 28-year-old's failed to finish dating back to the start of the 2022 season. To read more articles visit our website.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Colton Herta Captures Pole in Detroit, Looks to Snap Podium Drought
For the second year in a row, Colton Herta will start on pole for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix. In its third year downtown, the race takes place on the nine-turn temporary street course around the Renaissance Center, a Downtown Detroit staple. Last year, Herta struggled on a lap 46 restart and fell out of contention for a win, finishing a lap down in 19th. Fellow Honda driver Scott Dixon would go on to win the race. A few races later, Herta would convert his second pole of the season on a street course to a win in Toronto. Herta's 2024 and 2025 seasons have been marred by strictly horrible luck following him most weekends. This has led to his six-race podium drought to start 2025 following his win in last year's season finale at Nashville Superspeedway. Herta told IndyCar on Fox that he felt the car wasn't strong following Friday's practice, and the tweaks made to it overnight made it a lot more competitive on soft tires. "It was such an unknown, and we were not really strong yesterday with the softer tires," Herta said. "The guys did a great job overnight." It's a big relief. We've been close a few times this year. On making it, not only making it to the fast six but making it on a pole run. Happy to do that, happy to start P1 tomorrow, best seat in the house." David Malukas, who inherited a second-place finish in the Indy 500 last weekend, picks up where he left off, starting P2 in Detroit. Malukas is one of the drivers that have shown love for the new street circuit due to how overly technical it is to run. Malukas did not race it last year, where rain, constant crashes, and attrition led many drivers to form a less positive opinion. Behind Herta on the start will be his Andretti Global teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, the only driver to deny Alex Palou a win in 2025. Kirkwood was nearly four-tenths faster than Herta at the start of his final flying lap, but lost the momentum. "I've never been more disappointed in a third in my life," Kirkwood told IndyCar on Fox. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Alex Palou wins 2025 Indianapolis 500 for fifth win in season's first six races
Alex Palou continued his incredibly dominant IndyCar Series season with his first Indianapolis 500 win. Palou passed Marcus Ericsson entering Turn 1 with 14 laps to go and held off Ericsson, David Malukas and Pato O'Ward the rest of the way. Ericsson lifted into the corner behind two lapped cars when Palou passed him and left a gap for the three-time IndyCar champion. The victory is Palou's fifth in six races in 2025 and the Barcelona native is the first Spanish driver to win the Indy 500. After winning the 2023 and 2024 IndyCar titles, Palou is even better in 2025. The only race of the season he didn't win was the Long Beach Grand Prix. And Palou was second to Kyle Kirkwood in that event. Advertisement Palou's win officially came under caution on the last lap for a Nolan Siegel crash. But it was clear that Palou was going to win the race had it stayed green to the end. Ericsson had nothing for Palou after he was passed. Palou adeptly used the draft from the lapped cars of Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster ahead of him to get a tow down the straights and prevent Ericsson from getting a run. Malukas finished third and O'Ward, last year's runner-up to Josef Newgarden, was fourth. After getting out of his car on the frontstretch after the checkered flag, Palou ran down the track and celebrated with his crew and his father Ramon. 'I cannot believe it, what an amazing day, what an amazing race,' Palou said. Advertisement The 14 laps Palou led at the end of the race were the only ones he led all race. But his win was far from a fluke. He had one of the fastest cars in the field and ran patiently for much of the race, knowing he had a car capable of contending for the win. Palou's 2025 is better than Max Verstappen's 2023 ... so far Max Verstappen set the modern racing record for dominance just two years ago when he won 19 races and had 21 podium finishes in 22 Formula 1 races. Verstappen finished with 575 points and had more than double the points of his teammate Sergio Perez in second in the standings. Verstappen also had more points than any of the nine other teams' two drivers had combined while posting an average finish of 1.3 over the course of the season. Palou's 2025 is on track to be even better. Palou's average finish is 1.17 through six races and already had a 100-point lead in the IndyCar standings ahead of the 500. Advertisement With just 17 races in the IndyCar Series season, he's almost assuredly heading for a third straight title. If he doesn't win the title, someone else is going to have to go on a Palou-like run of his own. And Palou's performance will have to fall off a cliff. Palou's dominance could also take him to Formula 1 in 2026 where he'd have the chance to race against Verstappen. Cadillac is set to be the 11th team on the F1 grid next year and hasn't announced who its two drivers will be. If Palou isn't seriously considered to be one of them, it's malpractice. The 28-year-old already has some F1 experience as a reserve driver with McLaren. He's gotten practice experience with McLaren and has also tested for the team. He's clearly one of the best open-wheel drivers on the planet and deserves the chance to go F1 racing. He's making the IndyCar Series look incredibly easy. And that's hard to do. Advertisement Palou's next victory will make him the first IndyCar driver with six wins in a season since Will Power in 2011. And no IndyCar driver has ever won seven races in a season since the series expanded beyond nine races in 2001. It's hard to envision Palou not getting at least two more wins this season. Team Penske's miserable week continues Team Penske fired three employees after Will Power and Josef Newgarded were unable to qualify for the pole position a week ago because of modifications to the rear attenuators on their cars. Their teammate Scott McLaughlin was also unable to run for pole because of a crash before the final qualifying session. Newgarden and Power had to start on the last row because of the inspection failures while McLaughlin started on the fourth row. The trio were aiming to give IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske his 21st Indianapolis 500 win. And Newgarden was trying to be the first driver to win three straight Indy 500s. Advertisement The race got off to an inauspicious start for Team Penske when McLaughlin crashed before the green flag even flew. His car got sideways and he hit the inside wall on the frontstretch when he was warming up his tires ahead of the start. Newgarden picked his way through the field and looked like a serious contender for the victory. However, his car had a fuel pressure issue before he had a real chance to go for the win and was forced to get out of his car with 64 laps to go. Power, meanwhile, had the best day of anyone. And it was mediocre. The Indy 500 winner finished 19th in what may be his final 500 for the team. Power, 44, is a free agent at the end of the season. A really bizarre race The race was delayed less than an hour from its 12:45 p.m. start time because of light drizzle. And McLaughlin's incident wasn't the only weird thing that happened. Scott Dixon had a rear left brake fire before the race began and ultimately finished multiple laps down. Advertisement IndyCar started counting laps under caution following his crash and once the race officially went green on lap four, Marco Andretti got bounced into the wall and his race was over. Alexander Rossi cycled into the early lead because of pit strategy but had to hit pit road because his car was smoking. His Ed Carpenter Racing team decided to fuel the car even though it was spewing smoke and the car — and Rossi's fuel man — subsequently caught fire. Thankfully the fire was quickly extinguished on both car and man. After Rossi's fire, pole sitter Robert Shwartzman's day ended when he crashed into multiple pit crew members while trying to slow in his pit box for a stop. The impact broke the front suspension on his car and ended his day. And as crews were cleaning up pit lane from Rossi's fire, Rinus VeeKay crashed entering pit road because his car had an apparent brake failure. Kyle Larson's double-duty attempt also got cut short with a lap 92 crash. Larson's car spun shortly after a restart and he took out Kyffin Simpson and Sting Ray Robb in the wreck. The 2021 Cup Series champion was trying to run all 500 miles at Indianapolis and all 600 miles in NASCAR's Coca-Cola 600 later in the evening. Advertisement That 1,100-mile attempt was put in a bit of jeopardy with the rain delay, but that jeopardy disappeared with Larson's crash. A year ago, Larson missed the 600 because of a lengthy rain delay ahead of the 500. 2025 Indianapolis 500 results 1. Alex Palou 2. Marcus Ericsson 3. David Malukas 4. Pato O'Ward 5. Felix Rosenqvist 6. Kyle Kirkwood 7. Santino Ferrucci 8. Christian Rasmussen 9. Christian Lundgaard 10. Conor Daly 11. Takuma Sato 12. Callum Ilott 13. Helio Castroneves 14. Devlin DeFrancesco 15. Louis Foster 16. Nolan Siegel 17. Colton Herta 18. Ed Carpenter 19. Will Power 20. Graham Rahal 21. Marcus Armstrong 22. Jack Harvey Advertisement 23. Scott Dixon 24. Ryan Hunter-Reay 25. Josef Newgarden 26. Sting Ray Robb 27. Kyle Larson 28. Kyffin Simpson 29. Robert Shwartzman 30. Rinus VeeKay 31. Alexander Rossi 32. Marco Andretti 33. Scott McLaughlin
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Alex Palou wins 2025 Indianapolis 500 for fifth win in season's first six races
Alex Palou continued his incredibly dominant IndyCar Series season with his first Indianapolis 500 win. Palou passed Marcus Ericsson entering Turn 1 with 14 laps to go and held off Ericsson, David Malukas and Pato O'Ward the rest of the way. Ericsson lifted into the corner behind two lapped cars when Palou passed him and left a gap for the two-time IndyCar champion. ALEX PALOU TO THE LEAD AT INDY! — NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) May 25, 2025 The victory is Palou's fifth in six races in 2025 and the Barcelona native is the first Spanish driver to win the Indy 500. After winning the 2023 and 2024 IndyCar titles, Palou is even better in 2025. The only race of the season he didn't win was the Long Beach Grand Prix. And Palou was second to Kyle Kirkwood in that event. Palou's win officially came under caution on the last lap for a Nolan Siegel crash. But it was clear that Palou was going to win the race had it stayed green to the end. Ericsson had nothing for Palou after he was passed. Palou adeptly used the draft from the lapped cars of Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster ahead of him to get a tow down the straights and prevent Ericsson from getting a run. Malukas finished third and O'Ward, last year's runner-up to Josef Newgarden, was fourth. After getting out of his car on the frontstretch after the checkered flag, Palou ran down the track and celebrated with his crew and his father Ramon.
Yahoo
11-05-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
IndyCar surprisingly sees first caution in more than 400 laps, 2 months at IMS road course
INDIANAPOLIS — What's that? A yellow flag?! Really. IndyCar had a caution on Lap 69 of the 85-lap road course race Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. You wouldn't think that's a big deal, but there hadn't been an in-race caution since Lap 1 of the season opener at St. Petersburg. Advertisement David Malukas went into the grass and couldn't get restarted, bringing out a caution and the safety crew. Saturday's race didn't go green until Lap 2 because of mechanical issues that some drivers faced after engines were fired. This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar caution streak snapped at IMS road course, reactions, David Malukas
