The fourth race of the season was on its way in Indianapolis. With Alex Palou winning three of the previous races and him being on pole, can someone come and stop the Spaniard ?
The race didn’t start well for Chip Ganassi Racing as Kyffin Simpson didn’t start the race due to a problem with his car. Other than that, it was a clean start for all the drivers. Alex Palou lost the top spot for a brief moment into Turn 1 to Graham Rahal. In the background, the last two drivers touched each other, resulting in Callum Ilott spinning, while Colton Herta pitted with only a lap on his tyres. Graham Rahal took the lead of the race again. Drivers on red tyres began their rise. Troubles for Andretti as Ericsson is out.
Strategy playing its part
On lap 19, a couple of drivers went to the pits and Alex Palou was one of them. He went out in P9. In the meantime, Scott McLaughin took P2, Nolan Siegel P4 and David Malukas P5. Alex Palou’s undercut worked and passed DeFrancesco, who just pitted. It was closed for Christian Lundgaard as Foster missed the breaking zone and put him slightly into the grass, permitting Alexander Rossi to close the gap. A great stop from Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing on the leader made him keep the lead in front of Palou. Rosenqvist touched Veekay while battling with him, and it made the Meyer Shank Racing driver spin. Luckily, he was able to rejoin safely in P20. Jacob Abel, even though he recieved the blue flag, stayed in front of the leader, which kind of annoyed Rahal as we heard him say “get out of the way” on his radio.
A race to manage
On lap 41, both Rahal and Palou pitted, the number 15 on red tyres while the number 10 put hards on. It was close at the end of the pit, while on track McLaughin and Herta were having a battle. With only a lap down, Colton Herta could come back if he managed to pass both leaders. He managed to overtake Palou almost instantly as the Andretti driver was the fastest on track. Marcus Armstrong, who was leading the race, pitted on lap 46. With Alex Palou keeping a distance of less than a second behind Rahal, he seemed to still have more pace under his belt but decided to manage his race. On lap 58, the battle for first place was on, with Chip Ganassi Racing attacking. He overtook Rahal in two turns and then made a 1.3 second gap in three turns. A real blow for Graham Rahal, who hasn’t won a race since 2017.
First yellow flag in over 400 laps
Alex Palou kept improving his lap time by creating a 6 second gap in only four laps, showing how he was managing his race. McLaughin started to close the gap to Rahal but didn’t have the occasion to overtake him as he pitted. Disastrous pit for Rahal as an issue appeared in the pit. With twenty laps remaining, Alex Palou entered the pits for the last time. The driver driving an exceptional race was also Pato O’Ward, who managed to take second place with less than thirty laps remaining. Meanwhile, Colton Herta was the second Andretti driver to DNF. The yellow flag was out on lap 70 with David Malukas being stuck on the grass.
Final push
With all four drivers in front being on soft tyres, Graham Rahal stood no chance against them and also lost a lot of places. Santino Ferrucci tried to overtake but locked his tyres. With only a couple of laps remaining, Alex Palou had a five-second gap, making it impossible for Pato O’Ward to go and get him. Newgarden tried to keep his position against Rosenqvist but locked his tyres and almost touched Louis Foster. Rosenqvist passed but was hungry for more as he tried to take that P10. He managed to do so on the last two laps. Alex Palou took his fifteen victory in Indycar, his third on this circuit. Pato O’Ward and Will Power completed the podium.