Chip Ganassi Racing has a multi-champion superstar capable of extracting wins from what seem the most impossible of circumstances. Scratch that: it has two of them, because Alex Palou is a Catalan clone of Scott Dixon.
Reigning title holder Palou bobbed around in the mix for over half of the IndyCar season opener on the streets of St Petersburg, then suddenly emerged in the catbird seat with 28 of the 100 laps remaining when he surfaced from his final pitstop. The problem for Dixon was that he should have pitted at the same time, but didn’t…
In a race of three different strategies, Dixon looked to be in the prime position as his Honda-powered Ganassi car led Josef Newgarden’s Chevrolet-propelled Penske machine and Palou. The first to bail for their final pitstops was Newgarden. Two laps later in came Palou; next time round it was Dixon.
The veteran Kiwi was not only undercut by Palou, but also found Newgarden quickly sliding down his inside into Turn 1. How had this come to be?
Dixon, it transpired, had a malfunctioning radio. The Ganassi team wanted him and Palou in together, but he didn’t know, and had to rely on his fuel warning light. “We lost about two or three seconds on that in-lap, so that was a bit of a nightmare,” he said. “Yeah, needed like a lap board out there or something.”
Palou’s stunning early-stint pace on the prime compound Firestone tyres allowed him to stretch a five-second lead, but this was all eradicated when he caught tail-ender Sting Ray Robb and couldn’t get close enough to lap him. Luckily for Palou, Newgarden and Dixon couldn’t get close enough either.
A malfunctioning radio cost Scott Dixon victory and the unlikely win for Palou drew comparisons between himself and the six-time champion
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
They cleared Robb with five laps to go, and that seemed to be it. Until an electronics glitch meant a gear mis-shift for Newgarden, and Dixon was able to dive down the inside of Turn 11 on the final lap to snatch second.
The leading trio had all started on the fragile green-compound Firestone alternates, and a first-lap caution – Will Power, Nolan Siegel and debutant Louis Foster were all eliminated – allowed them to get off them and fit the primes for their remaining three stints.
On the same strategy, Colton Herta left them for dead and the Andretti Global racer should likely have won, only for refuelling and wheel dramas.
Penske’s poleman Scott McLaughlin started on the prime tyres and looked serene out front, but his short second stint on the alternate rubber put paid to his hopes unless there was another caution – which never came – though he still rescued fourth.
McLaren newcomer Christian Lundgaard also led after going longer on the prime tyres before finally fitting the greens for his third stint. Could he make them last? That was the plan, but no, and he finished eighth.
Palou is still proving to be the man to beat as he strives for a fourth IndyCar crown in five years
Photo by: Penske Entertainment
In this article
Marcus Simmons
IndyCar
Alex Palou
Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics
Subscribe to news alerts
Read the full article here
