Kyle Kirkwood and Alex Palou have discovered themselves in a couple of battles over the previous few seasons, with the inaugural Grand Prix of Arlington the newest of their budding rivalry.
This newest one introduced one thing totally different, although.
In contrast to final yr on the streets of Lengthy Seashore when Kirkwood fended off the Spaniard to win, this one required the Florida native to chop down a large hole and cross Palou – a uncommon feat since Palou joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021.
Kirkwood already had an uphill climb to begin the day after a psychological lapse in qualifying left him beginning seventh, nevertheless it was compounded when his pit crew made repeated errors on every of their three pit stops all through the race. Undeterred, although, he displayed unrelenting tempo within the #27 Andretti World Honda to beat the gaffes and a 7s deficit, pulling off a late lunge on Palou into Flip 14 with 16 laps to go. He constructed up a 5s benefit earlier than a pair of late cautions – together with one on a closing lap restart – barely delayed his run to victory.
Learn Additionally:
“It is a assertion on how good we’re on avenue programs,” mentioned Kirkwood, 27.
“We’re in a position to do that at a couple of avenue programs. It is unimaginable to see that we’re in a position to do it at one other one. We’re including avenue programs to our calendar.
“A whole lot of it is as a result of this man (pointing to Dan Towriss, CEO of TWG Motorsports and main investor/proprietor in Andretti World), the engineers, and the group that he is been in a position to rally collectively to provide us this efficiency. It isn’t simply me on the market driving certainly one of these automobiles. It is all of the exhausting work that goes into certainly one of these avenue programs is why we’ve got the efficiency we’ve got. It is the explanation why we had the pole, completed 1, 3 (Will Energy) and 4 (Marcus Ericsson). Palou is all the time there.”
It marks the sixth victory of Kirkwood’s profession, and he additionally offers Ron Ruzeweski his first win as crew principal. Moreover, the win vaulted Kirkwood to the championship lead for the primary time in his profession. He holds a 26-points lead over Palou (126-100).
Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti World w/ Curb-Agajanian
Picture by: Penske Leisure
When requested by Motorsport.com if he seems like the most important risk to Palou this season, Kirkwood remained assured but in addition conscious along with his reply.
“I’d hope so,” Kirkwood mentioned. “We’re three races in. I do not need to focus an excessive amount of on the championship. I need to concentrate on the following race in entrance of us, maximizing our efficiency.
“In fact, we’re good at avenue programs. We have discovered brief ovals now. We’ll a street course subsequent. That is the place we have to thrive.
“There’s plenty of work to do. We need to be the most important risk. Each driver does. We’re presently the most important risk to him and the complete remainder of the sector. However we have to proceed that as a result of we obtained plenty of races to go.”
Learn Additionally:
We would like your opinion!
What would you prefer to see on Motorsport.com?
– The Motorsport.com Group
