Alex Palou delivered an unflappable drive to win the Kids’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.
There was little doubt from the drop of the inexperienced flag as Palou, the reigning and four-time IndyCar Sequence champion, set sail into Flip 1 and relished a mistake-free race, main 79 of 90 laps to beat Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard by 13.2775s. It’s his third win in six begins on the two.3-mile, 17-turn pure terrain highway course, and likewise stands because the twenty first victory of his profession.
“Unbelievable day for the #10 DHL Honda automotive,” stated Palou, 28. “Qualiyfing was probably the greatest automotive balanced automobiles I ever drove. At the moment, within the race, it was actually firstly, actually good on the finish, however we suffered just a little bit on used blacks that we had to make use of. It was only a determination we needed to tackle technique however yeah, unbelievable to win right here. Love this place. Love the followers. Unbelievable day.”
Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) completed third, incomes his first podium since 2023 on the second Indy GP race.
Staff Penske’s David Malukas completed fourth, forward of Andretti International’s Kyle Kirkwood.
With the victory, Palou strikes to inside two factors of Kirkwood for the general lead (156-154). Lundgaard sits third, 35 factors behind.
The Race
Palou, who began on the more durable main tire, introduced the sphere to the inexperienced flag and set off forward of front-row mate Malukas into Flip 1.
The sphere managed to get by means of the opening few laps cleanly as battles started to take form on observe. On Lap 5, Lundgaard, who began tenth, made a lunging transfer to the within of Marcus Ericsson in Flip 5 to take over seventh, with the move coming with slight contact.
Lundgaard’s cost, geared up with the more durable main compound, continued 4 laps later with one other move in Flip 5, this time on Santino Ferrucci to maneuver into sixth.
Ericsson’s continued slide all the way down to tenth led him to pit early on Lap 14, swapping off primaries to the softer alternate tires. It started a pattern as different gamers got here within the subsequent few laps, together with Armstrong coming in from fifth.
In the meantime, Malukas slipped up barely, which allowed Rahal to tug off a move into Flip 5 to take over second on lap 17. Rahal was capable of construct a spot shortly by over 3s on Malukas, who pitted on Lap 19 and altered off the alternates to a set of main tires.
The cycle of stops lastly got here to an finish as Palou – the final one to pit lane – pitted on Lap 27 and altered off the primaries to a set of softs.
The highest 5 working order by means of the opening 30 laps was Palou, Rahal, Lundgaard, Malukas, and Kirkwood. The highest three had been on the alternate compound.
An in depth name for a warning occurred on Lap 35 after Rinus VeeKay and Alexander Rossi got here collectively battling for 14th in Flip 5, which led to the previous spinning out. Nonetheless, VeeKay gathered it again up and continued on in his #76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet to maintain the race beneath inexperienced.
Palou constructed up a spot of 7s over Rahal by the midway level, and dove to pit lane and swapped onto a set of 10-lap outdated primaries. Rahal pitted the next lap and bolted on a brand new set of alternates to go reverse of the Spaniard.
Consequently, Lundgaard took over the lead and held the spot till pitting on Lap 50. Nonetheless, he cycled out forward of Rahal and 5.5s behind Palou, who reassumed the lead.
The hole dwindled all the way down to 5s between Palou and Lundgaard by Lap 60.
The highest 5 working order with 30 laps to go was Palou, Lundgaard, Rahal, Malukas, and Kirkwood. Marcus Armstrong (Meyer Shank Racing), Ericsson, Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing), Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt Racing), and Josef Newgarden (Staff Penske) made up the remainder of the highest 10.
Lundgaard lower down Palou’s result in 3.4s with 27 laps to go.
Palou pitted with 25 laps to go, handing the result in Lundgaard. On the exit of pit lane, Palou and rookie Mick Schumacher had been side-by-side with a tense second on the warm-up lane earlier than mixing out. Palou stayed on main tires.
The following lap noticed Rahal pit and alter to a set of main tires.
Palou’s try to push and keep the lead after the cycle was interrupted by one other rookie as he got here up on Dale Coyne Racing’s Dennis Hauger, who held him up briefly till he made a lunging transfer into Flip 12.
Lundgaard dove to pit lane from the lead with 21 laps to go, swapping to a set of more durable main tires. Nonetheless, it was an error on the right-rear tire that created an extended cease, falling to 3rd and 11s behind Palou.
Palou remained comfortably out entrance, however the battle for second 12s behind was on as Lundgaard started to use the strain on Rahal. Malukas was additionally beginning to stalk the duo, roughly 2s behind.
With three laps to go, Lundgaard made a diving transfer on Rahal into Flip 5 to take second. Malukas then got here into the fray, trailing Rahal by simply 0.9s for the ultimate spot on the rostrum.
Underneath strain, Rahal made the again of his #15 Honda extensive as Malukas, with 70s of push-to-pass obtainable, was unable to get by on the ultimate lap.
Palou sailed off with the win, with Lundgaard in second.
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