Tag: Alex Palou

Palou Tops Nashville Practice

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

The weather has turned out beautifully, and it looks like we will get the entire day in.

Points leader Alex Palou was fastest in the prequalifying practice for the Music City Grand Prix. Palou turned a quick lap of 199.682 miles an hour. His closest challenger for the title, Will Power, was sixth fastest. Plaou leads by 33 points. While he could earn a point for winning the pole this afternoon, Palou can start no better than 10th. due to an engine change.

The session stopped early when Nolan Seigel crashed hard in Turn 2. The incident heavily damaged the wall and required a lengthy repair.

I sat in the grandstand for part of practice this morning. It is y first time at this track. It is a very well maintained facility. There is a shuttle from the infield to the grandstand-not just any shuttle. It is a luxury touring bus. I was expecting a tram or a fancy golf cart, but this is way beyond that. Nice work, Scott Borchetta,

Qualifying begins at 1:15 pm Central time.

Palou Slips by O’Ward for Historic Pole at Mid-Ohio

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

The first pole of the hybrid era goes to Alex Palou by a razor thin margin. Palou slipped by Pato O’Ward on his last lap by 0.0024 seconds, the closest front row difference since Indycar began knockout qualifying. Palou won the race at Mid-Ohio last year.

David Malukas will start third as he made his first Fast Six. Malukas has not finished worse than 10th in his career at Mid-Ohio. In his two starts with Meyer Shank Racing, and his first two races of the season, Malukas has gone beyond the first round. He started 12th at Laguna Seca.

Colton Herta will start 4th, followed by Marcus Armstrong and Marcus Ericsson.

Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, and Will Power were eliminated in Round 1. Alexander Rossi had been fast in the practices, but went out in Round 2.

Youth Will Be Served

All the drivers in the Fast Six began their Indycar careers in 2019 or later. The youth movement has taken a little longer to assert itself than I expected, but we may be seeing the beginning of a power shift.

Close Qualifying

2024 will be known for the year of the hybrid, but it could also distinguish itself as the season with the closest front rows on road and street courses. Three of the six closest front rows have occured this year.

The top 10 closest qualifying sessons:

Results

Palou Leads Mid-Ohio Practice 1

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Alex Palou led the first practice of the hybrid era in a session interrupted by two red flags and cars electing to stay on pit lane when the rain began.

Agustin Canapino had what appeared to be a brake fire, which brought out the first red flag. Marcus Armstrong spun and could not refire the car. Elsewhere on track Jack Harvey spun. During the second red flag, rain began.

Cars sat on pit road until about 10 minutes left. Pato O’Ward ventured out for just a couple laps. Kyle Kirkwood then followed and stayed out for several circuits. Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta took a few laps just before the checkered flag.

Tracking the Hybrids

The Indycar app has added hybrid tracking tomits data. It is included in the all data section and also has a ndedicated section

The lightning bolt indicates the unit is deployed

NBC will also display a graphic showing deployment.

In a post practice media conference, Pato O’Ward said oft he hybrid, “You can definitely feel it when you engage it.”

He added that he tinks the unit is capable of so much more.

“Let’s really push this system and see how much you can really give us.”

Results

Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Wrap Up

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

Yesterday’s race ay Weather Tech Raceway was an entertaining one with battles for the lead, differing strategies, and tire calls that looked questionable at first, but proved correct at the end. Alex Palou once again put on a clinic at a track he has come to dominate the last four years.

Yesterday’s win was not a typical Palou beatdown. He was beaten to the second corner by Kyle Kirkwood on lap 1 and didn’t take the lead until lap 25. Although he lad 48 laps, he had to fight for the lead, and his laps in front were spread over four segments.

Some thoughts:

Delayed Yellow

Marcus Armstrong spun and stopped on track on lap 74. Indycar withheld throwing the yellow so that several cars who were on an alternate strategy could make pit stops. I’ve talked about my dislike for this procedure before.

This delayed yellow policy is dangerous and gives the pitting cars an advantage. At some point another car is going to collide with the disabled car. Indycar has been fortunate that an incident hasn’t occurred yet.

Josef Newgarden, who had cycled to second place because of pit stops, needed one more stop. Because of the delayed yellow, which was thrown while he was in the pits, allowed him to keep his position. He did not have a second place car yesterday. He spun with two laps to go and finished 19th, a little lower than where he should have finished.

I don’t care if it was Newgarden or some other driver, as he was not the only one still needing a final stop, but this policy is unfair. If a yellow is needed, just wave the flag. Race control should not concern itself with whether cars need to pit or not. That is a team decision. If a yellow comes out, well, that’s the way it goes.

Off Road Adventures

At times this weekend I thought I was watching the Baja 1,000. I don’t recall seeing so many cars go off track in one race weekend. Christian Lundgaard went airborne as went through the sand trap at the corkscrew.

The dust clouds were commonplace all three days. may=be the track’s new pavement is still slick. Fortunately, most drivers recovered and kept going.

Malukas, Siegel Debuts

David Malukas and Nolan Siegel had successful debuts at Laguna Seca. Malukas drove his first race of the season for his new team, Meyer Shank Racing, and finished 16th. he ran in the top 10 most of the day.

Nolan Siegel, in his first drive for Arrow McLaren, ironically in the car Malukas was supposed o run this season, finished 12th after starting 23rd and recovering from a spin and stall on lap 41.

Strategies

I love a race where pit strategies differ. On Palou’s first stop, the team decided to stay on primaries and save the alternates for the final stint. It seemed questionable at the time, but worked out as Palou was able to pull away once he regained the lead.

Colton Herta and Alexander Rossi just missed on fuel strategy, and they had to hold back to save fuel.

In two weeks at Mid-Ohio, the hybrid era begins. I am looking forward to seeing how the addition of this power component affects the dynamics of the racing and strategy.

Palou Continues Laguna Seca Mastery

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Alex Palou continues his command at Weather Tech Raceway as he won the pole for tomorrow’s Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. Palou entered the weekend with a podium finish in all three of his previous starts here, including a dominating win two years ago. He is so good at this track, the Hertas have made him an honorary family member.

“It was really tough, really tight all qualifying to get to the Fast 12 and then the Fast Six,” Palou said. “It was really tricky with track conditions. As soon as there was some wind, you couldn’t really finish the lap because there was no grip.

“Really happy. The car was on rails today, so the best starting position for tomorrow.”

Kyle Kirkwood will start outside on the front row. Colton Herta, who was the fastest in Practice two, will start fourth.

The biggest surprise of the day was David Malukas. In his first race of the season since he broke his wrist in preseason, Malukas took the Meyer Shank entry to the second round, He will line up 12th Sunday.

Today’s qualifying session was one of the best i have ever seen, definitely the best of the season. Each round was close, and the leaders changed throughout each round.
While Nolan Siegel struggled as expected, he still qualified 23rd, outqualifying veterans Jack Harvey, Sting Ray Robb, and Pietro Fittipaldi.

Provisional Lineup

Palou Still the One to Beat at Detroit

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

Alex Palou was the fastest driver at Detroit in 2023 on the new downtown street circuit. He picked up today right where he left the Motor City, recording the quickest lap in this afternoon’s opening practice session.

Palou thinks the track has improved since last year.

“It was busy,” Palou told Indycar. “I visited the run-off areas a couple of times here and there, just trying to find the limit and the grip of the track. The track is grippier, a lot grippier, than last year. Pretty happy. The car feels good so far.”

This practice period began with a 45-minute session for all drivers and ended with two 10-minute sessions, each with half the field.

Colton Herta led the 45-minute session with a time of 1:02.0219. Palou chopped three tenths from Herta’s time with a lap of 1:01.7210. Pato O’Ward had the second quickest time of 1:01.7315.

Notes

Marcus Ericsson’s difficult month of May continued as he slapped the wall hard with his right rear tire. He was 14th on the speed charts.

Woes continue for car 18. Nolan Siegel crashed attempting to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, and today jack Harvey grazed the inside wall and then slid across the track, hitting the outside wall hard. The right front wheel was torn from the car.

The view on the screen: This track does not present as an attractive venue on television. Granted, downtown Detroit is not that scenic, but the GM Tower and the waterfront could get some more tv time. Perhaps NBC could do with a few (a lot) less on-board camera shots here. The viewer has no idea where the car is, and there is not camera on Atwater with a view of a car zipping along the shore.

Practice resumes tomorrow morning at 9:15 am Eastern with qualifying at 12:15. I will cover the practice, but I will be at commencement for a favorite student of mine. I will watch the replay and post a report tomorrow late afternoon.

Results

Quick Thoughts- Just Another Day at Work for Alex Palou

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Photo by Kyle McInnes

It was a fun race for the first two laps. Christian Lundgaard made a great move to get past Alex Palou and led most of the first half of the race.

Cars were banging into each other, running opponents off the road, and fighting for position. Then the race fell into a processional F1 style event.

the race came down to pit strategy, and that’s where Palou gained the advantage. He made his final stop before his two closest pursuers, Lundgaard and Will Power, and didn’t look back.

Alex Palou talks about his win.

The late yellow was not a problem as Palou pulled away to six second lead a the finish over Power.

Overall, it was a typical IMS road course race, a bland appetizer to what should be a delicious entree in two weeks.

Notes

Josef Newgarden has had two straight finishes below 15th place. His chances of winning the championship are fading quickly.

Colton Herta improved 17 positions to finish seventh.

The last time DHL was the sponsor on a winning car was 2018 at Sonoma. Ryan Hunter-Reay won for Andretti.

Six different teams placed cars in the top 10- Ganassi -3; Penske-2; RLL_ 2; Andretti, McLaren, and MSR 1 each.

Palou leads Power by 12 points in the championship. We have seen this movie before.

Like 2023, Palou has a chance to be the third driver to complete a May sweep. Will Power and Simon Pagenaud accomplished this feat in 2018 and 2019 erespectively.

If your last name begins with P, younhave a great shot at winning this race. Power, POagenaud, and Palou have 10 wins combined on this track.

Thanks for following along this weekend. I can’t wait for the next two weeks.

Palou on Pole

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Photo Kyle McInnes

Alex Palou started the Fast Six Round by going off track into the grass. He came back to win the pole for tomorrow’s Sonsio Grand Prix by edging Christian Lundgaard by 0.09 seconds.

Palou is the defending winner of this race.

Team Penske teammates Will Power and Josef Newgarden will start in row two.

The Fast Six saw four different strategies from the teams, some starting on primaries while others used reds for the entire six minutes. Newgarden started on scuffed reds, then he switched to sticker reds.

Pato O’Ward gambled and waited until the second half of the session to record a lap, He will start fifth.

Lundgaard has a stellar starting record for the grand prix. he has started 4th, 8th, 6th, 1st, 2nd and 2nd.

For the first time this year Felix Rosenqvist did not make it to the final round. He did advance to round 2 and will start 10th.

I will have more tomorrow morning. Thanks for following along today.

Indycar warmup is at 11:15 tomorrow morning and the green flag is at 3:45.

Results: