Alex Palou’s almost perfect Indycar season continued with a victory in the 109th Indy 500, his first on an oval in his racing career Sterling.
Chip Ganassi Racing and the Triple Champion of the series seized the lower Darting head than Marcus Ericsson by entering Tour 1 on Tour 187 of 200 and continued his first victory in the biggest spectacle of the race.
“I cannot believe it,” said Palou, 28, at Fox Sports after his 14th career victory. “What an incredible day. What an incredible breed.”
Chest:: Click here for the results of the 109th Indy 500
The driver of Hendrick Motorsports will not be able to finish 1,100 miles, but will go early to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Coke 600.
Ericsson finished second, followed by David Malukas, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist while the race ended under a flag of prudence for an accident involving Nolan Siegel. Kyle Larson finished 27th In his attempt to run the Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
Palou, who only led the last 14 laps, celebrated by parking his red and yellow Dallara-Honda, just after the famous brick courtyard.
He went out and threw his driving gloves as he went down his way to receive several embraces of his members of the Ganassi team and his father, Ramon, while the noisy celebration spread on the wall of the pit.
The native of Barcelona is the first Spaniard to win Indianapolis 500.
“What an incredible race for the crew 10, everyone at CGR, HRC,” said Palou trying to catch his breath. “I can’t believe it. It’s amazing to be here, it’s incredible to win. I did not know if I would be able to pass Marcus or not, but I did it. First oval victory. What better place.
“Incredible. Best celebration of all time.”
This is the first victory of Indy 500 for the owner of the Chip Ganassi team since Ericsson (now with Andretti Global) won in 2022.
Palou won five of the first six races this season after winning the last two championships of the season with Ganassi, the team he almost left for McLaren Racing three years ago.
“The guy is simply incredible,” Ganassi told Fox Sports after his team’s sixth victory in Indy 500. “I don’t know what else to say. He just beat everyone today. It’s just great.
“It’s an incredible thing. It will make Alex Palou’s career and make his life. It is certainly made mine. ”
The winning passage had Ericsson, who now leads the No. 28 Dallara-Honda for Andretti Global, deploring another quasi-manque at the Brickyard. The Swedish finished second in terms of controversial finish at the Indy 500 2023 and was taken in a multimages accident in the first round last year.
He tries to become the fifth driver to participate in Indy 500 and Coca-Cola 600 on the same day.
“It was painful to miss, so close,” Ericsson told Fox Sports. “Second second place here, but it’s a kind of winner.
“A really difficult race. The car was really difficult to drive. We were running at the back for the central part, and we continued to fight. We had a few difficult years here, but today we have shown what we can do. We can fight for that.
“Congratulations to Alex and Chip Ganassi Racing. He hurts for sure.”
Ericsson, who led 17 laps, in particular late to leave the door open for the daring movement of Palou inside with just under 14 laps.
“I had these Lappers in front of us, which makes the task difficult,” said Ericsson. “(Palou) sank on me, and I didn’t know if he was going to go there or not. This is the thing I am constantly thinking about now.
“I should have covered this inside, of course. It’s just very frustrating. I was in the lead and I had this covered race and I missed it. It will be a difficult problem to swallow.”