Alex Palou Secures 11th Win And Points Lead At Laguna Seca

Source: James Black/Penske Entertainment / other

MONTEREY, Calif. — Alex Palou has once again proven his mastery behind the wheel of a North American open-wheel car. He led the final two-thirds of the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at Laguna Seca on Sunday to take his second victory of the season.

“It was a chaotic race,” Palou said. “Those restarts at the beginning we lost a bit. The strategy was a bit risky, but we knew we had the pace. Amazing win!”

Starting on the pole is always the desired spot, but it never guarantees you a victory. The pole position is where Palou started when the green flag dropped on a cool, sunny evening in the central California desert.

Palou would not lead the opening lap, however. Kyle Kirkwood flexed the Andretti Global muscle in the opening stanza of the race leading the first 25 laps. It was at this juncture that many drivers picked the strategy they would stick to for the rest of the race.

But, when Luca Ghiotto wrecked on Lap 38, many of those same drivers pitted again for fresher tires. Palou opted to stay out and stretch his fuel on the second stint of the race. Palou said he had some questions about that strategy call as the race was unfolding.

“I doubted the strategy a little bit,” he said. “But, everything was fine!”

Colton Herta was among the drivers to lead the group of drivers who pitted. Once the restart came, Palou needed to lap quicker in order to have an advantage for when he eventually had to pit. Several laps later he did pit and cycled out third.

Though he was back in the order behind the likes of Herta, Romain Grosjean, and Alexander Rossi, Palou had an ace in the hole: his fuel. Because of when he pitted, he now did not have to save fuel. Herta and company were not in that position.

When that was made apparent to Palou, he kicked it in, passing Herta on the track and leading every lap from there to the end.

The rest of the race was not without some drama. Josef Newgarden, who started 14th, was hit with a drive-through penalty early in the race and found himself as low as 24th. But, with cautions and strategies playing out, he found himself back in the top ten and when Marcus Armstrong spun and stalled on Lap 73, IndyCar waited as they always do to allow cars who haven’t pitted to do so before throwing the yellow flag. This was due to Armstrong having not made contact with the wall.

Newgarden took advantage and was able to cycle out second behind Palou and right back in the hunt, much to the chagrin of other drivers, and even fans on social media.

But, Newgarden could not hold in the battle and a late sapin had him finish 19th.

Herta was melancholy about his finish in second place.

“It’s a good result,” Herta said. “We chose our strategy and we did well with what we had. It sucks not to win though. I really want to win at this place.”

Alexander Rossi held on for the final spot on the podium. Romain Grosjean powered home to a fourth-place result which is his best result since being on the podium two seasons ago with Andretti at the IMS road course. It is also Juncos-Hollinger Racing’s best result in the history of their team.

The victory for Palou is his 11th career win in the NTT IndyCar Series. He is also the 14th driver ever to win at Laguna Seca from the pole position. The win also it puts him right back at the top of the points standings heading into the next round at Mid-Ohio in two weeks. Palou takes a 23-point gap into the next round over Will Power in the standings. Power mustered a lackluster seventh-place finish.

With opportunities starting to wane, good results are more and more paramount as the season goes on.