Starting on pole for the Sonsio Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was Alex Palou after he took back-to-back poles. In warm-up, Josef Newgarden led from Christian Lundgaard, Scott Dixon and Palou.
Opening laps and First Quarter
Before the race even began, Kyffin Simpson had gearbox trouble on pit road. The driver from the Cayman Islands would’ve started tenth. Newgarden also had struggles before the start, later reported to be MGU-related, and had to start at the back.
In terms of tyres, there was 12 drivers on softs and 15 on hards. Palou, Graham Rahal, Louis Foster, Devlin DeFrancesco, Will Power, Pato O’Ward, Nolan Siegel, Christian Rasmussen, Marcus Ericsson, Jacob Abel, David Malukas and Newgarden were on softs. Meanwhile, Scott McLaughlin, Alexander Rossi, Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist, Callum Ilott, Santino Ferrucci, Lundgaard, Dixon, Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood, Sting Ray Robb, Rinus VeeKay, Robert Shwartzman, Conor Daly and Simpson were on hards. Foster interestingly started on new softs, being the only driver in the top ten with such a tyre combination.
When the race got underway, it was a good start from Rahal, who got the lead into turn one around the outside. DeFrancesco got up to third and Foster moved down to fourth. Newgarden was already moving up places in the field. Ilott got spun around due to contact and Herta had to pit with front wing troubles. O’Ward and McLaughlin duelled for fifth, but for now O’Ward remained behind. Herta went a lap down, while Ilott came out of the pits several laps later, not falling to the same fate as Simpson.
After five laps, Rahal led from Palou, DeFrancesco, Foster, McLaughlin, O’Ward and Power.
There was a good battle between Rossi and Rosenqvist five laps in, but Rossi remained ahead. Later on, Rosenqvist eventually did make a move stick. Herta’s teammate Ericsson also had engine troubles which caused him to spin, meanwhile Ferrucci was eaten up by the pack, dropping places to Armstrong, Rasmussen and Siegel. Newgarden went on the grass but unlike Ericsson he got away with it.
Rahal led by two seconds from Palou, who was a second and a half ahead of DeFrancesco. Newgarden made another overtake, getting up to 18th past Robb. Ferrucci lost another place, this time to Kirkwood. Ferrucci was a second slower than the drivers ahead, and one of only a few drivers to have been in the 1:14s.
On lap 14, Malukas got ahead of Robb, following through Newgarden.
After 15/85 laps, the first stop happened, as VeeKay came in from 17th, which showed large wear for the Dutchman. It looked as though tyre wear would be difficult. The order was Rahal, Palou, DeFrancesco, Foster, McLaughlin, O’Ward, Power, Rosenqvist, Rossi and Lundgaard for the top ten.
Ferrucci and Kirkwood then pitted as well, which moved them down to 21st and 22nd ahead of VeeKay in 23rd. On the track, Foster was passed by McLaughlin and O’Ward. Palou was being caught by DeFrancesco as well.
Lundgaard, Robb and Daly pitted as well. Lundgaard was now 17th, Robb w\as 22nd and Daly 23rd. Foster, Rossi, Dixon, Abel and Herta pitted too. The leader of the pitted drivers was Foster, followed by Lundgaard, Rossi, Dixon, Abel, Kirkwood, VeeKay, Ferrucci, Robb, Daly, Herta and Ilott. Palou, Power, Rosenqvist, Newgarden and Rasmussen followed suit at the end of lap 18, freeing DeFrancesco to run as quick as he could. Palou had a delayed stop, and the next lap DeFrancesco, O’Ward and Shwartzman. Now only Rahal, McLaughlin, Siegel and Malukas needed to pit. Rahal talked to his engineers, saying “let’s go to Primes if Palou doesn;t.”
As it was a four-stop, Rahal Letterman Lanigan (RLL) took the huge risk of going for two sets of softs in a row for DeFrancesco but noticeably didn’t for Rahal. The remaining drivers who needed to come in pitted on lap 21 except for Armstrong. Meanwhile Foster and Lundgaard scrapped, with the Dane almost losing position to Rossi as well as Foster due to the battle.
Finally Armstrong pitted, which meant that at the end of the first quarter of the race, the order was Rahal, Palou, McLaughlin, DeFrancesco, O’Ward, Power, Foster, Lundgaard, Rossi and Dixon. Of those drivers, Rahal, Palou, Power and Foster were on hards, while McLaughlin, DeFrancesco, Lundgaard, Rossi and Dixon were on softs,
Second Quarter
Armstrong came out in 14th. The noticeable mover of the field was two spots ahead of Armstrong, as Rinus VeeKay had jumped up to 12th from the back few rows of the grid. Rosenqvist and VeeKay had contact, as Rosenqvist went down the inside of VeeKay but made contact with VeeKay’s rear right tyre. Rosenqvist dropped down to 20th as a result. As well as this, Kirkwood had made up ten spots. What the duo had in common was that they both pitted early on, giving them free air to set quicker times on newer tyres than the drivers ahead in traffic on worn tyres. Lundgaard and Dixon also gained spots from a similar undercut strategy.
The top four were separated by only three seconds, with the front two on slower tyres, which created a fascinating battle which was bookmarked by the RLL cars.
Rosenqvist was beginning his comeback, as he passed Robb for 19th. Foster was unhappy with his RLL car, as he dropped four spots so far in the race.
Abel pitted on lap 30, although he didn’t drop many places as he was already towards the back of the pack. Him pitting had an effect, as he kept Rahal, who hadn’t won in eight years, stuck behind him, giving Rahal pressure from Palou, McLaughlin and DeFrancesco. Rahal was told that there was no help coming from Dale Coyne’s Abel.
Rosenqvist also got ahead of Newgarden for 18th, and was now closing on Malukas for 17th on softs.
On lap 38, the first domino fell. VeeKay pitted from 12th after an incredible stint which saw him move up several spots. The order at the front remained a procession, as there was no movement in the top ten.
Lundgaard, Kirkwood, Siegel and Ferrucci pitted the next lap. When the first five had pitted, VeeKay was
Herta pitted the following lap. Daly and Robb did too. On the same lap of lap 39, Dixon took eighth from Rossi, continuing his progress through the field. The next lap came and McLaughlin, Foster and Rossi were the trio who blinked. Lundgaard got a penalty as he locked up and crossed the pit lane exit line.
Excitement came on the following lap, as both Rahal and Palou pitted together as did Dixon, Rosenqvist, Rasmussen and Malukas. Rahal remained ahead. McLaughlin tried to close up, but he couldn’t because Herta held up the Kiwi. Herta had a right to do so, as he was now only two places away from unlapping himself.
Third Quarter
DeFrancesco, O’Ward, Power and Newgarden also pitted. DeFrancesco stalled in the pits and lost time.
Herta got ahead of Palou, which meant he only needed to pass Rahal to unlap himself completely and be on the lead lap.
Newgarden got past Malukas and Rossi got ahead of VeeKay on laps 44 and 45 and on the latter lap, Herta got himself onto the lead lap, leaving a battle between Rahal and Palou for the lead after Armstrong pitted.
The order was now Rahal, Palou, McLaughlin, O’Ward, Power, Kirkwood (who made the undercut work again), Dixon, Foster, Armstrong, Rossi, VeeKay, DeFrancesco, Rasmussen, Rosenqvist, Siegel, Ferrucci, Newgarden, Malukas, Daly, Lundgaard, Robb, Shwartzman, Abel, Herta and Ilott.
On lap 49, Armstrong made a move on Foster for eighth. In terms of tyres, Rahal, Kirkwood, Armstrong, Rossi, Ferrucci, Herta, Abel and Ilott were on softs, while the rest were on blacks. A few laps later, Lundgaard, who went from hero to zero, moved ahead of Juncos’ Daly for 20th. A few laps later he made another move, getting ahead of Malukas for 18th. A lap later, Rossi passed Foster for ninth.
Palou finally attempted a move on lap 58 and got ahead in the middle section of the track after 57 laps of running behind the RLL driver on merit. Rahal’s struggles began, and with a hard tyre stint to come at the end, he was destined to have a difficult end to the race.
Final Quarter
Lundgaard pitted for the final time on lap 60, as did Herta. Rahal was struggling and would be on the hards for the final stint. VeeKay and Siegel came in on lap 61.
McLaughlin had closed right up on Rahal, and so Rahal came into the pits with 22 laps to go. Kirkwood, Rossi, Ferrucci and Robb followed him in. Rahal had a poor stop, which costed him a chance at his second podium at the IMS Speedway in four years.
McLaughlin and O’Ward pitting on the next lap permanently dropped Rahal out of the podium places. The lap of 63 was the busiest on pit row, as Rosenqvist, DeFrancesco, Rasmussen, Malukas and Daly pitted along with the Penske and McLaren drivers.
O’Ward went from fourth to being in a net second.
Armstrong, Dixon and Foster pitted on lap 64, leaving several to pit, which some did the next lap. That some was Palou, Power, Newgarden and Shwartzman. Palou, who had everything go to plan, continued to have everything go perfect as he went onto new reds and Palou came out comfortably ahead of O’Ward. Power was up to third because of his stop.
Rasmussen, Ilott and Armstrong were the last to pit and Herta came into the pits to retire.
After they all had pitted, the order was Palou, O’Ward, Power, McLaughlin, Rahal, Dixon, Kirkwood, Armstrong, VeeKay and Foster.
Rosenqvist went wide at the opening turn as well. Lundgaard and Malukas had a scrap for 16th, which Malukas won by making a move at turn one.
Palou set the second-quickest time of the race, which was only beaten by Herta’s earlier in the race.
Malukas went off, and, for the first time since the first lap of the season, a caution came, decimating Palou’s lead.
Safety Car and Restart
The order was the same top ten, then Rossi, Siegel, DeFrancesco, Newgarden, Rosenqvist, Ferrucci, Lundgaard, Daly, Robb, Rasmussen and Shwartzman.
Palou had a good restart, remaining ahead. Dixon got ahead of Rahal for fifth, while Ferrucci dropped down from 16th to 21st. Siegel moved ahead of Rossi for 11th, DeFrancesco dropped from 13th to 15th and Robb moved down to 20th.
Palou was still unstoppable, going eight tenths quicker than O’Ward, while Power closed up on the Mexican for second. Lundgaard was the next to pass DeFrancesco, this time for 15th.
Rossi dropped from 11th to 14th, as Newgarden and Rosenqvist both went through. Daly passed DeFrancesco, Shwartzman passed Rasmussen and Ferrucci passed Robb. With ten laps left, Palou was 2.5 seconds ahead of O’Ward.
Daly got ahead of Lundgaard too on lap 77.
Rahal, Kirkwood, Rossi, Lundgaard and DeFrancesco were sitting ducks with seven laps left, as they were all on the hards.
Siegel, similarly to Rossi, dropped two places to Newgarden and Rosenqvist on the same lap of 81.
Armstrong continued momentum, passing Kirkwood and closing on Rahal with four laps to go.
Newgarden tried to defend from Rosenqvist, but instead lost out with a huge lock-up from 11th to 12th.
Rosenqvist and Foster battled for 10th. The Swede got ahead of the English rookie with two laps to go.
It was another strong display from Alex Palou, winning by 5.5 seconds from O’Ward. Palou’s win means that he is the first driver since Dan Wheldon in 2005 to win four of the first five races, and his start to the season overall is the best since A.J. Foyt in 1964, when he won the first seven races of the season.
