Championship contender, Alex Palou, is “hungry” to finish the 2025 IndyCar season strong ahead of the Portland GP.
Palou could take the 2025 championship title if he ends up on Victory Lane at the Portland GP. Palou has won 8 races so far this season, with AJ Foyt and Al Unser holding the record at 10 wins per season.
The Ed Carpenter Racing driver took the championship title in 2023 after winning at the Portland GP, on top of winning at the Portland International Raceway in 2021. When asked by Fastest Formula News in a video conference about his success at the Portland GP, Palou answered, “I don’t know. It’s tough.”
The Spaniard continued, “I think it just — every time I’ve been there, I’ve just felt really comfortable. I’ve felt like the car has been responding the way I needed and also the way it flows. It just really matches my style, I guess.“
Although a road course, the Portland GP “bites you like a street course“. So driving ability and a great car is key. Palou noted, “Yeah, a combination of both just makes us perform really well.“
“It’s really narrow, and although it’s a road course, it just bites you like a street course. As soon as you go off, unless it’s Turn 1, you normally end up in the wall.“
“It’s one of those tracks that you need to drive it 99 percent. You cannot drive it 100 percent all the time because otherwise you go off pretty easily, and I think obviously having good cars there helps. It helps you feel better. It helps you perform better. Yeah, a combination of both just makes us perform really well.“
Racing never stands still
Even though the 2025 IndyCar season is coming to an end with 2 races after the Portland GP, Palou is not looking ahead to 2026 given the long break ahead. However, the Spaniard has to do a year-end review on the season as a whole.
When asked about his 2026 plans in Monday’s Press Conference, Palou answered, “No, honestly, no. I think we have such a long off-season, unfortunately, that we have a huge amount of time just to think and to go over. We normally sit down after the season, we review all the season and we try and improve small stuff, like from the car, from the team, from my side, and we just try and rebuild a little bit.“
“I think this year everything that we thought about it worked, and it’s one of those perfect years. Normally you say 100 stuff and three of them work, which is good, and then suddenly you keep on improving a little bit.“
After a 4 back-to-back race weekends in July, Palou was able to take some time off. However, the 28-year-old driver is “hungry” to finish the season “strong” ahead of the Portland GP.
“I don’t put too much into it. I’ve been more focused on relaxing because it’s been such a hectic back-to-back races that I just took this week off, like really off, and preparing the last couple of races with a lot of — I’m hungry. I’m hungry, obviously, to try and finish this season off strong.“
