Palou dominates in St. Petersburg and kicks off 2025 season with victory

Alex Palou started the 2025 season of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES showing why he is the current two-time champion. On Sunday, March 2, the Spaniard won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in a display of strategy and speed.

Palou, who started from eighth position, drove his Honda No. 10 of DHL Chip Ganassi Racing to victory with a margin of 2.8669 seconds over his teammate Scott Dixon, who competed without radio communication for the last 90 laps of the race.

"What an incredible job by everyone," said Palou after the victory. "They gave me everything we needed this weekend to win. I told them yesterday that we had a very, very fast car."

Decisive strategy during the first caution

The only caution of the race, on lap 3, changed the course for several drivers. Those who started with the alternative Firestone Firehawk tires — including Palou, Dixon, and Newgarden — took the opportunity to switch to primary tires, a decision that proved essential.

However, Palou did not just inherit the lead in the final stretch. The Spaniard produced exceptionally fast laps before and after his last pit stop at the end of lap 72, strategically outperforming Dixon, who had to react without being able to communicate with his team and lost valuable time in traffic.

"I think he got caught in traffic," said Palou about Dixon. "That's why we decided to pit a little earlier. We had a very clean out-lap, we were able to run fast, and we pulled away from there."

Final duel for the podium

Josef Newgarden, two-time series champion, completed the podium driving the Chevrolet No. 2 PPG Team Penske, after Dixon passed him for second place on the last lap.

Scott McLaughlin, who had secured the pole position, finished fourth with the Chevrolet No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske, after leading a maximum of 40 laps. Kyle Kirkwood, a Florida native, completed the top 5 in his home race driving the Honda No. 27 Chili's of Andretti Global.

Palou's dominance was not without threats. Towards the end of the race, Newgarden reduced the gap to less than a second after lap 95, while Dixon also gained ground. However, when Palou finally passed the lapped Sting Ray Robb on lap 96, he was able to break away definitively.

"I felt that our car today was certainly capable of winning," admitted Newgarden. "We just didn't get there for a couple of reasons. Pit cycles, obviously, we needed to go longer, and we had a change at the end that we didn't anticipate."

A perfect start in the title defense

With this victory, the 12th of his career, Palou begins his quest for a third consecutive title in an ideal way. In addition, Chip Ganassi Racing achieved its first 1-2 finish since July 2023 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Pato O'Ward, winner in St. Petersburg in 2024, used a combination of strategy and speed to climb from the 23rd starting position to finish 11th, making the most significant advance among the 27 participants.

The next race of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES will be The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix on Sunday, March 23, in Thermal, California.