Palou achieves overwhelming victory in Alabama

Alex Palou confirmed his excellent form by winning this Sunday's Children's of Alabama Grand Prix powered by AmFirst with a monumental gap over his pursuers.

The Catalan driver at the wheel of the #10 Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing crossed the finish line with a 16.0035-second advantage over Christian Lundgaard (Arrow McLaren Chevrolet #7), setting the largest margin between first and second since August 2023 when Scott Dixon won by 22.2256 seconds at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Everything went according to plan. We had an extraordinarily fast car and I took advantage of that. I was quite isolated during the race, but that was exactly what we wanted.

The circuit that launched his US career

Palou's victory holds special significance because Barber Motorsports Park was where he achieved his first win in the category back in 2021. With this new triumph, the Spanish driver now has 14 victories in his record.

Starting from pole position, the current two-time champion controlled the race, leading 81 of the 90 total laps. He only lost the lead during inevitable pit stops, regaining first position immediately after completing his stops.

Scott McLaughlin, who had won at Barber in the previous two seasons, completed the podium in his Good Ranchers Team Penske Chevrolet #3. Fourth place went to Rinus VeeKay in the askROI Honda #18, his best result since July 2022 in Iowa. Will Power finished fifth in the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet #12.

Uninterrupted race and display of dominance

For the third consecutive race, the competition ran without yellow flags, something that hadn't happened in the series since 1986, when events at Portland, Meadowlands and Cleveland also completed without cautions.

McLaughlin tried to stay close in the opening laps, but Palou established a 1.1-second gap after just three laps, which he progressively extended.

When a rival has everything working perfectly, you can only do your best. Every weekend we can try to fight with him, but if he continues with this precision, we must also execute our plan perfectly.

The Chip Ganassi Racing mechanics delivered flawless work during Palou's three pit stops. After his final stop on lap 65, he regained the lead definitively on lap 68.

The Spaniard's superiority was evident in the statistics: he finished with 63 seconds of unused Push-to-Pass, while Lundgaard had just 15 seconds remaining and McLaughlin 25.

New record for the statistics

During this dominant performance, Palou surpassed 1,000 laps led in his IndyCar career. The Spaniard reached this milestone in his 85th start, achieving the mark 14 races sooner than his teammate, six-time champion Scott Dixon.

With this result, Palou extends his championship lead to 60 points over Lundgaard heading into the next two events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: the Sonsio Grand Prix on the road course on Saturday, May 10, and the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 25.

The Catalan has won the last two Sonsio Grand Prix races and now seeks his first victory in the most prestigious event in American motorsport.