Pato O’Ward won pole position for last year’s IndyCar Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park, but gradually faded to third towards the end of the race as he struggled to manage his tyres.
One year later, the McLaren SP driver turned the tables on pole winner Rinus VeeKay, and won Sunday’s fourth round of the 2022 IndyCar Series ahead of defending champion Álex Palou.
The pivotal moment of the race came at the end of lap 61, when VeeKay and O’Ward pitted together from first and second position. VeeKay had been the dominant driver of the day, leading 57 laps. Exiting their stalls, VeeKay was still ahead of O’Ward as they rejoined the track.
But with a brilliant lunge around the outside of the turn five hairpin, O’Ward snatched the effective lead of the race away from the Carpenter driver. Once the rest of the field made their final stops, O’Ward was in the lead by lap 64.
Palou made his final stop on lap 63 and was able to ‘overcut’ VeeKay into second place. While VeeKay eventually faded from reach of the top spot, Palou was able to stay within two seconds of the leader on a used set of the harder, primary tyres.
But unlike last year, when Palou overhauled O’Ward for the lead en route to the win, this time O’Ward had the measure of his rival and claimed victory by just under a second. It was an important win for the McLaren SP driver, turning around a poor start to the season which began with finishes of 12th and 15th, before improving to fifth at Long Beach. His first win of the season is the third of his career.
Second place for Palou but last year’s winner in the lead of the championship lead, heading into the Month of May at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with 144 points. VeeKay will be disappointed after finishing third, but with his first podium since the Detroit GP race two, he has now fully bounced back from the training injury he suffered last June.
Will Power was the hard charger of the race, rising from 19th to finish fourth….