Reigning IndyCar champion Alex Palou scored his first victory of the season from pole position, but it was not a straightforward afternoon for the Ganassi driver.
Palou had a clear edge on pace over his rivals, but faced a strong threat from Christian Lundgaard at the start of the race and Will Power at the end.
Lundgaard surprisingly claimed the lead on the first lap despite starting the race on the harder primary tyres while Palou favoured the softs. The Ganassi driver attempted a forceful defence at turn one but ran too deep, allowing Lundgaard to duck around the outside of turn two and claim the inside line for the following bends.
From there Lundgaard held his lead throughout the opening stint. The race appeared to be slipping away from Palou when the pair pitted together and came out in the same order – only for Power to split them.
However Palou was content to bide his time in the second stint, getting his run on the primaries out of the way and minimising his time loss as he did so. Lundgaard and Power caught traffic at the end of the stint, and Power dived for the pits a lap before the RLL driver. He might have captured the lead, but encountered Marcus Ericsson at the end of his out-lap and Lundgaard scampered out of the pits narrowly ahead of the pair.
Palou, however, stayed out a lap longer and jumped the pair of them. With Lundgaard having to spend a second stint on primaries, he fell over five seconds behind the Ganassi driver while Power filled his mirrors. The trio pitted as one on lap 63, and Lundgaard lost precious time having to swerve around Power on his way out, losing second place to the Penske driver.
Luca Ghiotto’s retirement from his second IndyCar start triggered the race’s sole caution period on lap 66. Power made an immaculate restart, forcing Palou to defend hard, but was edged wide at turn one and with that his hopes of taking victory were gone. Palou pulled away to win by over five seconds while Lundgaard stalked Power to the flag.
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Palou’s Ganassi team mates Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong completed the top five, and Scott McLaughlin made it three New Zealanders in a row. The Penske driver was the biggest winner from the race’s sole caution period, as he was already in the pits as Ghiotto ground to a halt.
Colton Herta, who arrived at Indianapolis in the lead of the championship, was always going to be a strong candidate for an alternative pit stop strategy after…
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