The Chip Ganassi driver is the first driver in sixteen years to secure his title before the final event of the season, and he certainly did it in style, with a dominant Portland GP win after a tough strategic battle with his teammate and fellow title contender Scott Dixon.
It’s the fifth win of the season for the now two-time IndyCar champion, but it’s not enough for Palou, as he said in the post-race press conference that he is already thinking about securing a sixth victory of 2023 in the final event of the year at Laguna Seca:
“It’s been an amazing season. We just had fast cars everywhere, and we’ve been able to maximize our results even on the bad weekends, and to finish here at Portland with a win feels amazing.”
Last time out on the road circuit, the Spanish driver had secured an impressive victory with 35 seconds of advantage on Newgarden in P2 in spite of a six-place starting grid penalty, and he is definitely looking forward to a try and repeat that dominant display in a week from now:
“We have one race left that we won there last year, so feeling pretty confident. And obviously, yeah, clinching the championship makes you feel a little bit more relaxed obviously.”
Photo credit: Penske Entertainment | Joe Skibinski
Just like Chip Ganassi himself, Palou was very confident in his and his car’s potential ahead of the race after qualifying P5, as he recalled:
“Honestly, I thought we had a really, really fast car. I would say fast six, the result we got there wasn’t what we could have achieved. I didn’t think we extracted 100% from it, so I knew after warmup that we could go for it and win the race.”
“So we didn’t really go on safe mode of just staying with the 9 because we thought we could win the race today, and we did. So happy that everything worked out,” he concluded.
However, it wasn’t a straightforward cruise to the win this afternoon, as he broke down what had felt to him like the toughest stint of the race, his second on the red tyres where he had to keep a tight balance between performing to keep track position, tyre saving and avoiding getting into difficulty with backmarkers.
“Yeah, we knew we wanted to do at least 18 laps, and it was right about the time that the 9 and the 6 caught us where we didn’t want to lose the lead. We could have been a little more aggressive and just be, like, from P3 from three laps after to just have a bit more space, but we didn’t. “
“We just wanted to be a bit conservative on that call. I think it was the right call, but we had traffic at the same time. So, yeah, it was, I would say, the stint that I suffered the most on reds.
“I was struggling on tyres, so I just wanted to compensate the time that I was losing on tyres with the push-to-pass. I knew we were a bit ahead of the 9, the 3, and the 15 at that time, so that’s why I was pressing a little bit more than I wanted,” he concluded, pleased as ultimately everything worked out in his favour.
Palou also had some very emotional words and thoughts for his strategist Barry Wanser, who has recently undergone surgery for cancer and was not physically trackside in Portland. Palou still made him part of the weekend and the title celebration, carrying around his image:
“Honestly he’s the director of the 10 car. Not only he does — he is managing the whole team across the four cars and even other series, but he’s the director, and he calls pretty much everything on the 10 car.
“So he’s a very big piece on our stand, but unfortunately, he couldn’t be here. Everybody is really sad that he’s not here, but I think he’s even more sad. He’s recovering well. We know that. He’s a strong guy, and hopefully he’ll be back with us very soon.”
