Alex Palou won the GMR GP. The Chip Ganassi secured his first win of the year in style, with a strong 16s gap to second placed Pato O’Ward, which allowed him to also gain the Drivers’ Championship lead ahead of the 107th running of the Indy 500.
He began the race as the only driver in the Top 7 on red tyres, and explained his choice in the post-race press conference by recalling the difference in his pace seen in the crucial warm up session:
“We knew we had a fast car honestly since practice, since we were all off the trailers. The car was really, really good. I was comfortable. We missed a little bit on pole yesterday, but we knew we had a fast car.
“Also in the warmup we found that we were struggling a little bit more than others on the alternate tyres, so that’s why we went on red, black, black, black at the end to try to get the best from what we had, and it worked. Perfect day for the 10 car,” he added, also mentioning that his penultimate blacks stint was on used rubber.
A strong start had seen Palou get the lead of the race at the end of the first lap, taking advantage of the tyre disparity with pole sitter Christian Lundgaard, resulting in a decisive move that left the Spanish driver really pleased with himself:
“We knew with the alternate tires, it was a lot easier to get temperature in. I knew it was only for the first couple of laps, otherwise it would have been tough to pass. Had to go for it, it worked, so happy,” he recalled.
“We knew starting on the alternates we needed to go hard and try and get the lead as fast as possible. I think the alternates had two, three laps that they were a lot better. Afterwards, you kind of got stuck behind,” he returned later on the same topic, mentioning also his first attempt to become the race leader, which happnened at the first turn.
“I tried in turn one. He went really aggressive. It was right, it was perfect what he did, but yeah, I wanted it to be something easier We were able to get it on the last corner. That was good.”
Photo credit: Chip Ganassi Racing
The only driver in 2023 to have completed all the racing laps concluded highlighting the importance of such a win as a morale booster for the upcoming next important round:
“Yeah, that’s great. I’ve always said that we had a good season so far, but we didn’t really have a clean day. Today was the first clean day. The speed was amazing, strategy, pit stops, everything went really smooth.”
The strong performance filled the 2021 IndyCar champion with confidence not only for the 500, but also for the championship fight that now sees him holding an advantage, with a six points gap to O’Ward:
“We’re not going to stop here. We’re going to try and keep the championship lead until the end of the championship, and hopefully get the second one. Thinking about today only, then when it comes to Monday, we’ll start thinking about the big one,” he concluded.
