Alex Palou said he’s “not disappointed” with his second place IndyCar result at the 50th edition of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
Palou came into the weekend, with two wins on the bounce at St Petersburg and Thermal Club. Palou currently leads the IndyCar championship on 142 points, with a 34 point deficit to Long Beach winner Kyle Kirkwood. Being + 2.68 seconds behind Kirkwood, Palou told selected medias after the IndyCar Long Beach GP ” Super happy to be here, I think it’s been a great weekend.”
Not the fastest Honda in Long Beach
Palou’s Ganassi car couldn’t match the Andretti machine of Kirkwood throughout the weekend, with his strategy involving him pitting a lap earlier than the winner in all three of his stops. Palou said “We really didn’t have that ultimate pace that the 27 car had. Kyle, they did an awesome job throughout the weekend, qualifying and the race.”
During the last round of pit stops, Palou couldn’t manage to get the undercut on Kirkwood. The three times champion stated “Yeah it was during the last pit stop. We had a great stop. I think they had a quite a slow one. it was pretty close.”
Palou would have been a first of a very few IndyCar drivers, to win the first three races of the season, had he claimed the top spot at the Long Beach GP. He said was “disappointing” not to get that statistic.
” In a way obviously I’m disappointing because you know you cannot do it again this year. On another way, it’s amazing to be the only person that had that chance and almost got it, so…”
Palou continued.” Honestly, I’m super happy to be here. like, I don’t get used to wins, although some people might think that we do. Super tough to win in INDYCAR. Every Podium, every top five finish is welcome.”
A strategical round
A lot of the changes throughout the field were down to strategy and not down to on track battles and overtaking. Another factor was the narrowness of Long Beach GP being a street course, as well as dirty air affecting drivers progress.
“Overtaking was always going to be tough. At the end of the day it’s a street course. When you have a fast car starting up front and not many cars out of position, it’s tough to overtake on track.”
The IndyCar season next stop on the calendar is Barber Motorsports Park, Birmingham, Alabama. Palou will hope to maintain his championship lead, after a successful Long Beach GP.
