The Alex Palou show continued, Sunday, in Monterey, California.
The driver of the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda led 84 of the 95 laps to win the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
“Amazing,” he said. “It was another magical day for us, the 10 car and CGR. I think this was probably one of our best weekends ever.”
It’s his 18th career victory in 95 career NTT IndyCar Series starts.
“Yeah. I mean, we started very good in practice,” he said, “but we had to make a couple big changes for qualifying, and they worked really well. Got the pole there.
“Then today we had a lot of pace. I was super comfortable with the car. Car balance was amazing. Strategy, pit stops. And we were fast on both soft or hard tires. It was one of those days where it felt like we had a big pace advantage, and we were able to — I’m happy that we were able to capitalize and get that win.
“Yeah, could not be happier.”
Christian Lundgaard brought his No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet home to a runner-up finish Colton Herta rounded out the podium in third in his Andretti Global Honda.
“I think with the amount of deg that we had,” Lundgaard said, “the alternates weren’t — they were lasting from a pace perspective, but again, balance was very tough at the end of stints, and I knew that from my own first stint.
“Really it was just a very similar race for me compared to Barber. Used the undercut and attack. Obviously it worked. I knew I had to surprise him. So I did it into 11 instead of waiting for the main straights.
“Always fun racing.”
Pato O’Ward and Scott Dixon rounded out the top-five.
Callum Ilott, Will Power, Marcus Armstrong, Christian Rasmussen and Scott McLaughlin rounded out the top-10.
Alex Palou whoops field at Laguna Seca
Race summary
Palou led the field to green at 3:31 p.m. ET. Caution flew on the first lap when Kyffin Simpson got into the back of Felix Rosenqvist and sent both of them into the Turn 6 tire barrier.
Back to green on Lap 6, caution flew on Lap 11 when Jacob Abel suffered a rear brake failure, went off track and hit the tire barrier in Turn 2.
Back to green on Lap 14, green flag stops commenced on Lap 22. Palou pit from the lead on Lap 25. Caution flew on Lap 26 when Kyle Kirkwood turned Rinus VeeKay in Turn 3 and his car got stuck in the gravel. During which time, IndyCar held the yellow flag for a lap and a half. Kirkwood received a stop and go penalty for avoidable contact. Nolan Siegel inherited the lead, as a result.
Back to green on Lap 29, Palou overtook Siegel on the outside in Turn 3 for the race lead on Lap 37. He pit from the lead on Lap 51 and cycled back to the lead on Lap 52.
The final cycle of green flag stops commenced on Lap 68. Palou pit from the lead on Lap 72. Marcus Ericsson ran wide on the Rahal Straight and stalled his car on track near Turn 7 on Lap 77. It sat there for at least a full lap before INDYCAR threw the caution.
Back to green with 14 laps to go, caution flew with 10 to go when Santino Ferrucci spun out and parked his car in the gravel at the top of the corkscrew.
Back to green with eight to go, Palou drove on to victory.
Alex Palou whoops field at Laguna Seca
Nuts and bolts
The race lasted two hours and five minutes, at an average speed of 102.051 mph. There were two lead changes among two different drivers and five cautions for 13 laps.
Palou leaves Laguna Seca with a 121-point lead over O’Ward.
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to action on August 10 at Portland International Raceway.
