Alex Palou prevailed in an instant-classic Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America to increase his championship lead to 74 points, in a drive of class and maturity.

The Spaniard patiently waited for his opportunity to pounce on polesitter Colton Herta, and did so with five laps to go and never looked back.

Herta was then swallowed up by the chasing pack as he was short on fuel, meaning that the Californian failed to finish on the podium. Josef Newgarden came across the line in second, whilst Pato O’Ward rounded out the podium in third.

Scott Dixon recovered from his practice shunt with Will Power to finish 4th, as pole sitter Colton Herta was left to rue a strategy error from his team to limp home in 5th. Marcus Ericsson finished a solid 6th, with Christian Lundgaard 7th in a good weekend for RLL. Mclaughlin was 8th, Kirkwood recovered from a lap 1 spin to finish 9th and Alexander Rossi completed the top 10.

Palou stamps further authority on 2023 Indycar season

Heading into the weekend at Road America, Alex Palou was already a star of the last four weekends of Indycar. As mentioned in my race report after the Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit, Alex Palou crushed the opposition at the GMR Grand Prix, won the pole for the Indianapolis 500, finished 4th after an accident in which he was helpless coming back from 28th, and then dominated in Detroit.

As the green flag flew for the Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America, Palou led the championship by 50 points, the largest gap seen in Indycar since Scott Dixon won the first 3 rounds of the season in 2020.

After a heavy accident in second practice, some may have expected Palou to ease his way into the weekend. He qualified a strong third, putting him in a fine spot to start the race.

Palou was not cautious in his approach during the race, however, executing passes and strategy to perfection. His calculated precision allowed his to work his way into a position to pounce on a wounded Colton Herta, and win his third race of the season.

His championship lead is now at a commanding 74 points, and it is certainly Palou’s to lose.

Road America produces instant-classic affair

Since Indycar was last at Road America, the entire circuit was repaved, bringing higher speeds and closer racing. It did not disappoint.

The Sonsio Grand Prix provided over 380 on track passes, including 110 within the top 10, and 32 within the top 5. The 4 mile road course provided action into turn 1 and into Canada corner, with restarts providing overtaking opportunities aplenty.

The race started with contact between Andretti Autosport’s Kyle Kirkwood, who got into the back of Pato O’Ward, spinning Kirkwood around and bringing out an early caution period. Scott Dixon, who started on row 11 near the rear of the field dived for the pits along with a few others, allowing him to go off strategy.

10 laps of great racing then ensued as drivers got into a rhythm, with the most impressive battle being between Christian Lundgaard and Josef Newgarden. Romain Grosjean then spun to bring out the caution flag, cueing a flurry of pitstops.

Heading to the green flag after those stops, Jack Harvey made contact with Helio Castroneves, causing the British driver to end up in the wall at turn 14, delaying another restart.

When the race then did get back underway, passing became commonplace as drivers fought for every inch of the racetrack and more. Marcus Ericsson was the most aggressive, making up many positions, but pit stops undermined his progress, as he lost positions during every pit stop phase of the race.

The Mclaren cars of Rossi and Rosenqvist continued their tussle from Detroit, as O’Ward and Newgarden looked to press Alex Palou as he trailed Colton Herta during the middle period of the race.

Andretti Autosport another endure tough day as Grosjean and Herta misfire

It was certainly a weekend to forget for Romain Grosjean, who arrived at Road America knowing that it was a track from which he had gained so much success in his short Indycar career.

However, it was a mistake riddled weekend, as the #28 driver struggled with the faster speeds on the smooth circuit, spinning numerous times throughout the weekend and ending the race in 25th.

For Herta, he pitted with 15 laps to go, a baffling call considering the general consensus was that 14 laps was about the amount necessary in order to run flat out without worrying about saving any fuel throughout the last stint.

This decision cost Herta dramatically, as he was forced to coast on the straights allowing not only Palou, but also Newgarden, O’Ward and Dixon to blast past and drop the driver of the #26 Gainbridge Honda to 5th.

After a slow start to the season, Herta will be disappointed to not have won here at Road America, but can take some heart from the fact that his performance was extremely solid and consistent throughout the weekend.

Championship contenders lose sight of Palou

In a championship of fine margins, the chasing pack behind Alex Palou will need to recover, and recover quickly in order to take the Astor Cup to the final day.

Ericsson and Newgarden are the only 2 within 90 points of the Spaniard, and they finished 6th and 2nd respectively at Road America, surrendering more ground to the all conquering Palou. However, Newgarden will be heartened by the fact that the Iowa double header is not too far away, a circuit on which he has dominated over the last few years.

At 98 points back, O’Ward and Dixon are still within striking distance, but face an undeniably uphill task in stopping Alex Palou.

As the series heads to Mid-Ohio in 2 weekends time, a circuit where Palou finished 2nd on last season, all eyes will on be whether the Spaniard and his #10 American legion crew can extend their championship advantage in 2023.