The Spaniard kicked off the Month of May in style, dominating from the pole position on the Indy Road Course to take his 10^th career victory. Will Power finished 4.6 seconds behind Palou to record his third runners-up finish of the season, whilst Christian Lundgaard scored RLL’s first podium of the season. 

Scott Dixon finished just ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Armstrong to come home in 4^th, as Scott McLaughlin benefitted from a well-timed caution to move his way up to 6^th. Colton Herta made up 17 places from his starting spot of 24th to finish in 7^th, ahead of Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal and Felix Rosenqvist.

Pato O’Ward crossed the line a disappointing 13^th for Arrow McLaren, falling from his starting spot of 5^th, whilst big hitters Marcus Ericsson and Josef Newgarden finished in 16^th and 17^th respectively. Santino Ferrucci was caught up in an early incident with Romain Grosjean, but eventually retired from the race on lap 55. 

Palou picks up where he left off at Indianapolis

Alex Palou laid down a powerful marker on the Indianapolis Road Course, just like he did twelve months ago. In May 2023, Palou dominated the Grand Prix on the road course, set the fastest pole speed in Indianapolis 500 history, and finished 4^th in the 107^th running of the Greatest spectacle in racing after contact on pitlane with Rinus Veekay saw him fall to 28^th at the halfway stage of the race. 

Aiming to right the wrongs of last May, Palou fired to the NTT P1 award on Friday evening, beating Christian Lundgaard and Will Power by the finest of margins 

Despite initially losing the lead to Lundgaard on the opening lap, Palou hunted the Dane throughout the race, consistently shadowing his rival and following in his wheel tracks. 

When Lundgaard and Power pitted on lap 41, Palou stayed out for an extra lap to make the overcut work. The chasing pack were caught in a bit of traffic, and Palou leapfrogged into an unassailable lead. 

Although a caution threatened to derail Palou’s charge, the Spaniard held off Power and Lundgaard after the restart on lap 68, and then drove off into the distance to record his 10^th win in the NTT Indycar series. 

Palou said ‘It wasn’t a great start from my side. Did a mistake. Overshot the braking a little bit and just locked and lost that place, went into the grass a little bit. Wasn’t my best start, but I was just looking forward to getting that back and trying to get the lead back.’

‘Yeah, last year was special. We got the win here, the pole at the GP, then three wins in a row. It felt amazing every time we were on track, we were P1, so that felt super good. But it’s tough.’

Hopefully we can get that momentum that we have now and carry it the same way as we did last year’’

Power fights to the front to keep championship in sight 

Following the suspension of Will Power’s strategist Ron Ruzewski in the wake of the Team Penske push to pass scandal, many may have expected the two-time series champion to struggle throughout the Month of May. 

Dave Faustino has taken over strategy duties for Power, and the team have bounced back well. The speed of the #12 crew’s second pitstop allowed them to jump Lundgaard, and give themselves a shot at passing Palou for the victory. 

Power was never really close enough to pass Palou until the restart on lap 68, but the Australian driver could not quite force his way around the reigning series champion. 

Despite using some clever tricks to work his way into contention, Power had to settle for this third 2^nd place finish of the season, falling twelve points behind Palou in the standings. 

‘I don’t know what else we could have done there’ said Power in his press conference. ‘I think that was a very solid day from us. We tried the undercut. It was just a little cooler today where the undercut wasn’t quite as strong. But yeah, we gave it all we got.’

Christian Lundgaard also had to settle for third, a disappointing result at his best circuit on the calendar. Lundgaard led during the early stages having passed Palou at the opening corner, but fell back in the pit stop sequences to third. 

Despite closing in on Power on the restart on lap 68, Lundgaard would stand on the bottom step of the podium, scoring RLL’s first of the season in the process. 

Lundgaard said he was ‘happy to be disappointed. Yeah, I think that’s becoming an expression in the RLL engineering truck. Sometimes we’re just happy to be disappointed.’

‘Coming here, there was a minimum, which was a podium. We got it, but I wanted it to be a win.’

Herta fumes at Ericsson before recovering to 7^th

Ahead of the Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis, Colton Herta led the championship by a solitary point over Will Power. Having run out of fuel in qualifying and starting the race in 24^th, the last thing Herta needed was to be run into by his teammate Ericsson on the opening lap. 

Herta was pushed into the gravel at turn 4, and although he kept the car running, Herta dropped to the back of the field, furious with his teammate, making his opinions of the incident clear over the radio. However, despite this setback, he recovered to a strong 7^th place in the race, using a smart mix of strategy and precision to carve his way to the front. 

Colton Herta finished right behind Scott McLaughlin, who was caught up in a muti-car collision on the opening lap. Although all cars were able to make it through, McLaughlin dropped down the order. 

When Luca Ghiotto spun on lap 65 bringing out the one and only caution of the race, McLaughlin was halfway down pitlane, meaning he lost less time during his final stop, and sprung up to 6^th place in the race, slotting in behind fellow Kiwis Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong. 

Dixon had a quiet race, finishing in a competitive 4^th place, just ahead of his young teammate Armstrong, who scored his best result in the NTT Indycar Series.

Month of May begins

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway comes alive during the Month of May, and although the Sonsio Grand Prix took place on the road course, the anticipation for the Indianapolis 500 is incredibly high. 

Alex Palou carries the momentum, leading the championship by twelve points over Will Power, and by 25 over Scott Dixon and Colton Herta, but with an Indianapolis 500 victory on the line, seasons can be made and broken at the Racing Capital of the World. 

Team Penske will be looking to fight back following their cheating scandal, Arrow McLaren need to stop their slide and return to form as Chip Ganassi Racing still look the team to beat.