Palou pulls off strategy ace to win IndyCar opener

The two-time series winner led home teammate Scott Dixon, who pulled off a last lap pass on Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden to snatch second place.

Newgarden looked like he might threaten Palou for the race lead after the Spaniard was baulked by traffic. However, the American couldn’t find a way through and eventually ran out of fuel coming out of the final turn.

“What an amazing job by everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing, HRC, DHL, and everybody at the #10 car,” said Palou, who started the race in eighth.

“They gave me everything I needed this weekend to win. I told you yesterday that we had a really, really fast car, so I was looking forward to the race.

“Our strategy changed a lot during that first yellow but I’m so glad that we got that #10 in victory lane. It’s been 138 days since Nashville and I’ve been dreaming about this every single night.

“I think he got trapped in traffic a little bit, that’s why I guess the #10 stand decided to pit a little but early. We had a really clean out-lap, could run fast, and then open a gap from there.”

Pole position winner Scott McLaughlin finished fourth after opting to go for a conventional strategy.

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The defining moments in the 100-lap race came on Lap 1 when Team Penske’s Will Power rear-ended McLaren’s Nolan Siegel and sent him into a spin at Turn 3. Rahal Letterman Lanigan rookie Louis Foster was also caught up in the melee.

What followed was a sequence of yellow flag pit stops. Andretti Global’s Colton Herta, who started second, was the leading driver on the soft compound tyres to pit and was followed by the likes of Christian Lundgaard, Alexander Rossi, Dixon, Palou, and Newgarden.

Herta looked like he would be the best-place driver to lead on the alternative strategy, but suffered a slow second pit stop and a fuel issue, which meant he had to pit four times and finished 16th.

McLaughlin dominated the opening half of the race and led 40 laps but dropped back as the pit stop strategies balanced out.

McLaren’s Lundgaard led 23 laps after the second round of pit stops but faded as the final round of pit stops approached and eventually wound up eighth.

Dixon looked like he might threaten for the win but struck traffic before his final pit stop on Lap 73. Moments beforehand, on Lap 72, Palou pitted and pulled off an undercut to shoot to the lead.

Newgarden got by Dixon shortly after the pit stop sequence and found himself with a near five-second deficit to the race leader Palou.

That gap dwindled to just a few car lengths in the final laps, but Newgarden couldn’t make a pass happen and eventually conceded second to Dixon on the last lap.

“It was a great race by the #2 team,” said Newgarden.

“A couple of hiccups but this team fought really hard. It starts with a really great car.

“We’ve had a great car all weekend. Could have qualified higher than 10th. I said that yesterday and I felt like our car today was certainly capable of winning, just didn’t quite get there for a couple of reasons.

“Pit stop cycles, we obviously needed to go longer and then we had a shift at that end we didn’t realise, so I kind of had to give up that second place.

“It was a great fight from our team. It’s a good start for us, we’re on the podium, we got some points, we’d like to keep these points on the board and then have a good solid year.

“It’s a long season. You’ve got to go all the way.”

The IndyCar Series resumes with round two at The Thermal Club on March 24 (AEDT).

Results: IndyCar Series Grand Prix of St Petersburg