Alex Palou Goes Back-to-Back With Late Pass on Pato O’Ward for Win at Thermal Club
- Jeffrey Hrunka
- Mar 23
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 24
Jeffrey Hrunka - Staff Writer
(Aspects of the race may been left out due to technical difficulties that hindered our coverage of The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix)
Alex Palou played strategy right for the second consecutive race weekend to steal The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix win from Pato O’Ward. The Arrow McLaren duo of O’Ward and Christian Lundgaard rounded out the podium.
For most of the race, Palou was third behind Lundgaard and O’Ward. However, a strategy call to save sticker alternate tires for his last stint allowed him to jump the papaya duo and take the lead with ten laps to go. After passing the Mexican, he went uncontested, leading the final ten laps, 13 in total, for his 13th career win.
“You always go to a weekend wanting to win, never expecting to win, but maybe expecting to fight,” Palou said.” I mean, there's so much stuff that needs to go right in order to win an IndyCar race, all the pit stops, your tire mileage and fuel mileage. It's amazing to start with a double win this season.”
O’Ward was the race's dominant car, putting his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevorlet at the front of the field for 50 laps and taking the fastest lap of the race, 1.49.358s. With his second-place effort, O’Ward jumped to second in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES point standings, 39 points behind Palou.
Lap traffic proved to be the difference maker late in the race, shifting the tone from catching O’Ward to making it a matter of time until Palou took the lead.
“It sucks to be the leader,” O’Ward said. “All of our Chevy affiliate teams are worthless with helping when a Chevy leader is coming up on them. Honda seemed to work as a team very well.”
Lundgaard claimed his first podium finish with Arrow McLaren, a third-place finish. This was his first podium since the 2024 Grand Prix of Indianapolis when he took with Rahal Lanigan Racing. With back-to-back top-eight finishes, the 23-year-old Danish driver is fourth in the driver standings, 42 points behind.
“We had a good weekend and scored some points,” Lundgaard said. “I think overall, looking across all three cars, we were more competitive and leaving with two podiums and a first and a second in qualifying. I think we can be very happy with the weekend, yet [Palou] keeps beating us every time.”
O’Ward and Lundgaard followed the same strategy for most of the race, starting the race on the sticker alternate tires. Both elected to save the used alternate for later in the race. Patience proved the difference for Palou, who began the race at a disadvantage.
“It was especially hard for us when we were at the beginning of the race on a disadvantage on the tires,” Palou said. “Very early on, you could see that they were going away, and you're like, ‘Man, I know I need to still go slow and keep my rear tires on,’ although you see that they're pushing a little bit more than you.”
Meyer Shank Racing ended the race as the only team to finish in the top ten with all its entries. Felix Rosenqvist and Marcus Armstrong finished fifth and seventh, respectively. For Rosenqvist, he joined Palou, Lundgaard, Kyle Kirkwood (eight), Alexander Rossi (ninth) and Scott Dixon (tenth) as the only drivers to open the season with back-to-back top tens.
Will Power was the race's biggest mover. He started 21st, barely avoiding contact on the first lap of the race for a sixth-place finish. He ended the race as Team Penkse’s highest-finishing car, as Scott McLaughlin's warm-up lap spin and Josef Newgarden's lack of speed saw each driver finish 27th and 13th, respectively.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES Results
Alex Palou #10 -(LEADER)
Pato O’Ward #5 -10.185s
Christian Lundgaard #7 -22.733s
Colton Hertz #26 -35.071s
Felix Rosenqvist #60 -35.630s
Will Power #12 -40.379s
Marcus Armstrong #66 -41.613s
Kyle Kirkwood #27 -52.248s
Alexander Rossi #20 -52.607s
Scott Dixon #9 -54.053s
Graham Rahal #15 -58.273s
Christian Rasmussen #21 -61.060s
Josef Newgarden #2 -70.428s
Santino Ferrucci #14 -73.037s
Kyffin Simpson #8 -73.240s
Conor Daly #76 -102.042s
Rinus Veekay #18 -103.729s
David Malukas #4 -107.311s
Nolan Siegel #6 -107.796s
Devlin DeFrancesco #29 -1 lap down
Marcus Ericsson #28 -1 lap down
Robert Shwartzman #83 (R) -1 lap down
Sting Ray Robb #77 -1 lap down
Louis Foster #45 (R) -1 lap down
Jacob Abel #51 (R) -1 lap down
Callum Ilott #90 -1 lap down
Scott McLaughlin #3 - retired
NTT INDYCAR SERIES action returns in Long Beach for the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix on Sunday, April 11, on FOX.
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