Chip Ganassi’s Alex Palou held off a charging Will Power in the final stages of the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama to claim his maiden NTT IndyCar Series victory.
The race began with an inauspicious opening lap which saw Penske’s Josef Newgarden lose control of his car at the exit of Turn 3 which caused a major pile-up that involved four other cars, including Ryan Hunter-Reay, Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist and Max Chilton.
Once the race was able to get into full swing it was Palou who got his No.10 Segi-Honda to Victory Lane with a well-managed two-stop strategy, but it was far from an easy affair.
The Spaniard had to manage his fuel across the final stint which allowed the 2014 series champion to close him down to within a second on the final lap.
Power has struggled in recent years to get off to a good start to a season, his second place at Barber is his best opening round finish since he scored the same result in St. Petersburg in 2015.
Reigning six-time series champion Scott Dixon remains winless at Barber as he eased himself to a steady third place to help put two CGR cars on the podium.
Arrow McLaren SP’s Pato O’Ward bolted away from the pack as the green flag dropped but ran into tyre issues in his opening stint on the softer Firestone tyres.
Despite racing a fast-paced three-stop strategy, O’Ward finished less than three seconds off the lead across the line.
Four-time Sebastien Bourdais was able to avoid the chaos on the opening lap and utilise a two-stop strategy to bring his No.14 RoKIT-Chevrolet for A.J.Foyt’s outfit from 16th on the grid.
Rinus Veekay and Graham Rahal would also follow the Frenchman through the field from their lowly starting positions to finish in sixth and seventh places respectively.
Marcus Ericsson was able to keep pace with Power and Dixon for most of the race, the Swede was the first of the final stoppers which meant critical fuel management across his final stint.
He was able to cross the line in eighth before stopping on the cooldown lap after running out of fuel.
Alexander Rossi started alongside O’Ward on the front row of the grid, but his race would fall away due to following a similar three-stop strategy to the Mexican forcing him to settle for ninth.
Romain Grosjean acquitted himself well on his IndyCar debut for Dale Coyne Racing, finishing the highest of the three rookie drivers rounding out the top 10.
IndyCar moves swiftly onto the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Florida next weekend.
| # | Driver | Gap | Laps Led | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Alex Palou | 01:52:53.0361 | 56 | 53 |
| 2 | Will Power | 0.4016 | 4 | 41 |
| 3 | Scott Dixon | 2.9881 | – | 35 |
| 4 | Pato O’Ward | 3.9741 | 25 | 34 |
| 5 | Sebastien Bourdais | 10.6967 | 4 | 31 |
| 6 | Rinus VeeKay | 13.8750 | 1 | 29 |
| 7 | Graham Rahal | 18.7387 | – | 26 |
| 8 | Marcus Ericsson | 20.0700 | – | 24 |
| 9 | Alexander Rossi | 20.5601 | – | 22 |
| 10 | Romain Grosjean | 45.0805 | – | 20 |
| 11 | Jack Harvey | 50.0788 | – | 19 |
| 12 | Simon Pagenaud | 59.0522 | – | 18 |
| 13 | Takuma Sato | 1:05.5887 | – | 17 |
| 14 | Scott McLaughlin | 1:06.0562 | – | 16 |
| 15 | Ed Jones | 1:08.4093 | – | 15 |
| 16 | Conor Daly | 1:09.1076 | – | 14 |
| 17 | James Hinchcliffe | 1 lap | – | 13 |
| 18 | Dalton Kellett | 1 lap | – | 12 |
| 19 | Jimmie Johnson | 3 laps | – | 11 |
| 20 | Max Chilton | 4 laps | – | 10 |
| 21 | Felix Rosenqvist | 28 laps | – | 9 |
| 22 | Colton Herta | 65 laps | – | 8 |
| 23 | Josef Newgarden | 90 laps | – | 7 |
| 24 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | 90 laps | – | 6 |
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