Alex Palou finished second in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland, losing out to the veteran Will Power who walked away with the win.
Palou was one of only a handful of drivers that used three sets of the harder primary tires during the race, a choice that was made earlier in the weekend.
He and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew opted to use extra sets of alternate tires during qualifying, thinking that the primary tires would be better suited to the race on Sunday.
That proved not to be the case, and the championship leader was unable to meaningfully challenge Power in front of him.
“It was tough,” said Palou. “It was a hard race. I think we didn’t really pick the right choices on tires.
“But it comes from yesterday’s qualifying. We didn’t really think that the used alternates were going to last. Used both of them in qualifying.
“That’s what I actually pushed for yesterday in qualifying. That’s why I did two stints on used reds. Yeah, I got a lot of fear after Detroit when I started on used reds. I just destroyed those tires in six laps.
“Yeah, a shame that we couldn’t really battle much. At the beginning I thought we had a lot of pace when the #12 [Power] and the #14 [Ferrucci] were on primaries. I was really comfortable.
“But as soon as Will went on reds, I just couldn’t really follow him. I had a chance on the back straight when he had a little bit of traffic, but couldn’t really make it.
“So yeah, happy, but obviously a little bit frustrating that we couldn’t really get there. It was tough. I think he had a seventh gear today. Couldn’t really catch him.”
On account of finishing behind Power, Palou’s points lead shrunk to 54 point. With just three races remaining in 2024, the lead is still a healthy one that will be hard to overcome.
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