To begin the Month of May IndyCar held its traditional race around the Indianapolis road course on Saturday afternoon.
Despite not leading until lap 58, Alex Palou asserted himself as the dominant winner of the race.
The soft tires he fit late in the race helped his cause even further, and he pulled away from everyone else at a clip of over half of a second per lap.
READ MORE: IndyCar IMS GP – Full Race Results
Palou’s final margin of victory was over five seconds, and the rest of the field was left wondering what they have to do to stand a chance against the three time champion.
The win, four in the first five races of 2025, also gives Palou a massive 97 point lead heading into the Indianapolis 500.
Pato O’Ward finished second, climbing from eighth to clinch his second podium of the young season.
Will Power crossed the line third to stand on the podium as well, and was just ahead of his Team Penske team-mate Scott McLaughlin on the road.
Climbing up from 16th was Scott Dixon. The veteran made up a lot of ground for the second race running and will likely be focusing on qualifying in the future to help him secure even better results.
Graham Rahal put in a valiant effort from the second place starting position, charging into the lead on the first corner.
The veteran held the top spot for nearly three quarters of the race, but tire strategy proved his undoing and he began slipping back as his tires wore out.
A slow pit stop was the final nail in Rahal’s chances as he ended the day in a disappointing sixth place.
Finally a caution
There was only one caution, which was brought out late in the race for David Malukas who stopped alongside the course.
The yellow broke a streak of 408 consecutive green flag laps that stretched back to the season opening round in St. Petersburg and was one of the longest streaks in series history.
Before the green flag even flew, Kyffin Simpson suffered the worst luck in the field. He was stranded and could not even pull out of the pits to complete the formation laps ahead of the race.
His 10th place qualifying effort was all for naught due to gearbox issues and he climbed out of the car with zero laps completed.
Josef Newgarden also had an issue before the race and he had to start from the rear of the pack instead of sixth due to a radio communication issue.
The two-time defending Indianapolis 500 winner had a brilliant comeback from the rear and finished in 12th.
Marcus Ericsson completed a few laps before he ran into issues, but nonetheless he still had to bring his Andretti Global Honda into the pits after just six laps.
Ericsson and his crew were not immediately sure what caused the sudden loss of power and they will investigate the problem ahead of the next event.
On lap three Colton Herta and Callum Ilott were involved in an altercation at Turn 12. Both needed a visit to pit lane but were able to continue.
After changing a front wing Herta was multiple laps down and finished in 25th, while Ilott was also able to continue and ended his day in 22nd.
Next on the schedule is the infamous Indianapolis 500. Two full weeks of practice and qualifying await drivers and teams ahead of the race itself on Sunday, May 25.
