Alex Palou was not the winner of Sunday’s IndyCar event from Mid-Ohio, having thrown away his lead with a late mistake.
After securing the lead by employing a riskier three-stop strategy, the three-time champion looked set to walk away with yet another victory.
But an unforced error with seven laps remaining saw him slide to the edge of the course in Turn 9, and all four wheels dipped into the grass.
Scott Dixon was able to take advantage and cruised past the Spaniard, ultimately taking his 59th victory of his illustrious career.
Palou, for his part, felt that he would get over the pain of losing quickly, and chose to take an optimistic view of his mistake.
“Nothing in particular happened,” explained the reigning series champion. “Just lost it a little bit. Then kind of got into the marbles and went out.
“Yeah, lost everything there. It was a big, big mistake by my part. The car was on fire today.
“The issue was the marbles, getting into the marbles. Then I had it felt like ice, and then I got into the curb and I couldn’t get out of the curb.
“The RPM dropped a lot and I didn’t have any power at all. I was full throttle, but it was just going so slow.
“Yeah, it could have been a lot worse. I could have ended up in the tire [barriers] real easily, and the tires are not very far away from the curb in that corner.
“Yeah, all in all, it was a good save. I can say that instead of ‘a mistake’, it was a good save. Yeah, I’ll take it that way. It was a good save.”
Palou still extended his points lead over Kyle Kirkwood, and now sits a comfortable 113 points ahead of his competitors.
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