Pato O’Ward is having the best IndyCar season of his career, and is likely going to finish second in the season championship.
If he does, it would be the highest the 26-year-old has finished in the driver’s title race.
Despite earning two wins and nine top five finishes with two races yet to go in the 2025 season, O’Ward feels a bit overshadowed by Alex Palou’s dominance.
Palou clinched his third consecutive championship during the Portland race weekend, and became the youngest driver ever to earn four titles.
O’Ward still feels that he and his Arrow McLaren team are ‘breaking curses’ that have held them back in recent years.
“We’re breaking curses, as I like to call them,” said O’Ward. “Zak [Brown] was finally at a race win in the flesh. We’re finally breaking curses at certain circuits that have always been a very tough challenge for not just my side but sometimes all three cars.
“I’m glad that we’ve pushed forward. The guys have brought me new things, new upgrades, to try on the cars. That just speaks to, like, how hungry we are to kind of close that gap and just bring the fight to pretty much the #10 car, which is the only car that’s up there all the time.
“I think [Palou’s] success this year has overshadowed a little bit of how strong the team has stepped up and given us the tools to perform every weekend, even though maybe the year prior to that it was a bit of a challenge.”
O’Ward has been with Arrow McLaren for six seasons and has been responsible for a bulk of the team’s successes since McLaren came into the series.
If he can find a way to take one further step up in results, he may well step out of Palou’s shadow and take the bulk of the headlines for himself.
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