Alex Palou won the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, beating Colton Herta after 95 scorching laps of the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and taking the championship lead on a day when former leader Will Power finished seventh.
From pole position, Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda got off to a good start, but Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood held him back and passed him on the outside in Turn 2 to take the lead and the inside line for Turn 3. Behind Palou, Felix Rosenqvist held on to third place for Meyer Shank Racing, pursued by Alexander Rossi’s Arrow McLaren who had passed Colton Herta’s Andretti Global Honda on the outside of Turn 3.
The big loser of the first lap was Power who got stuck on the dusty outside of Turn 3 and fell into the dirt, dropping from 25th place. In contrast, Ganassi’s Scott Dixon moved from 10th to seventh behind Christian Lundgaard’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda and ahead of Scott McLaughlin, although the No. 3 Penske was the car with the best start among the Firestone alternatives. At the start of the second lap, Marcus Armstrong passed Romain Grosjean at turn 2 to take ninth place and immediately closed on McLaughlin.
On lap six, Rinus VeeKay spun behind Ed Carpenter Racing teammate Christian Rasmussen and fell to the rear. At this point, Palou was still chasing Kirkwood fiercely, 0.8 seconds behind him, and ahead of Rosenqvist, Rossi, Herta and Lundgaard. By lap 13, Palou was filling Kirkwood’s mirrors and Rosenqvist was less than a second behind the Ganassi machine.
Regarding the pit stops, Marcus Ericsson was the first to blink, moving from primaries to substitutes at the end of lap 17. The power stopped at the end of the 18th lap, making the same move from black to red. Pato O’Ward, who was 12th, stopped next time and opted for fresh reds. McLaughlin changed his reds to more used reds.
By lap 22, Kirkwood was hanging on to the lead by his fingernails and his lap times had fallen to 1m11.0778s, while Rossi was in the pit lane to change the primaries for the replacements, a move which Rosenqvist imitated the next time. Kirkwood, Herta and Lundgaard all pitted next time out, but their slower laps on worn tires meant they were beaten by Rossi. Palou’s extra lap was enough for him to overtake Kirkwood, but not Rossi. Surprisingly, the two-time champion had competed in another set of primaries, and Kirkwood and Herta wasted no time in overtaking him.
Further back, the charging McLaughlin dove on the inside of Lundgaard at Turn 9, and the RLL car went into the gravel, collecting a billboard that folded around its right front wing.
Rosenqvist was another who had lost time in the gravel, going up the hill to the Corkscrew, and was now in ninth place. Josef Newgarden had lost time when he was given a drive-through penalty for an unsafe pit exit. However, although he dropped to 24th, his time loss was reduced by Luca Ghiotto who maneuvered his Dale Coyne Racing Honda and brought out the first yellow flag of the race.
Newgarden jumped to 11th place when several drivers elected to use caution to make their second stops, including Rossi, Kirkwood and Herta. Dixon bounced off a curb at the pit entrance and hit the pit wall with his right front, and McLaughlin hit the left rear of the Ganassi car. Palou stayed out of his primaries and O’Ward on the substitutes moved up to second, but was overtaken at Turn 2 on the 39th lap restart by Grosjean, who hung on the outside during further primaries and kept the movement going.
David Malukas finished fourth in his first race of the year for Meyer Shank, followed by Armstrong and Ferrucci. In the middle of the pack, Herta’s crew had moved ahead of Rossi and Kirkwood. The race then went under yellow for two laps as Nolan Siegel spun and needed a good start.
On the restart on lap 42, Palou pulled away from Grosjean, O’Ward and Malukas, clearly needing two more stops, while those who had stopped under caution should have been able to make it with just one.
O’Ward pitted from third at the end of lap 47, and Malukas and Pietro Fittipaldi (RLL) pitted the next time, but Fittipaldi made the same mistake as Newgarden, running onto the sand on the exit from the stands and missing the mixing line, and pitted.
Palou was now flying away from Herta – who was leading the group on the other strategy – pulling him 22 seconds before Palou stopped on lap 54, as Herta tried to do his fuel number. Palou didn’t have enough of a gap to maintain the lead, but he came out third behind Herta and Rossi and just ahead of Kirkwood. Behind them ran McLaughlin, Dixon, Power, Grosjean, Rosenqvist and Lundgaard.
The energized replacements took Dixon on the inside primaries atop the Corkscrew to move into sixth on lap 58, so he could start chasing teammate McLaughlin.
Closer to the front, Palou dove on the inside of Rossi at Turn 2 on Lap 62 to take second, and quickly closed on Herta, while Power passed McLaughlin for fifth a lap later. On lap 64, Palou picked up Herta at the top of the hill exiting turn 6 and was well ahead by the time they reached the corner for the Corkscrew. There was no respite for Herta, as Rossi immediately found himself in his mirrors.
Kirkwood and Dixon made their final stops on lap 66, then Herta, Rossi, Power, McLaughlin, Lundgaard and Rosenqvist stopped. Palou again stayed longer on track and set his fastest lap of the race, but then got stuck behind Rasmussen for half a lap and lost 3 seconds. At the end of the 70th lap, Ganassi called him to the pits where he took part in the primaries and overtook Herta. Grosjean, who stopped on the same lap as Palou, did not have enough temperature in his tires to push Rossi back to the lead at the Corkscrew and potentially lose a podium.
Caution flags flew on lap 75, when Lundgaard came up the inside of Armstrong at Turn 4 who had just come out of the pits and pushed him to the outside. The green Ganassi car spun and stalled.
IndyCar then allowed everyone to stop before issuing the caution, and out of strategy, Newgarden was able to get out of the lead and exit in second, ahead of Herta, Rossi, Grosjean and Power.
On the restart, Palou retained the advantage but Penske scored a double strike. Newgarden went off the track at Turn 6, allowing Herta, Rossi and Grosjean to take the lead, while at Turn 5 McLaughlin dived late on Power, bounced him wide but then spun around as he came back to the accelerator. Before he could serve his drivethrough penalty, his car was seen struggling on the very slow climb up the hill and he had to pit. There was then a fourth caution for the Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Jack Harvey expiring on the main straight, although Harvey backed it off the track into the pit lane.
Things get WILD in the final laps!
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Palou held off Herta on the restart on lap 86, while Rossi and Grosjean were chased by Newgarden, Kirkwood, Dixon, O’Ward, Power and Ferrucci. It didn’t take long for the fifth caution to arrive – on lap 87, in fact. At Turn 5, Kyffin Simpson was pushed by Agustin Canapino’s Juncos Hollinger car and that was enough to deflate the left rear tire of the Ganassi car and send it into a spin. On the other side of the track, he was hit hard by Graham Rahal, who had earlier dodged a bullet while going around Armstrong’s spinning car, but this time was taken out instantly.
Caution and fewer green flag laps eased Herta’s fuel concerns. The race resumed with four laps remaining and, although relatively calm, Palou easily pulled away from Herta, who in turn dropped Rossi. Grosjean came under pressure from Newgarden, while Kirkwood and Dixon followed. Power passed O’Ward on lap 93, then set his sights on Dixon. However, on the penultimate lap he was offered another place when Newgarden again ran wide at turn 6 and spun around, dropping to 19th.
Palou took the win by 2 seconds ahead of Herta, with Rossi, Grosjean and Kirkwood completing the top five. Dixon held off Power, O’Ward and Ferrucci, while Ericsson placed 10th despite two major errors.
RESULTS
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