Palou passes Herta in Corkscrew to win incident-packed race

Alex Palou scored his second win of the IndyCar season in fine style, emerging on top of a lively race at Laguna Seca.

The Ganassi driver opted against joining many of his rivals in making an early second pit stop when the Safety Car was deployed. That allowed him to lean harder on his fuel and pick off his rivals for the lead – first Alexander Rossi at the Andretti hairpin, then Colton Herta into the Corkscrew.

However it wasn’t a straightforward run to the chequered flag from there as a series of incidents prompted further interruptions in the final third of the race.

Marcus Armstrong caused another caution period with 20 laps remaining after he was tipped into a spin by Christian Lundgaard at turn four. The Ganassi driver returned to the track at speed and was almost hit by oncoming cars as Armstrong spun to a halt.

Race control delayed the deployment of the Safety Car until all drivers had the chance to pit, which promoted Josef Newgarden to second place. This was a huge break for the Penske driver, who lost time earlier in the race with a drive-through penalty for a pit exit violation.

When Palou expressed concern about the appearance of the Indianapolis 500 winner in his mirrors, he was told: “They handled it like they usually do by waiting for everyone to pit.” But he didn’t have to worry for long, as Newgarden ran wide at turn six soon after the race resumed, dropping to fifth.

This restart was painful viewing for Penske, as their two other cars collided, Scott McLaughlin’s car getting away from him at turn six, leading to contact with Will Power. McLaughlin retired soon afterwards with damage.

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Jack Harvey’s retirement with an apparent engine problem caused another interruption. Palou’s car almost got away from him at the final corner at this restart, and Herta took a look at the outside line for turn one before backing down.

Chaos broke out at turn six again, however, as Agustin Canapino made light contact with Kyffin Simpson’s left rear, sending him into a spin which Graham Rahal could not avoid. The RLL driver made heavy contact first with the spinning Ganassi, then the unprotected barrier on the right, and though both emerged uninjured a lengthy clean-up operation was needed.

The race finally resumed for good with five laps to go and Palou led the field to the flag. Herta took second ahead of Rossi and Romain Grosjean, who improved on his best result for Juncos Hollinger for the second race in a row.

Newgarden ensured his good fortune was entirely squandered when he spun fifth place away on the penultimate lap. That promoted Kyle Kirkwood, who led the opening stint of the race after brilliantly passing Palou around the outside of the Andretti hairpin at the start.

Scott Dixon came home third ahead of Power. Seventh place was a superb recovery effort for the driver who also fell to last on the first lap after being forced off-track. Pato O’Ward took eighth ahead of Santino Ferrucci and Marcus Ericsson, the latter having been off twice.

Palou’s win gives him the championship lead after eight of 17 rounds. It also marked the end of an era for IndyCar, for when the field reconvenes at Mid-Ohio in two weeks’ time they will have hybrid power.

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Race result

P.	No.	Driver	Team	Engine
1	10	Alex Palou	Ganassi	Honda
2	21	Colton Herta	Andretti/Curb-Agajanian	Honda
3	7	Alexander Rossi	McLaren	Chevrolet
4	32	Romain Grosjean	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
5	22	Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti	Honda
6	9	Scott Dixon	Ganassi	Honda
7	12	Will Power	Penske	Chevrolet
8	5	Pato O’Ward	McLaren	Chevrolet
9	13	Santino Ferrucci	Foyt	Chevrolet
10	23	Marcus Ericsson	Andretti	Honda
11	29	Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank	Honda
12	6	Nolan Siegel	McLaren	Chevrolet
13	25	Christian Rasmussen	Carpenter	Chevrolet
14	24	Pietro Fittipaldi	RLL	Honda
15	27	Christian Lundgaard	RLL	Honda
16	30	David Malukas	Meyer Shank	Honda
17	8	Linus Lundqvist	Ganassi	Honda
18	33	Agustin Canapino	Juncos Hollinger	Chevrolet
19	2	Josef Newgarden	Penske	Chevrolet
20	26	Sting Ray Robb	Foyt	Chevrolet
21	3	Scott McLaughlin	Penske	Chevrolet
22	11	Marcus Armstrong	Ganassi	Honda
23	14	Graham Rahal	RLL	Honda
24	4	Kyffin Simpson	Ganassi	Honda
25	16	Jack Harvey	Coyne	Honda
26	18	Rinus VeeKay	Carpenter	Chevrolet
27	28	Luca Ghiotto	Coyne/WR	Honda

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