Alex Palou received the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, beating Colton Herta after a torrid 95 laps of the two.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca and has moved into the lead of the championship on a day when former chief Will Energy completed seventh.
From pole place, Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Honda made a robust begin however Andretti International’s Kyle Kirkwood outbraked him and handed him across the outdoors into Flip 2 to seize the lead and the within line for Flip 3. Behind Palou, Felix Rosenqvist retained third place for Meyer Shank Racing, chased by Alexander Rossi’s Arrow McLaren who had scrambled previous Colton Herta’s Andretti International Honda on the surface of Flip 3.
The large loser on the opening lap was Energy who received frolicked on the dusty outdoors by Flip 3 and fell into the dust, dropping from to twenty fifth. Against this, Ganassi’s Scott Dixon jumped up from tenth to seventh behind Christian Lundgaard’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda, and forward of Scott McLaughlin, regardless of the Penske No. 3 being the highest-starting automotive operating the Firestone alternates. At first of the second lap, Marcus Armstrong muscled Romain Grosjean apart at Flip 2 to assert ninth and instantly closed on McLaughlin.
On lap six, Rinus VeeKay spun behind his Ed Carpenter Racing teammate Christian Rasmussen and fell to the again. At this stage, Palou was nonetheless chasing Kirkwood arduous, 0.8s behind him, and pulling away from Rosenqvist, Rossi, Herta and Lundgaard. By lap 13, Palou was filling Kirkwood’s mirrors and Rosenqvist was inside a second of the Ganassi machine.
Concerning pit stops, Marcus Ericsson was the primary to blink, switching from primaries to alternates on the finish of lap 17. Energy stopped on the finish of lap 18, making the identical transfer from blacks to reds. Pato O’Ward, who had been operating twelfth, pitted subsequent time by and went for contemporary reds. McLaughlin modified his reds for extra used reds.
By lap 22, Kirkwood was clinging onto the lead by his fingernails and his lap instances had been all the way down to 1m11.0778s, whereas Rossi was into pitlane to vary primaries for alternates, a transfer Rosenqvist emulated subsequent time by. Kirkwood, Herta and Lundgaard all pitted subsequent time by however their slower laps on worn tires meant they had been crushed by Rossi. Palou’s additional lap on monitor was sufficient for him to leap Kirkwood, however not Rossi. Surprisingly, the two-time champion had taken on one other set of primaries, and Kirkwood and Herta wasted little time in passing him.
Additional again, the charging McLaughlin dived down the within of Lundgaard at Flip 9, and the RLL automotive went off into the gravel, gathering an promoting board which folded round his right-front wing.
Rosenqvist was one other who had misplaced time in gravel, up the hill to the Corkscrew, and now ran ninth. Josef Newgarden had misplaced time when he was served a drive-through penalty for an unsafe pit exit. Nevertheless, though he dropped to twenty fourth, his time loss was diminished by Luca Ghiotto shunting his Dale Coyne Racing Honda and bringing out the primary yellow flag of the race.
Newgarden leapt to eleventh when a number of drivers elected to make use of the warning to make their second cease, together with Rossi, Kirkwood and Herta. Dixon bounced off a curb at pit entry and struck the pit wall along with his proper entrance, and McLaughlin tagged the Ganassi automotive’s left rear. Palou stayed out on his primaries, and O’Ward on alternates moved as much as second, however was handed at Flip 2 on the lap 39 restart by Grosjean, who hung spherical the surface on contemporary primaries and made the transfer stick.
David Malukas ran fourth in his first race of the 12 months for Meyer Shank, adopted by Armstrong and Ferrucci. Mid-pack, Herta’s crew had jumped him forward of Rossi and Kirkwood. The race then went underneath yellow for 2 laps as Nolan Siegel spun and wanted a bump begin.
The lap 42 restart noticed Palou stretch away from Grosjean, O’Ward and Malukas, clearly needing two extra stops, whereas those that pitted underneath warning had been anticipated to have the ability to make it on one.
O’Ward pitted from third on the finish of lap 47, and Malukas and Pietro Fittipaldi (RLL) stopped subsequent time by, however Fittipaldi made the identical error as Newgarden, operating onto the sand on the pit exit and lacking the mix line, and pitted.
Palou was now hovering relative to Herta – who led the group on the opposite technique – pulling 22s on him earlier than Palou’s lap 54 cease, as Herta tried to make his gasoline quantity. Palou didn’t get fairly sufficient of a niche to retain the lead, however he emerged in third behind Herta and Rossi and simply forward of Kirkwood. Behind them ran McLaughlin, Dixon, Energy, Grosjean, Rosenqvist and Lundgaard.
Energy on alternates took Dixon on primaries down the within on the prime of the Corkscrew to assert sixth on lap 58, so he may begin pursuing his teammate McLaughlin.
Nearer the entrance, Palou dived down the within of Rossi at Flip 2 on lap 62 to assert second, and quickly closed on Herta, whereas Energy handed McLaughlin for fifth a lap later. On lap 64 Palou drafted Herta up the hill out of Flip 6 and was nicely forward by the point they reached flip in for the Corkscrew. Herta had no respite, as a result of instantly Rossi was in his mirrors.
Kirkwood and Dixon made their last stops on lap 66, after which Herta, Rossi, Energy, McLaughlin, Lundgaard and Rosenqvist pitted. Palou once more stayed out longer and turned his quickest lap of the race, however then received caught behind Rasmussen for half a lap and misplaced 3s. On the finish of lap 70, Ganassi known as him to the pits the place he took on primaries and emerged forward of Herta. Grosjean, who had pitted on the identical lap as Palou, didn’t have sufficient temperature in his tires to fend off Rossi on the prime of the Corkscrew and doubtlessly misplaced a podium.
The warning flags flew on lap 75, when Lundgaard went up the within of Armstrong at Flip 4 who had simply emerged from the pits and nuzzled him to the surface. The inexperienced Ganassi automotive spun and stalled.
IndyCar then allowed everybody to pit earlier than throwing the warning, and off-strategy Newgarden was capable of pit from the lead and emerge in second, forward of Herta, Rossi, Grosjean and Energy.
On the restart, Palou held onto the lead however there was a double hit for Penske. Newgarden ran off the monitor at Flip 6, permitting Herta, Rossi and Grosjean forward, whereas at Flip 5, McLaughlin made a late dive on Energy, bounced him vast however then spun himself as he went again to the throttle. Earlier than he may serve his drivethrough penalty, his automotive was seen struggling up the hill very slowly and he needed to pit. There was then a fourth warning for Jack Harvey’s Dale Coyne Racing Honda expiring on the primary straight, despite the fact that Harvey backed it off the monitor into pitlane.
Issues are getting WILD within the closing laps!
📺: #FirestoneGP on CNBC and Peacock pic.twitter.com/4wR6yoV2p8
— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 24, 2024
Palou held off Herta on the lap 86 restart, whereas Rossi and Grosjean had been pursued by Newgarden, Kirkwood, Dixon, O’Ward, Energy and Ferrucci. The fifth warning didn’t take lengthy in coming – lap 87, in actual fact. At Flip 5, Kyffin Simpson was nudged by the Juncos Hollinger automotive of Agustin Canapino and it was sufficient to deflate the Ganassi automotive’s left-rear tire and ship him right into a spin. Broadside throughout the monitor, he was struck arduous by Graham Rahal, who had earlier dodged a bullet by swerving round Armstrong’s spinning automotive, however this time was eradicated on the spot.
The warning, and the diminished variety of green-flag laps alleviated Herta’s gasoline worries. The race restarted with 4 laps to go, and whereas pretty subdued, Palou simply pulled away from Herta, who in flip dropped Rossi. Grosjean got here underneath stress from Newgarden, whereas Kirkwood and Dixon adopted. Energy handed O’Ward on lap 93, after which locked sights on Dixon. Nevertheless, on the penultimate lap, he was gifted one other spot when Newgarden once more ran vast at Flip 6, and half-spun, dropping to nineteenth.
Palou ran out the win by 2s over Herta, with Rossi, Grosjean and Kirkwood finishing the highest 5. Dixon held off Energy, O’Ward and Ferrucci, whereas Ericsson claimed tenth regardless of two main offs.
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