Chicago (AFP) – Alex Palou won his sixth IndyCar race in nine season starts, the Spaniard holding off Sweden’s Felix Rosenqvist to capture Sunday’s Grand Prix at Road America on low fuel. Palou boosted his season points lead by taking his first victory since last month’s Indianapolis 500, enduring after 55 laps over the 4.014-mile, 14-turn road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.
“It was a crazy race,” Palou said. “Losing a ton of positions and then making them, it was a tough race for everybody.” Palou became the first IndyCar driver since A.J. Foyt in 1975 to win six of the first nine races in a campaign. Rosenqvist was second, two seconds back, and American Santino Ferrucci was third, running out of fuel one turn after the checkered flag.
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Four caution flags in the first 23 laps prompted teams to adopt differing fuel strategies, and by lap 28 it was New Zealand’s Scott Dixon leading. American Josef Newgarden was second before crashing on turn 14, leaving Dixon ahead with Palou and Rossi just behind after a lap-31 restart. The race came down to those three trying to conserve fuel over the final laps to reach the end while Rosenqvist, on full fuel in fourth, tried to overtake them.
Rossi went to the pits with four laps remaining and Dixon pitted for fuel a lap later, leaving Palou to outlast Rosenqvist with his fuel tank nearly dry. “Kudos to the team for the amazing strategy and Honda for giving us the fuel mileage we needed to make it at the end,” Palou said. “Couldn’t be happier.”
Palou, seeking his fourth season title in five years, leads the points chase with 386, with American Kyle Kirkwood, a three-time winner this season, 93 points adrift in second. Palou matched the IndyCar record of three wins at Road America, also held by Mario and Michael Andretti and Emerson Fittipaldi. Rosenqvist settled for second on the track where his only IndyCar triumph came in 2020.
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