LEXINGTON, Ohio– The more he and his rivals declare IndyCar‘s 2023 champion is wide-open, the more Alex Palou extends his lead, which looks overwhelming.
As IndyCar passed the middle of the season Sunday in its ninth race, the 2021 series champ got his 4th win in 5 races and 3rd in a row, a hot streak the series hasn’t seen in more than 3 years.
Here’s how Palou rode towards success at the end of IndyCar’s 80-lapper at Mid-Ohio.
Alex Palou gets an edge in the pits
As it did a week back, where Roadway America pole-sitter and late leader Colton Herta appeared to take his last pitstop one lap too early, rest stop technique showed essential as Palou got the lead– and never ever let it go.
Beginning 4th, the Chip Ganassi Racing chauffeur began on Firestone’s more difficult main substance tire, establishing a capability to run longer early than the 3 motorists ahead of him (Herta, Graham Rahal and Kyle Kirkwood).
Herta pitted from the lead at the end of Lap 27, with Rahal doing so at the end of Lap 28, handing the cause Palou, who avoided one lap longer. Palou was mainly clear of traffic on his in-lap and out-lap, enabling him to shoot him out to the front with 50 laps to go.
Fighting: IndyCar at Mid-Ohio highlights, crashes, occurrences
Alex Palou makes finest of tire technique
The other side of that technique? Palou required to avoid for more than 20 laps on those red alternate tires, with Herta and others on the more difficult blacks a benefit at the end of the stint. Palou managed it by developing almost an 8-second lead on Herta in the very first half of that stint.
And even while Palou was held up by Benjamin Pedersen, running in the back of the field and about to be lapped, the chauffeur of the No. 10 Honda handled to get around the No. 55 Chevy by Lap 48 with a 3.8-second lead on Herta. By Lap 50, Palou had the cushion back up to 4.5 seconds by Lap 50 and 6.8 seconds by Lap 52.
When he pitted at the end of Lap 53, Palou’s space on Herta was 8.2 seconds.
Alex Palou’s oppositions make errors
The last pit series showed most essential.
Herta was required a pitlane speeding infraction at the end of Lap 54, stating on the radio he thought his speed limiter stopped working. He was provided a drive-through charge, being up to 13 th after serving his charge. He completed 11th.
Rahal, still in line for a possible top-5– which would’ve been his very first of the year– saw his pit team battle to get his left-rear wheel connected effectively, squandering important time. He completed 7 th
That handed 2 nd location to six-time Mid-Ohio winner Scott Dixon, who moved into 2 nd location in points with his 2nd podium of the year and third-straight top-4 surface. On Lap 57, Dixon tracked his Ganassi colleague by 8.4 seconds, and 10 laps later on, both of them completing the race on the main tire, that space just increased to almost 12 seconds. By last margin was 5+ seconds, with Perseverance taking 3 rd
IndyCar Series standings
With his 4th win of the year, Palou increased his points cause 110 over Dixon, with Josef Newgarden, who struggled this weekend and completed 12 th, down 116 indicate the leader. By virtue of his Lap 1 crash with Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson quit his hang on 2 nd location in the champion with his last-place surface. He now routes Palou in the title race by 122 points, being in 4 th