Álex Palou makes history by becoming the first Spaniard to win an IndyCar race

The Spanish Alex Palou, of Chip Ganassi Racing, achieved this Sunday its first victory in the IndyCar by winning the inaugural test of the contest in 2021, the Alabama Grand Prix (USA), held at the Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham.

The 24-year-old from Barcelona, ​​who came third at the start of the race, was the protagonist throughout the test as he was leader in 56 of the 90 laps, including the 34 finals.

Palou won ahead of the Australian Will power (Team Penske) and his partner in Chip Ganassi the New Zealander Scott Dixon, with the mexican Patrick ‘Pato’ O’Ward (Arrow McLaren SP), which started from pole, in fourth place.

Palou had to cope down the stretch of the race from attacks from previous IndyCar Series champions Power and Dixon.

Was the 114th IndyCar win for team owner Chip Ganassi and the first at Barber (where Dixon has finished second or third nine times).

Palou also became the fourteenth driver to win for Ganassi.

“We knew we had the best team, the best car,” Palou told television as soon as the race was over. “Yes, it was possible. Ricky, my chief engineer, told me that we can’t win them all, but let’s win first.”

Palou, who resides in Austin, Texas, said it was a very special feeling that he felt being part of a group of winning drivers.

“It was one of those days when everything went well. We achieved good fuel consumption, good tire management and a good pace,” said the Spanish driver.

Power, the best driver of the series on circuits, closed in 2 seconds in the last laps, but could not catch up with Palou, who maintained the top speed of his car at all times, without making any mistakes on the track.

“I was surprised at how fast Alex was on that first leg of the race,” Power told television. “I had absolutely nothing for him. He just walked away. So I thought he was doing a three-stop run.”

Scott, the defending IndyCar Series champion, finished third, while Team McLaren’s O’Ward, who had achieved pole, his second as a professional, had to settle for fourth.

Romain Grosjean resigns from the Indianapolis 500 due to the trauma left after his accident in Bahrain

The French Sebastien bourdais ranked fifth followed by the Dutch Rinus VeeKay, Swedish Marcus ericsson, the Americans Graham Rahal and Rossi with the French Romain grosjean (on their IndyCar debut) rounded out the top 10.

The seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, Jimmie johnson, finished nineteenth, three laps behind, in his IndyCar debut with Ganassi.

O’Ward bounced back from a brief mid-race collision with Bourdais, and came up short when his three-stop strategy was not timed well with a race that featured only two yellow flags, the first on the first lap.

The race got off to an unfavorable start shortly after the green flag when Barber’s three-time winner, American Josef Newgarden, turned into Turn 5 on Lap 1, resulting in a multi-car accident that also affected Colton Herta, Ryan Hunter-Reay, Felix Rosenqvist Y Max chilton.

“I just wanted to start shooting,” Newgarden said of the incident. “I felt we had a lot of potential. We had a really good car underneath us, and the team worked really hard and was ready to show it. I made a mistake. I got lost in the traffic coming up the ramp.”

Newgarden asked “forgiveness” for what happened and said: “I feel bad for causing a big accident and because of me having involved other drivers. It is difficult to make a mistake like that.”