SONSIO GRAND PRIX- Alex Palou gives Chip Ganassi three straight wins at Indy – Opinion by Roy J. Akers

By Roy J. Akers- http://www.skyviewsports.net

With practice starting for the Indianapolis 500 this week, drivers started the Month of May racing at the IMS road course and drivers launch into the meat of the season starting with the Sonsio Grand Prix.

Who are the winners at the Sonsio?

Checkered Flag–

Alex Palou– won the Sonsio Grand Prix in 2023 and won the pole for the race in 2024. Palou went into building his resume in this race. He quickly gave up the lead early in the race to Christian Lundgaard, but Palou went to work. Taking control of the second half of the Grand Prix, Palou led three times for 39 of the 85 race laps and has retaken the NTT Indy Car points championship lead. Palou led by five seconds at the checkered flag. Palou talked to the press afterward and reflected on the Chip Ganassi Racing win streak at three in the Sonsio dating back to Palou’s win last spring. “Yeah, last year was special. We got the win here, the pole at the GP, then three wins in a row. It
felt amazing every time we were on track we were P1, so that felt super good. But it’s tough.
If something doesn’t go 100 percent nowadays in INDYCAR, there’s someone there to take the win from you. At Barber, I thought that we were in a really good position and then a yellow just took us out of the race for the win. I think this year it’s been like that. We’ve been feeling that we’re there, ready to fight, and didn’t really get a chance until today except St. Pete where we didn’t really have speed”. He is known for celebrating his race wins with fried chicken with his team but said after the race we are “getting ready for the Indy 500”. Colonel Sanders chicken will have to wait.

Power coming into his own

Will Power, coming into 2024 has 15 starts at the Sonsio Indy Grand Prix with six poles and five wins. He has led a total of nearly 60 percent of the laps by all drivers in the field. That is Babe Ruth territory for this race. This is the best finish for Power in 2024. Power was asked if he was satisfied with his second place finish and he said “Yeah, I don’t know what else we could have done there. I think that was a very solid day from us. We tried the undercut. It was just a little cooler today where the undercut wasn’t quite as strong. But yeah, we gave it all we got.” Power finishes second in the race and here is a trivia tidbit is Power is one of two drivers to win both the Sonsio Grand Prix and the Indianapolis 500 in the same season. Who is the other driver? The end of the story will reveal the driver.

Christian Lundgaard qualified second for RAHAL LETTERMAN LANIGAN RACING and quickly took the lead on Saturday after an Alex Palou miscue. Lundgaard led twice for 41 laps in the Sonsio with his final lead coming at lap 45. Lundgaard talked about luck and what he does about it. “Well, I think you create your own luck, as well. I think today on our performance we really did the best job that I think we could on the first two stints. I think we were a little bold trying to put on another sticker set of primes for the third stint, but the alternative was a very used alternate tire that we had to put a long way, as well, in the race, and I preferred the primary tires there.”

Mr. Consistency at the Sonsio

Scott Dixon– Dixon was as consistent as the dictionary definition of consistency and being in the top five all day. Dixon led one time for one lap, but finished 13 seconds behind Palou. Dixon took what was given to him and was one of three Chip Ganassi drivers to finish in the top five. (Palou and Marcus Armstrong.)Finally, Dixon won on this course last August and Chip Ganassi has a three race streak in this race starting with Palou in 2023, and again this spring.

Pato, is not happy

Pato O’Ward started the race in the fifth position and quickly fell off the pace. Communicating with his team with ten laps left in the race, he was very frustrated with his situation and pit crew strategy. He got his start in Indy-lites and drove as a contemporary of Colton Herta. O’Ward will look to regroup for the 500 in two weeks.

Colton Herta started in 27th place on Saturday after his ANDRETTI GLOBAL W/ CURB-AGAJANIAN | GAINBRIDGE machine ran out of fuel in qualifying on Friday. Herta overcame an early altercation with Marcus Armstrong and improved to 7th place on Saturday. Herta passed a race high 31 racers. For the season, Herta has fallen from fourth to first in the driver standings. He said after the race he will have a talk with Marcus Armstrong. It would be great to hear that conversation.

Drive to Win the Race

Romain Grosjean and Santino Ferrucci – After a carryover of bad blood at the Alabama Grand Prix, both practice and the early laps of the Sonsio Grand Prix brought out a blood feud and both drivers. Ferrucci had mechanical problems and left after roughly a dozen laps finishing last. Grosjean fared much better finishing 12th. This was an improvement of 11 spots from his 23rd starting position on the grid.

Marcus Armstrong and Colton Herta- Armstrong took and gave aggressive rubbing to series leader Colton Herta and he was non too pleased with his teammate. Armstrong finished fifth in the race after leading twice for three laps. Armstrong could be a dark horse driver for the Indy 500 as he runs for an aggressive Chip Ganassi team. There are so many storylines coming up at the 500 and Armstrong could be one of them.

The other driver to win the Sonsio Grand Prix and the Indianapoiis 500 in the same season. Simon Pagenaud won both in 2019. Will Power did the same in 2018.

Sonsio Results

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