How a lockup didn't stop Alex Palou from smoking his IndyCar rivals in IMS qualifying
You'd have to go all the way back to March 2023 at St. Pete to find a larger margin for pole position in IndyCar, the day teammates Romain Grosjean beat Colton Herta by 0.4155, both racing at the former Andretti Autosport operation.
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In addition to Palou's feat on the timing sheet, the driver of the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing car had to overcome what he described as a "big time" front right tire lockup in turn one to start his first flying lap in a new alternate set in the Fast Six, which caused him to abandon his first attempt before putting down a scorching 1:09.3417 lap to secure the pole.
'Everybody was super fast'
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Penske Entertainment
Penske Entertainment
"Well, I think there's a couple of things," Palou began later in the press conference to explain his massive gap in qualifying.
"The first one, I think I was the only one on sticker alternates in Fast Six, that's why the bigger difference to P2. I was also surprised by the total lap time. It was super fast and it felt amazing.
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"I don't know if the track has improved a bit. Probably yes, because everybody was like in the 69s, right? Everybody was super fast. So, yeah, I don't know. Maybe it was the wind changing a little bit, but I could see on the delta that I was gaining like half a tenth, half a tenth, and I was like, all right, I'll take it.'
Palou claimed he gave it his all, and had nothing left in the tank for that final lap to take his eighth career IndyCar Series pole, the second of 2025 and the second in a row at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.
"I think the tires were already on the limit. Like, you had two good laps. In our case, it was the second lap. It didn't help that we got a lock on the first lap, but we didn't really lose much on the first lap because we were always, like, two-tenths slower. After that, the tires just started to give out.
"Also, from a driving standpoint, even though I saw that it was going fast, you never know if somebody else is having the same thing, right? You keep pushing. Yeah, obviously there's always time that you can find, but it was pretty good. I think if someone would have beaten us it would have been because they were faster.'
Will used quali tires compromise his race?
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
Penske Entertainment
Penske Entertainment
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In the midst of pole position satisfaction, Palou admitted that he will face some challenges in today's Sonsio Grand Prix, as he will have to use some tires he locked up in qualifying in a race that requires drivers to use two sets of primary and two sets of alternate tires for at least two complete laps.
"I mean, it's never ideal, right, to do a big lock-up. I did another one in Fast 12 in Turn 7. I mean, they're okay because we got pole with them, but obviously it's not ideal to have a big lock-up on them […] I'll be crying during that stint tomorrow.'
When asked about the impact the change in tire usage might have during the race, Palou explained that there's a lot of uncertainty around it and how the drivers will deal with running a compound that's not their preference.
"Honestly I have no idea. It's going to make it interesting in a way, of like, if the primary or the hard tire is bad or the red tire is bad, bad in a way of not being fast and having more degradation, you're just going to have to do it again, and everybody is going to go through that.
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"I think all the drivers they have a preference on which tire to run always, and tomorrow you cannot have that preference. You need to be good. You need to be fast on both of them. So I don't know what's that going to do for the race. Hopefully it's going to mix up a little bit of things. Not on our end, hopefully. I have hopes that it's going to make the strategies a bit crazier".
Follow the IndyCar Sonsio Grand Prix and aftermath on the Motorsport.com IndyCar hub.
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