Alex Palou (San Antoni de Vilamajor, Barcelona; 1997) wants to be the first Spanish driver to win. Indianapolis 500, The pinnacle test of motorsport in the United States. This has always been her main goal since she packed her bags and started her American adventure in 2020. “Obviously, this is one of the only races or the only race where victory can truly change your life. You’re becoming the history of motorsport here in the United States and I think around the world,” he says with conviction. And two years ago, Palou was a hit, winning the IndyCar title he’s been chasing again this season.
He won at the Indianapolis road circuit two weeks ago and became the interim leader of the series. indycar, which enabled him to compete for the classification with maximum motivation in the Indy 500 oval race. “The truth is, I was at the top. I came with a lot of enthusiasm and confidence because of the experience we had in the past and the speed we had with the car.” He made his free practice debut last week, yesterday “flying” to take his first pole position in 500 Miles, and also broke the all-time speed record in qualifying. on average 376km/h. Wild.
“Last year it was very close and we learned there that we had to be more aggressive to achieve that. We told ourselves we would be aggressive if we were in the same situation again, and luckily we were,” Álex said. A press conference. “I lost my voice! We’ve been working on this for a year since the race ended last year. There are a lot of people who put a lot of effort into the team, so we celebrated it very emotionally.” Palou, the driver of Ganassi Racing, the strongest structure in IndyCar and whose owner Chip Ganassi had his ups and downs a year ago, announced that he saw him. Attracted by F1. In the end, the issue was resolved on his own, and the Catalan driver agreed to focus on American competition and serve as McLaren’s backup throughout the season.
key factor
Always cautious, Palou tries to dampen the enthusiasm of the race on Sunday, May 28 (6:45 PM). From his experience, he knows the pole position will give him an advantage, but he won’t be decisive: “We didn’t celebrate anything last year and we don’t know if we can do it next week. That doesn’t happen very often, so it’s something special, if not a win. My first post in the oval and that gives me more confidence. Looking at the race, it’s good because it will make the start a little more comfortable for us, but then we will need luck.”
“I think Le Mans, Daytona… you need some luck at all those legendary 24-hour races and the Indianapolis 500. Yeah, right, in the end luck will call you or you can call it, but races this long, it’s the one in the Indy 500. like four, five or even six pit stops and yellow flags that can catch you in a bad moment like it happened to me… anything can happen and you have to be ready to accept itPalou warns.
After bad luck with strategy in 2022 and finishing second in 2021, Palou hopes that maybe this time, luck will smile at him. “You don’t need to do things so different from other years: We did very well in 2021, we were better in 2022. Like last year, we have to work hard, avoid strategy problems and start from there. Because we’ll try”, Álex promises, “since I was young, I’ve often dreamed of myself wearing a laurel crown at 500 Miles or drinking champion’s milk… same with us now”.
Ahead, after success on pole this Sunday, Palou is still four hours of free app to get the car in racing order. Do workout number 8 from 7pm to 9pm on Monday and Carb Day from 5pm to 7pm on Friday. The race is on Sunday at 18:45 (Movistar Deportes).