Alex Palou leads second practice at Indy (Photo: Luis Torres | The Podium Finish)
SPEEDWAY, Ind. – Alex Palou has shown speed on the Indianapolis road course since his car was unloaded. Placing third during the opening practice for the GMR Grand Prix, he would come out with less than five minutes to go in second practice and jump to the top of the board.
Palou told NBC after getting out of the car that he is “super happy” with the speed in the car.
“This place is a lot of fun when you really need to put a fast lap down” Palou said. The 2021 NTT IndyCar Series champion turned a lap at 01:09.9383 seconds, just over 125 mph lap average around the 13-turn infield road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
As teams prepare for qualifying, Palou led second practice followed by Christian Lundgaard, Pato O’Ward (fastest in first practice), Marcus Armstrong and Jack Harvey.
Palou had a little bit of a hairy moment exiting Turn 10, when he cut across the rumblestrips on the driver’s right.
More importantly, Palou’s car turned a little too well, hanging the right front tire in the curb, forcing him to swat a few flies in the cockpit as he tried to save the car.
“It was actually kind of fun,” he said. “I got into the corner a little too good. It wasn’t too bad, I just got a little sideways, kept my foot in it and off we went.”
Alex Palou has been fast in both practices at Indy. (Photo: Wayne Riegle | The Podium Finish)
The only driver who had an issue in the second practice was Helio Castroneves. As he exited Turn 11, smoke boiled from his No. 06 Meyer-Shank Racing Honda.
As it turned out, the Honda powerplant detonated on Castroneves. After getting out of the car and debriefing with the team, he said, “I felt something pop, and you know the old saying. Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
“This MSR team is incredible. They’ll get it swapped out and we’ll look at my teammate (Pagenaud) and how his speed changed as this track really changes throughout the run. We’ll go over the data, but unfortunately, with this compressed and crazy schedule, we won’t have a chance to really tune it in, but we still should be fine.”
Christian Lundgaard observed how his car was really good, but he’s getting frustrated.
“I’ve been second here before. Now I’m second in both practices.” Lundgaard said. “We are going to go back and look at the data and see if they can’t make that next step to pick up a little bit more heading into qualifying.”
Christian Lundgaard was second in both practices at Indy. (Photo: Steve Conley | The Podium Finish)
Qualifying for the GMR Grand Prix could be impacted by rain as possible storms are expected in the Indianapolis area just before they roll off to qualify. These teams started the first practice on rain tires.
In the case of Alexander Rossi, who was 11th in the second practice, rain may shake things up.
“I feel good either way. The rain is really the great equalizer, and we’re pretty quick either way,” Rossi said.
Will the rain help Rossi move closer to the front and potentially make that Fast 6 round of qualifying? Only time and Mother Nature can tell.
As for the man who led second practice, Palou is hoping for dry conditions.
“This track is really great, because when you need a little extra, it allows you to really hustle the car,” he said. “We’re fast. We just need to figure out what’s best for us coming up in qualifying.”
Mainly, Palou showcased some of that hustling late in that second practice. In the meantime, everyone is watching the skies.
