For Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, the lead-up to this Sunday’s 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 has been difficult.
Palou led Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) to victory in last year’s “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” as all four of their cars qualified in the top 10.
The 27-year-old Spaniard qualified 14th for Sunday’s 200-lap race, while still being the leader of a five-car CGR contingent this year. For the first time since 2019, CGR was unable to place a vehicle in the top 12.
“Yeah, definitely a big difference from last year,” Palou, who finished fourth in the 2023 Indianapolis 500, remarked after leading 36 laps.
“We’re not sure. We really don’t know if that’s what we lost, if we didn’t actually gain anything, or if everyone made significant progress. If you compare our qualifying speeds from this year and previous, you can see that we clearly lost some speed. We suffered a slight loss.
“It doesn’t feel that different on race trim.” However, the fact that we lost some speed is a concern for the entire team.
“We believed we had done everything we could to try and improve on last year, but perhaps IndyCar’s minor adjustments to the gear boxes, housing, and other components didn’t help us at all.”
The performance of this year’s car, which was built for the race, feels somewhat similar to last year’s, which featured a thunderous charge from the back of the field following a mid-race contact on pit road with Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing. Palou is the current and two-time champion of the IndyCar Series.
“We were really at ease in the race last year, and I would say it was fairly easy to pass,” Palou remarked.
Otherwise, on lap 100, sliding to 28th or something. We managed to move up and secure a top-5 finish.
“I believe we can still pass this year, even though it won’t be as simple. Much more work is required of you. You have much longer to wait. Thus, yes, we are having a little bit more difficulty. That does not imply that we are wholly incorrect, particularly in this particular race.
“Yes, but we do need to get some work done.”
