- Palou led 84 of 95 laps to win at Laguna Seca for the second straight year
- His points lead swelled to 121 over O’Ward with three races remaining
- Only three drivers in history have won more races in a single season
Alex Palou’s grip on the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES tightened at Laguna Seca, where the Chip Ganassi Racing driver delivered a dominant performance to take his eighth win of the season and third career victory on the Monterey road course.
The No. 10 DHL Honda led 84 of 95 laps en route to a commanding win in the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey, marking his second consecutive triumph at WeatherTech Raceway from pole position.
“It’s been an awesome weekend, an awesome year (and) today was something else,” Palou said. “It’s super fun to be here – one of my favorite tracks for sure. I couldn’t be happier right now.”
Palou’s win came with the weekend’s maximum points haul and extended his championship lead to 121 points over Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, who finished fourth. With just three races left in the season, Palou could clinch his third straight series title and fourth in five years as early as Portland.
He now has eight wins in 14 races, a feat matched by only six drivers in open-wheel history. A.J. Foyt (1964), Al Unser (1970), and Mario Andretti (1969) lead the record books with 10 and nine wins respectively. Palou joins Sebastien Bourdais (2007) as the most recent driver to reach eight wins.
The 28-year-old Spaniard also hit another milestone, securing the 19th win of his career in just 95 starts. Only 23 drivers in the sport’s history have more victories.
On Sunday, Palou relinquished the lead only during pit stop cycles. Arrow McLaren rookie Nolan Siegel briefly led the race during Palou’s first stop, notching the first 11 laps led of his INDYCAR career. Will Power also ran ahead of Palou during the second cycle, but never officially led a lap before pitting.
Despite late caution periods caused by incidents involving Marcus Ericsson and Santino Ferrucci, Palou managed his tire wear and pulled away after each restart. His final margin of victory was 3.7965 seconds, although he often led by more during the race.
“It was not easy,” Palou said. “We had to push; we had to try to be ready for those (late caution periods). We knew that we were not on the (freshest) of tires … but luckily we had enough pace to open a small gap and get the win.”
Christian Lundgaard (Arrow McLaren) and Colton Herta (Andretti Global w/ Curb-Agajanian) completed the podium. Lundgaard muscled past Herta in the final corner midway through the race to claim second.
Opening lap chaos saw Conor Daly and Robert Shwartzman make contact, sending the rookie into the Turn 3 gravel. Just moments later, Kyffin Simpson ran into the back of Felix Rosenqvist, forcing both into the barriers.
Further drama unfolded on Lap 11 when rookie Jacob Abel went straight off at Turn 1, likely due to a mechanical issue. Later, Kyle Kirkwood rear-ended Rinus VeeKay and was penalised, effectively ending his already slim championship hopes.
The series now takes a short break before heading to Portland International Raceway on August 10. Palou, who has won there in 2021 and 2023, could seal the title before the season finale if his current form holds.
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