Written by Jackson Lambros, Edited by Charlotte Mui
Alex Palou remains undefeated at the Thermal Club, storming past the McLaren duo of Christian Lundgaard and Pato O’Ward to claim his second win of the 2025 IndyCar Season—a year after his million-dollar victory at the same circuit.
The odds were stacked against the Spaniard, as Lundgaard and O’Ward secured an all-Papaya front row in qualifying. An early lead from the duo only emphasised their dominance, but the No. 10 team strategist, Barry Wanser, had a risky idea for Palou. Despite the high degradation rate of the faster alternative tires, exacerbated by the circuit's cheese-grater-like surface, a bold undercut strategy on Lap 49 to switch to the alternates was the roll of the dice decision.
Wanser's gamble paid off. O’Ward would respond with his final stop a lap later as Palou was battling past the No.7 McLaren of Lundgaard. While the Dane driver has quickly hit his stride with his new team, highlighted by a brilliant multi-corner bout, he ultimately surrendered P2 to Palou.
He would go on to claw through a nine-second gap and, on Lap 59, lunge his way to the win, snatching the lead from the Mexican. The harder primaries of O'Ward simply couldn’t keep up, and the alternates of Palou would last, allowing him to sail into a 10-second victory ahead of O'Ward and clinch his 13th IndyCar victory.
Outside of the podium, Colton Herta brought the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda home in fourth for Andretti, while Felix Rosenqvist rounded out the top five for Meyer Shank Racing.
IndyCar stays in SoCal for round three but migrates back to the LBC for the 50th running of the legendary Long Beach Grand Prix on April 13.
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