Palou Leads Honda 1-2 at Road America
Road America
・Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta takes second place
・Honda powers seven of top eight finishers, leads Manufacturers’ Title chase
Honda’s Alex Palou claimed his second victory of the year today in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES’ visit to the National Park of Speed, Road America.
Palou, driving for Chip Ganassi Racing, started on the outside of the front row and led the final two laps en route to victory. The win puts Palou back in command of the Drivers’ Championship standings, with an 28-point lead over Pato O’Ward, and 53 points over teammate Scott Dixon.
Andretti Autosport’s Colton Herta finished second, giving Honda their second 1-2 finish of 2021 and an unofficial 29-point lead in the manufacturers’ standings.
Palou’s teammates Dixon and Marcus Ericsson, Dale Coyne Racing with RWR’s Romain Grosjean, Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi and Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Takuma Sato also all finished in the top eight with Honda power.
Fast Facts
・Four of the five Honda partner teams in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES finished in the top eight at today’s REV Group Grand Prix of Road America.
・After sweeping the double header weekend in 2020, Palou’s victory today marks the third consecutive win for Chip Ganssi Racing at Road America and fourth consecutive for Honda at the track.
・Honda has scored victories in six of the nine races so far in the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Palou previously scored at the season-opening Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park. Scott Dixon, Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson, Helio Castroneves have also won for Honda in 2021.
・Honda drivers led in on-track passes today, with Ericsson, Grosjean, Sato, Dixon and Graham Rahal combining for passes for position.
Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is back racing at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course July 2-4 for the Honda Indy 200, Presented by The HPD Ridgeline.
Oh man, I don’t know what to say. Thank you to all the #10 car crew and team. It was amazing. We had a really good car all through the race, right from the start. Honda and HPD did an amazing job, because we were able to overtake where we needed. Super happy, and super proud of this Chip Ganassi Racing Team. I can’t believe it. Mid-Ohio’s next, right? Let’s get a win there as well!
We were just lacking a little bit of everything today, and that kept us from challenging for the win. We were going to finish where we deserved. I think we had third-place pace today, but caught a break with Josef’s [Newgarden] problem. But the podium is nice, and happy for Gainbridge, and always happy to be powered by Honda. Big ‘thank you’ to them, and a Honda 1-2, so that’s awesome.
I think we gained more positions on track [17 passes for position] than anyone else. We lost some positions on our pit stops, but the car was great. We found something from yesterday and it was just ‘go for it, right, left, center’ all day long. It was so cool. I had great fun and enjoyed it a lot, it was a good weekend for us.
Alex [Palou, race winner] was strong all day long, and was in a position to capitalize at the end when opportunity presented itself, so it was great to see him score a second win this year. It looks like he could have a great future with us in INDYCAR racing. Colton [Herta] had another strong run today, and fully earned his podium finish, while Romain Grojean also featured today, with three Honda teams – Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Autosport and Dale Coyne Racing – all getting top-five results here. Now it’s on to Mid-Ohio and hopefully another win on our ‘home ground’.
