Honda, Palou Score Again at Road America
Road America
・Alex Palou scores his third win of 2023; extends his championship points lead
・Honda’s fifth victory of the year increases edge in Manufacturers’ Championship
・Colton Herta dominates early; Scott Dixon gains 19 positions to finish fourth
ELKHART LAKE, WI (June 18, 2023) – Alex Palou continues to dominate the middle portion of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season, scoring his third victory in the last four rounds today in the Sonsio Grand Prix of Road America; and the fifth win for a Honda driver in eight races.
Palou took command in the closing laps of today’s 55-lap contest, passing a fuel-saving Colton Herta, who had made his final pit stop a lap prior to Palou. Palou then pulled away to a comfortable 4.5-second victory over Josef Newgarden, increasing his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 74 points over his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Marcus Ericsson, who finished sixth today.
Despite leading a race-high 33 laps, Herta’s need to conserve fuel in the closing laps saw the Andretti Autosport driver fall to fifth at the checkers; while Scott Dixon gained an impressive 19 positions throughout the race to finish fourth after a troubled practice and qualifying.
Fast Facts
Honda continues to lead the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship, with five victories and seven poles in the first eight races this season. Honda currently has an unofficial 35-point advantage (663-628) over rival Chevrolet. The company is seeking its fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship in the last six years in 2023.
Palou becomes the first three-time INDYCAR SERIES race winner this season. The Spaniard dominated the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis in May and came out on top of a fierce battle on the streets of the Detroit Grand Prix two weeks ago. Palou also qualified on the pole for the Indianapolis 500, finishing fourth; and has four additional top-five results this season.
Honda drivers leave Road America ranked first, second and tied for fourth in the INDYCAR Drivers’ Championship points standings. Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou leads the title fight with 324 points; followed by teammates Marcus Ericsson, second with 250 points, and Scott Dixon, tied for fourth with 226.
Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is back racing July 2 at the Midwest “home circuit” for American Honda, the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, for the Honda Indy 200 presented by the 2023 Accord Hybrid.
It's my favorite road course on the calendar and in the USA. My second win here at Road America, and I got my first podium here [in 2020], too. It's been an amazing weekend. We had a lot of speed, our Honda engine was really good on fuel mileage and that gave us the win today. We were able to be consistent, be fast, and we're going to keep this rolling into [the Honda Indy 200 at] Mid-Ohio. [On the championship lead] It's still early, but obviously you want those [championship] points into your account rather than another one. We're not going to lose the focus, we know we have a great team, we just need to continue being consistent and winning races. So we'll do that!
Just one spot away from a podium, which would’ve been nice. But all in all, a good race for us and a great team effort. Huge credit to the #9 PNC crew and to Honda, which gave us the fuel mileage we needed and the drivability. It got a little rough there [battling for position] a couple of times, but it mostly worked out to our advantage. Congrats to [race winner and teammate] Alex [Palou] on a fantastic win, he’s having a heck of a great championship run.
Massive congratulations to Alex Palou and everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing. Alex continues an amazing run for us here at Honda with another win at Road America. It's his second at this track and his third in a four race stretch this year. Thank you to everyone at HPD for their hard work to make this run possible. Five wins for Honda in eight races this year, seven pole positions, we extended the championship lead for our drivers, and for the Manufacturers’ Championship. We're in a really great position heading into our home race at Mid-Ohio.
