Alex Palou started from pole position and rarely gave up his lead as he sailed to his eighth win of the IndyCar Series season at the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey on Sunday in Monterey, Calif.
It was the Spaniard’s third victory at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca following wins in 2022 and 2024. Moreover, it brought Palou’s commanding lead in the season-long points race up to 121 points with three races to go.
Palou has all but sealed his third consecutive series championship and fourth overall, but second-place Pato O’Ward of Mexico is mathematically alive for an unlikely comeback. O’Ward finished Sunday’s race in fourth.
“It’s been an awesome weekend, awesome year overall,” Palou said. “Yeah, today was something else. It was super fun to be here, one of my favorite tracks for sure. Couldn’t be happier right now.”
Palou is the first IndyCar driver to win eight races in a single season since Frenchman Sebastien Bourdais did so in the now-defunct Champ Car series.
He dominated Sunday by leading 84 out of 95 laps, surrendering the lead only when he went to pit. Nolan Siegel led the race’s other 11 laps before Palou brought his No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda back to the front.
Palou finished 3.7965 seconds ahead of Denmark’s Christian Lundgaard, while Colton Herta, O’Ward and New Zealand’s Scott Dixon rounded out the top five.
Lundgaard, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, earned his fifth podium finish of the season.
“I obviously knew that the pit sequences were really key around here,” Lundgaard said. “We went into this race not knowing if it was gonna be a red race (on alternate tires) or our primaries. It ended up being a red race, and I just can’t thank this team enough. Apparently this is the most podiums we’ve had in a year.”
–Field Level Media
