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Alex Palou won his second straight event to open the 2025 IndyCar season on Sunday, uncannily snatching the victory with a late pass at the Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix in Thermal, Calif.

The Spaniard grabbed his 13th career victory with his final dash, passing pole holder Pato O’Ward. The 27-year-old got ahead of O’Ward for good on Lap 56 of 65, securing a hot 2-0 start in his pursuit of a third consecutive IndyCar championship.

“What an amazing weekend,” Palou said on the Fox broadcast post-race. “We did it. Back-to-back wins. It’s awesome.”

The Chip Ganassi Racing stalwart earned 51 points to double his point total after finishing in 01:56:23.2677.

“I have a great team, honestly,” Palou said. “They give me a great car that I can manage, that I feel comfortable with, and they make it look easy.”

O’Ward, who led for 51 laps, finished the race in second, just over 10 seconds behind Palou, and settled for 44 points.

Christian Lundgaard, an Arrow McLaren Chevrolet team member along with O’Ward, was third, 22 seconds behind Palou.

The next six in order were Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist, Will Power, Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood and Alexander Rossi.

Palou teammate Scott Dixon, who posted the second-best time in warmups, ended up in 10th.

–Field Level Media