Monterey GP: Palou wins as Power secures 2022 IndyCar championship

It was a great start from the pole sitter, Will Power, who launched it down the pit straight to start the race, and caught Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Callum Ilott napping slightly. This put the Briton under pressure by the likes of Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward.

By the end of the first lap, Power remained in the lead, ahead of Rossi, O’Ward and Ilott respectively.

After the opening five laps, the Grand Prix of Monterey was a relatively well-behaved race as the pack fought cleanly over track positions. However, the well-behaved manner didn’t last long as Dalton Kellett made contact with  Jimmie Johnson and was spun out at the iconic Corkscrew corner. Fortunately, the X was able to continue on without a caution being brought out.

Marcus Ericsson (Chip Ganassi), Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi) and Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport) were the first drivers to pit from the race, at the end of lap nine, to remove their red-walled alternate firestone tyres for the black-walled primaries. When the trio returned back Ericsson returned in P22, Dixon was 23rd and Herta returned 26th.

Of the front runners, Rossi peeled into the pit lane on lap 14 and exchanged his worn alternates for a fresher set. Two laps later, the race leader, Power pitted from the race lead, and allowed Ilott to inherit the race lead, to swap his red alternates for the black-walled primaries.

After a 24-lap stint on the primary tyres, the same tyres he started on, McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist pitted from the lead to swap over onto the alternate tyres. With a fairly good stop, the McLaren driver was able to drop away from the lead and return to the Californian circuit in sixth-place ahead of Andretti Autosport’s Romain Grosjean, who was seventh.

Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou made a move on Power, for the lead of the race, as the Chip Ganassi slipped down the inside of the championship leader into turn five – on lap 27.

The first caution was finally brought out after 39 laps of green-flag running, as Indycar rookie Ilott was seen leaving the pit lane in a slow manner. After four laps under the caution, the race finally got back underway on lap 43 as Palou bolted away on the exit of the final corner. Further back, Power struggled to get on the throttle as his car lost traction under acceleration.

In two, consecutive, laps, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden moved up from fifth in the order to third after he passed both O’Ward (fifth) and Rosenqvist (fourth) into the iconic corkscrew section. A lap later, Newgarden made it three-for-three as he completed a similar move on his teammate, and championship leader, Power.

With more than 30 laps left to go on the clock, Palou remained out in the lead with just over 18 seconds in hand over the championship leader, Power, and Grosjean, respectively. However, Newgarden – who had pitted a few laps prior – made a move on Grosjean at his signature destination within the session: the corkscrew, to move up to third place.

At the end of the lap, Power pitted from second place to try and challenge Newgarden in the latter stages as he swapped his worn tyres for a fresh set of black-walled primaries.

While Grosjean occupied fourth place, the Frenchman was sat nearly one-second away from a podium finish in the IndyCar finale – which was still held by Power, in third, with 11 laps to go. 

Podium:

1. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing
2. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske
3. Will Power, Team Penske – 2022 IndyCar Champion

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.