Palou beat Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist by 5.4s to claim his fifth win of the season and his second IndyCar championship, following up his 2021 success. It is Ganassi’s 15th title in the series.
Poleman Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) led the 27-car field to green, heading fellow alternate-tyred starters Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske) and Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport). Palou surged up to third from fifth on the grid, with title rival Dixon slipping to fifth after tagging the rear of Herta at the apex of Turn 2 and delaying them both. Behind them, Josef Newgarden (Penske) and Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti) got together and had to take the escape road at the first chicane.
On the opening lap at Turn 7, Callum Ilott (Juncos Hollinger Racing) ran wide and was hit from behind by the luckless Romain Grosjean’s Andretti Autosport machine as he rejoined. Grosjean lost 10 laps for repairs.
The yellow flag flew on lap 3 as Will Power’s Penske entry spun off into the grass after an overambitious dive down the inside of Alexander Rossi (Arrow McLaren) at Turn 4.
Rahal led the restart on lap 7 from McLaughlin, Palou (who started on harder primary tires), Herta and Dixon (also on primaries). Behind them, the McLarens of Pato O’Ward headed Rossi and Rosenqvist – who made a storming start from 11th – the latter duo swapping seventh between them.
Herta, Rossi and Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi) were the first to pit on lap 19 but Herta was pinged for pitlane speeding, costing him a drive-through penalty. McLaughlin stopped on lap 22, with Rahal pitting a lap later, promoting Palou to the front ahead of Dixon, both running long first stints due to starting on the more durable tire.
Rahal and McLaughlin were mired in traffic after their early stops and haemorrhaged time, as Palou set a fearsome pace out front and opened up a 5s lead over Dixon. O’Ward and Rosenqvist pitted together on lap 30, with the former opting for alternates but losing track position to his team-mate during the stop.
Source: Autosport