Alex Palou tops INDYCAR warmup at The Thermal Club

Alex Palou has shown impressive speed during the NTT INDYCAR SERIES weekend at The Thermal Club. He has placed in the top three in all four practice sessions, including leading the morning warmup on Sunday. Palou clocked a fastest lap of 1 minute, 40.3667 seconds in his No. 10 Honda. Palou qualified third for the race happening later today at 3 p.m. ET. He already has a win this season from the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, making him a strong contender for today’s 65-lap race. In the warmup, Chip Ganassi Racing took the top two spots, with six-time series champion Scott Dixon finishing second, just behind Palou. Dixon set a time of 1:40.8267 in his No. 9 Honda but qualified 11th for the race. Other drivers showed good pace in the warmup despite having poor qualifying results. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden finished third in the warmup, despite qualifying 17th. Graham Rahal and Callum Ilott were fourth and fifth, respectively, even after qualifying 18th and 22nd. On the other hand, the Arrow McLaren teammates struggled in the warmup. Pole winner Pato O'Ward placed 19th in the warmup and Christian Lundgaard was 14th. They had dominated qualifying, but could not find the same speed on the track.