Alex Palou’s Indy 500 dream comes true

Álex Palou Indianapolis 500 25/5/25

On older tyres and with less fuel, Álex Palou looked up against it to overcome Marcus Ericsson in the closing stages of the Indianapolis 500. He pulled it off anyway, through a beautifully executed surprise pass and clever use of backmarkers that helped tow him to his first Indy 500 victory.

The Chip Ganassi Racing Honda driver kept clear of the endless chaos in the first half of a rain-delayed race, then ominously moved into contention. Ericsson, winner for Ganassi in 2022, looked on course for a second Indy win now driving for Andretti Global – and he would likely have crossed the yard of bricks first too had he been up against anyone else. But Palou is simply a phenomenon: no one can touch him in IndyCar right now.

Taking a leaf from Ganassi team-mate Scott Dixon, Palou is a master of fuel-saving and loomed into range, cooly responding with a “No problem” when given a target fuel number by his engineer. Ericsson knew an attack would come, but not when it did, on lap 187 of 200 when Palou swept under him into Turn 1.

The Spaniard took his chance early because of a hard lesson he learned four years earlier, when wily old Helio Castroneves defeated him at Indy using the tow from backmarkers to eke out his fuel. Now Palou used the same ploy, running in the slipsteam of the last two unlapped runners Devlin DeFrancesco and Louis Foster, who were jousting just ahead of him.

Ericsson was right there, all the way into the final lap. But Palou had it under control even before Nolan Siegel hit the wall as the red and yellow Dallara shot out of Turn 4. Until this moment, somehow Palou had never won on an oval. As he said, what a perfect time and place to change that.

The victory was his fifth in six races this season – and in the other, at Long Beach, he finished second. A fourth title in five years beckons. But winning the 500 means more.

Then a postscript: Ericsson’s was one of three cars to fail a post-race technical inspection, and he was demoted to the back. Imagine the scene had he won.

Driver briefing notes

New BTCC victors, chaos at Monaco, more Ferrari joy

• A spate of new race winners have broken through in the British Touring Car Championship. BMW drivers Daryl DeLeon (inset) and Charles Rainford took wins at Brands Hatch, then Mikey Doble led from lights to flag to scoop race three at Snetterton in his Vauxhall. Four-time champion Ash Sutton leads Tom Ingram in the points.

• An 11-car pile-up triggered by points leader Alex Dunne tagging Victor Martins at Ste Devote after the start marked a chaotic Formula 2 feature race in Monaco. American Jak Crawford – an Aston Martin development driver – profited from a late-race crash with a well-timed pitstop to win for DAMS.
• Ferrari heads to the Le Mans 24 Hours as clear pre-race favourite after James Calado, Alessandro Pier Guidi and Antonio Giovinazzi made it three from three for the Prancing Horse in the World Endurance Championship this year, with a tight win over the sister 499P at the Spa 6 Hours.