Palou stretches IndyCar lead by winning bruising Detroit race

Alex Palou grabbed his sixth IndyCar victory and his first on a street course in a strong debut for the series’ new Detroit street track, with late restart drama ending an exciting race of attrition and concentration.

Concerns over the bumpy and narrow track causing trouble were confirmed on the first racing lap as Callum Ilott ran into the back of Kyle Kirkwood at the first turn, ending the former’s day and breaking the latter’s rear wing.

Motor City street fight starting out with a punch. @callum_ilott's day is done after connecting with @KKirkwoodRacing. #INDYCAR // #DetroitGP pic.twitter.com/3H2za6U3ff

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) June 4, 2023

The early caution added a third strategy as Kirkwood and Colton Herta were among the drivers to pit on lap four, while the other strategies were either starting on the hard tyres or starting on the softs.

Unlike many, Palou was able to make the softs last longer from the start and went all the way to lap 30 and had a gap as big as eight seconds before Will Power – the best starter on the hards – passed a string of cars from seventh on the grid to get to within a second and a half of Palou.

Palou remained ahead after Power stopped four laps later.

If there was any doubt about Power’s charge through the field and what that may have done to his tyres, on his 33rd tour of the track out of 100 he managed one of the fastest laps of the race to that point.

However, even with the initial benefit the soft tyres should have provided, Palou drove away from Power by over four seconds on the hards before he was lucky to not be collected in an incident involving Pato O’Ward.

Arrow McLaren's Pato O'Ward crashes out of the @DetroitGP. #INDYCAR

📺 : @NBC and @peacock pic.twitter.com/ar6QtI2UbG

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 4, 2023

The Arrow McLaren driver had stalled on his previous stop, thought he’d broke a driveshaft, was wheeled back to his pit and restarted but then crashed on lap 44 dive-bombing Santino Ferrucci at Turn 9 in an ill-judged move, trying to stay on the lead lap.

That reset the order – including a bizarre crash for Graham Rahal and Benjamin Pedersen who both locked up and crashed at Turn 1 during the caution! – and it wasn’t long before we had a new leader.

Graham Rahal hit the wall under caution. 😬

Benjamin Pedersen didn’t have anywhere to go. #INDYCAR

📺: @nbc and @peacock pic.twitter.com/YeyIRZH48h

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 4, 2023

Palou had to restart his car to solve a shifting issue just before the green flag, and then Power pulled off a gorgeous dummy to sneak up the inside of Palou at the Turn 3 corner entry to lead, establishing a lead of around two seconds.

SHAKE AND BAKE!

WILL POWER LEADS! #INDYCAR

📺 : @NBC and @peacock pic.twitter.com/zqOnPvOp85

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 4, 2023

But eight laps later Palou had reeled Power in and the next lap Power locked up at Turn 3 gifting Palou a path down the inside to claim the lead before the last stops.

Scott Dixon then tried the undercut – triggering other drivers to pit to cover him off – with Palou boasting a 3.3 second gap to Power in two laps pitting and emerging ahead to lead by over five seconds.

It was clear Power would have to cover off the challenge from behind rather than worry about Palou, whose pace on both tyres opposite to Power was spectacular at times and showed he deserved a second win of the year after the Indianapolis road course last month.

But then Romain Grosjean crashing at Turn 4 brought out a caution and set up a 15 lap showdown. He  ran wide into the wall in an incident he put down to a suspension failure, and which left him apoplectic after exiting his car.

Frustration for @RGrosjean.

📺: @nbc and @peacock pic.twitter.com/outB6nkabv

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 4, 2023

David Malukas crashing at Turn 9 before making the restart delayed the commencement of action further, before a wild restart with 10 to go.

Palou went deep on the restart, slowed Power and Dixon clipped Power. Palou kept the lead ahead of Alexander Rossi jumping from fifth to second in the melee, ahead of Power, who barged Dixon wide at Turn 4 allowing Felix Rosenqvist through into fourth.

Alexander Rossi goes from fifth to second in one corner!

Less than 9 laps remain! #INDYCAR

📺 : @NBC and @peacock pic.twitter.com/XpjswzxI1i

— INDYCAR on NBC (@IndyCaronNBC) June 4, 2023

Another restart followed for a crash further back, with the restart coming with five laps to go.

Power then made an incredible move on Rossi at Turn 4 on the restart allowing Palou to scurry away, winning the race by just over a second to Power who bags his best result of the season.

Behind, Rosenqvist bumped Arrow McLaren team-mate Rossi into the wall at the Turn 3 exit to take third, ahead of Dixon who capitalised on Rossi’s off to sneak through.

Rossi was an unlucky fifth having been second mere laps before the finish.

Kirkwood had arguably the drive of the day.

Before his opening lap drama, he’d set the fastest lap in qualifying – having been on pole and won the last street race we went to at Long beach – before clipping the Turn 6 wall.

He pitted for a new rear wing and went long on the hard tyres, before a nice overlap strategy around the last stops catapulted him forwards.

All of that was underlined with the kind of pace he’d shown in qualifying with the only race lap under 1m02s.

Behind Kirkwood, Scott McLaughlin came back from a collision with Grosjean earlier on with some epic overtaking to recover to seventh ahead of Marcus Armstrong’s best IndyCar result in his rookie year so far in eighth.

Armstrong’s Ganassi team-mate Marcus Ericsson looked like he was on ice at the last restart struggling to get temperature in his tyres and took ninth, but still second in the championship albeit 51 points behind Palou.

Indianapolis 500 winner Josef Newgarden was 10th after a slow first stop typified a day where he uncharacteristically struggled for pace.

Race Results