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Palou extends lead after win at wild Detroit Grand Prix / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Palou extends lead after win at wild Detroit Grand Prix
Spaniard Alex Palou survived a wild race on the Detroit streets on Sunday to win IndyCar's Detroit Grand Prix and extend his lead at the top of the championship.
The sixth career victory for 2021 champion Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing was a masterful display as he managed to keep the lead despite two late restarts.
It was the first time the race had been held on the city's streets in 32 years and Palou -- coming off a fourth-place finish from pole in the Indianapolis 500 -- had been among those who had criticized the tight and bumpy course after Saturday's qualifying, describing it as a "go-kart track".
A total of eight of the 27 drivers failed to finish the race including Pato O'Ward and Romain Grosjean who both hit walls.
The caution flag was out as early as the second lap of the race after Callum Ilott went into the back of Kyle Kirkwood on the first turn.
Palou, who started on pole, won by 1.18 in his Honda over Australian Will Power of Team Penske Chevrolet with Sweden's Felix Rosenqvist in third place.
I'm so super proud of the job we did," said Palou, "It was tricky at the end, those tires couldn't really get into temperature, but super proud".
Palou now leads in the standings by 51 points from team-mate Marcus Ericsson but said it was premature to start sensing a repeat of his 2021 title.
"No, not yet. It's too early. I mean, I wish we could say that, but we'll keep focused on next few races. There's a few that I really love coming up now. So we'll keep on pushing," he said.
Team owner Ganassi said that Palou had handled the difficult conditions on the nine-turn, 1.7 mile street circuit perfectly.
"The guy, he just took to this place when we got here. I know he was complaining about the track yesterday but I think it's his new favorite track today," he said.
There were seven cautions through the race and on the final restart, Palou got off to the better start while Power regained second place.
There was some tight jousting between Arrow McLaren team-mates Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi, who finished fifth.
A clearly unhappy Rossi said he would discuss Rosenqvist's approach "internally".
Q.Nelson--SFF
