Palou continues unbeaten start to IndyCar 2025 with Thermal victory

Alex Palou continued his perfect start to the 2025 IndyCar Series season by winning the Thermal Club Grand Prix in California.

The reigning champion, who is chasing a fourth title this year, has now won the opening two rounds of the year after pipping Scott Dixon at the St. Petersburg opener.

Palou beat Pato O'Ward to the chequered flag by 10 seconds while Christian Lundgaard completed the podium in third at the Thermal Club circuit.

It was the same drivers who started the race in the top three, but it was O'Ward on pole ahead of Lundgaard in an Arrow McLaren 1-2.

O'Ward got the perfect start, yet Palou edged ahead of Lundgaard down the inside of the opening corner before Arrow McLaren’s new signing re-gained second at Turn 2, just as Marcus Ericsson went off dropping down from fifth.

The Andretti driver’s outing continued to get worse as he spun off at Turn 9 on lap 16, amid a race which had minimal wheel-to-wheel action in the early stages.

It was only on lap 49 when that started to change, as Palou emerged from the pitlane on the tail of Lundgaard to reignite the battle for second.

Patricio O'ward, Arrow McLaren

Photo by: Penske Entertainment

The Chip Ganassi racer made his first overtaking attempt at Turn 1 on lap 50, as Palou lunged down the inside of the hairpin but Lundgaard crept back ahead at the next corner.

Both drivers subsequently engaged in a back-and-forth battle across the following sequences, until Palou was finally ahead for good from the exit of Turn 6.

Now that Palou had split the Arrow McLaren drivers on track, his sights were firmly set on O'Ward.

The three-time IndyCar champion cut the 10-second gap across the forthcoming tours and on lap 56, Palou made his move for the lead by overtaking O’Ward on the inside of Turn 7.

Palou was left unchallenged over the remaining 10 laps to take his 13th series win and establish a 39-point lead over second-placed O'Ward in the championship.

“What an amazing weekend,” said Palou, who has won the last two titles. “Honestly, we’ve had a really fast car since practice. They executed very well. Everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing, the #10 car, executed perfectly.”

Behind the podium sitters were Colton Herta and Felix Rosenqvist rounding up the top five, the latter having climbed from ninth on the grid during a caution-free race. Will Power rallied from 21st to finish sixth, while Marcus Armstrong, Kyle Kirkwood, Alexander Rossi and Dixon completed the top 10.

IndyCar will be back on the 13 April for the season’s third round at Long Beach.