Australian veteran Will Power has been bumped from the Indycar series lead as Spaniard Alex Palou triumphed at Laguna Seca Raceway to reclaim top spot.
Two-time series champion Palou is now a two-time winner on the permanent road course, having finished on the podium in all four of his career starts at the California track.
Pole-sitter Palou led 48 of 95 laps and won from Colton Herta (Andretti Global) and Alexander Rossi (Arrow McLaren).
It is the second win of the season for the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, not counting his victory in the $US1 million exhibition race in March.
Power, also a two-time series champion, had to settle for a seventh placing and went from five points clear in the driver standings to 23 points behind Palou (285 points).
Former Supercars champion Scott McLaughlin of New Zealand finished 21st.
Palou wasn’t able to explain his dominance on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile jewel of a road course.
“I wish I knew, that way hopefully I could try and analyse and see if I could do the same in other tracks where I’m not as fast,” Palou said.
“I love this track. When you love a track so much, I think you get something extra that helps everything. The fact that we had really good cars here helps a lot.
“I would say it’s a proper track. You cannot really do any mistakes,” he continued. “It allows you to push really hard. It’s the most beautiful place we go to, for sure.”
Source Agencies
