Two Kiwi’s finish in the Top 10 at Thermal Indycar, Palou makes it two from two in dominant finish.

The man of the moment, Alex Palou, took his second win of the 2025 Indycar season. 

Alex Palou made his move at the right time after Pato O’Ward led for most of the race, and in 2025, Palou made it two from two.

As we know in the NTT INDYCAR Series, nothing is ever certain, but Palou and his team’s calls today most certainly were. Today’s win also becomes the Chip Ganassi Racing team’s 138th series win, and it comes from the massive effort they put in, just like every team. 

“What an amazing weekend,” said Palou, who started third. “We had a really fast car since practice, and everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing on the 10 car executed perfectly. We knew it was aggressive to start with the used reds (alternate tyres), and we knew that we were looking toward the end of the race with that 10 car, and we did it.” said Palou

Cameron Harcus stepped up to the plate in the Palou camp to act as the refueller after the regular team member fell ill. Harcus also looked after his regular duties. With Harcus stepping in, the win had a Kiwi connection. Harcus is the son of well-known Kiwi Paul Harris, Team Manager at Andretti Global.

The #10 car strategist Barry Wanser commented,

“Big thanks to Cameron for stepping up today; it really helped.”

Palou became the first driver to win the season’s first two races since CGR teammate Scott Dixon opened 2020 with three consecutive victories en route to his sixth championship.

McLaren is undoubtedly in the game this season, with Team Principal Tony Kanaan now forming the leadership direction for the squad and raising the tone as the top Chevy team. Things are showing that the off-season homework is paying off.

The hybrid unit caused issues for many teams, including second-place O’Ward and third-place Lundgaard, who stated after the race;

“It didn’t work, it simply got too hot”. The air temperature at the Southern Californian track sat around the 33c mark for most of the race, so it was warm, but the summer temps will surely rise.” said Lundgaard

O’Ward equally felt the other Chevy-powered teams needed to help more than they did when in traffic and hoped for better from them. It was an emotional sign to the day, and losing out to Palou on the win also.

To the Kiwis –

It was a good, solid day for Marcus Armstrong. While starting seventh and finishing seventh, you can clearly see he has settled into life at MSR. That all points to good things ahead, even more so when attention turns to the month of May and having Helio Castroneves as a teammate at Indy. For Armstrong, it was a good, solid day and a clear sign of a good relationship at MSR with the alliance also with CGR, and that is all very positive for the young Kiwi.

For the Iceman Scott Dixon, it was a more routine day, but equal in this game. Dixon was quick in the morning during warm-up, showing pace, but fell short of a podium win. With points on the board by the end, that’s the key before the teams head to Long Beach in three weeks’ time. Long Beach is a track that Dixon enjoys and the 50th event at the beachside city. Dixon is a competent, smart racer, and he knows this championship better than most, so all signs point to more ahead for the Kiwi.

Scott McLaughlin had an overall disappointing weekend for Team Penske. An overheating hybrid system put him six laps down before the decision was made to retire the car on lap 53.

However, one has to remember that McLaughlin lost a bunch of points around this time last year due to the rule infringement but came back strong to not only take the pole at Indy but also finish third in the championship. He’s more than capable of the same, and we expect to see that in three weeks.

After the race, McLaughlin was seen in a heated discussion with Devlin Francesco. The pair had a bizarre incident on the formation lap, which left McLaughlin facing the wrong way.

McLaughlin was left understandably upset in a high-pressure series where the start of the race and how the drivers perform first and foremost, the most important part of the race to secure a good position going into a race like the Thermal Club.

Championship points-wise, the field now gets quite well spread, but in this series, all points count, so for last year’s champion Alex Palou, it was a perfect start. Dixon now sits third with 61 points, McLaughlin 10th with 41 points, and Armstrong 15th with 33 points.

Everyone is in this, and the hard part of the season is yet to come. Still, the overwhelming factor is that New Zealand has three drivers in this championship battle. They will always be the ones to watch out for any fellow competitor. 

Header Image: Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski