Alex Palou in the No.10 Ridgeline Lubricants Chip Ganassi Racing started Sunday’s Children’s Grand Prix of Alabama at Barber Motorsports Park on the front row in second place and finished the race in fifth and speaking following the race he said:
“Finished P5 which is not a bad result. It wasn’t a perfect day. Had to save a lot of fuel and we went on a two-stop strategy. It wasn’t the best but we tried because it’s what we thought was the best heading into the race. The No.10 Ridgeline Lubricants car has been amazing all weekend. The crew did an amazing job on the pit stops. It’s awesome to be back here in Alabama and I cannot wait for the month of May.”
Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda was frustrated following his seventh-place having started the race from fifth and felt that the team were on the back foot with the two stoppers in the race and will be looking for a strong May when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES heads to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for both the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the road course and the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge at the end of May and speaking following the action, the Iceman commented saying:
“Today was an okay day. We were at the back of the two-stoppers so we were getting hammered and attacked by the other two-stoppers all day so we ended up using a lot of overtake and a lot of fuel at the same time. Just a frustrating day where we didn’t really make up anything, we lost a couple positions and ended up seventh. Not where we want to be that’s for sure.”
Championship leader Marcus Ericsson in the No.8 Huski Chocolate Honda had a disappointing race despite keeping his championship lead intact as he started the race from 13th and came home inside the top ten in tenth place and speaking following the race, the Swede said:
“It was a tough race I would say. We tried to go for the two-stopper and worked on our fuel mileage for most of the race. I think the Honda fuel mileage was really good. It was tough with the caution that came at a bad time for us so that sort of reset everything and then we lost some positions there. In the end, we got the chance to push a bit more and we could put in some good lap times and catch some guys and overtake some people. 10th was not what we wanted but it was still a solid day for us and still in the points lead going into the month of May which feels great so I’m looking forward to that.”
It was a great race for Marcus Armstrong in the No.11 The American Legion Honda as he started the race from 26th place and made up 15 places over the course of the race to finish the event in 11th place and speaking following the race he commented saying:
“Race was great, car was great, we made our way forward. I enjoyed it. The car was really good. We didn’t have to adjust much throughout the race. We took a gamble with the reds on the last stint and it paid off.”