By: Spencer Neff
May 11, 2024

2024 Sonsio Grand Prix Results

After winning pole on Friday afternoon, Alex Palou would find his back to Victory Lane on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Road Course.

Palou won the Sonsio Grand Prix for the second year in a row on Saturday afternoon. The Chip Ganassi Racing driver earned his 10th career win and first of 2024. He led a race-high 39 of 85 laps today, including the final 21.

All of Palou’s victories have been on either road or street circuits.

It is the third victory in a row and fourth overall for Chip Ganassi Racing on the IMS Road Course.

Honda-powered cars have now won the last five races on the 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course.

Those are the longest streaks since Team Penske won each race from 2015 to 2019 with Chevrolet.

The 2021 and 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Champion won by 6.6106 seconds over Team Penske’s Will Power.

Palou now holds a 12-point lead over Power on the standings.

After his third front row start in a row on this course, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard finished third.

Palou’s teammates Scott Dixon and Marcus Armstrong would round out the Top Five.

After running out of fuel on his qualifying run, Andretti Global’s Colton Herta charged from 24th to seventh.

CGR’s Kyffin Simpson would also end the race as the highest-finishing rookie in 15th.

Race Recap

Several cars made contact in Turn 1 on the opening lap but aside from Rinus VeeKay, none had reported damage.

Up front, Lundgaard took advantage of a slight bobble from Palou and made his way to the lead before Turn 4 on Lap 1.

On Lap 3, Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist veered off course in Turn 7 and fell to last.

Later on, Andretti Global teammates Marcus Ericsson and Colton Herta made contact.

Ericsson was penalized by Race Control for the incident and ordered to yield five positions, falling behind Herta.

On Lap 20, the leaders made their first pit stop of the day with Lundgaard narrowly ahead of Palou upon pit out.

After his RLLR teammates each had a turn as the leader, Lundgaard found his back up front on Lap 25.

On Lap 41, Palou’s crew got him out ahead of Lundgaard, allowing him to lead his first laps of the afternoon.

Palou would stretch his lead to about 3 seconds before the alternate tires began to fade.

Power found his way to second ahead of Lundgaard on the last round of stops. On Lap 66, Dale Coyne Racing with Rick Ware Racing’s Luca Ghiotto spun and would stall in Turn 10.

With Ghiotto’s car stalled, the caution flag was thrown for the first time in the race.

Palou would hold the lead after the Lap 69 restart and did not look back. On Lap 72, he set fastest lap of the race (1m11.1111 seconds-123.474 mo).

The race featured a record 13 lead changes among 8 drivers (ties July 2020 and May 2023).

Previously, 12 lead changes was the record for a race on the venue.

That record was set during the inaugural running in 2014 then matched by the October 1, 2020 race as well as last year’s running.

The lone caution would last two laps, slowing the average speed to 117.956 mph.

Up Next

On Tuesday, practice for the 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge will begin at 9:00 a.m. ET.

IndyCar1909.com will be on-site at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the latest on the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Header Image By INDYCAR