Started on Saturday, Race 1
was interrupted by rain after only 90 of the 250
laps. Its resumption was scheduled for Sunday morning, but
new rainfall once again disrupted the timing.
IndyCar finally made a rather unusual decision
: to run Race 2 in full before resuming and finishing
Race 1.
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A situation that allowed
O’Ward to win a race while he was still
officially the leader of another. Already the winner of the second
round a few hours earlier, the Mexican resumed Race 1
in the lead and did not miss the opportunity to complete a particularly unlikely double.
O’Ward ultimately won
with a 1.7535 second lead over David Malukas (Penske), who was leader for a long time before making a mistake on the last restart. Rinus VeeKay
(Juncos) delivered one of the performances of the day by climbing
from 24th on the grid to complete the podium.
Scott McLaughlin (Penske) and Christian Rasmussen (ECR) finished
fourth and fifth respectively.
Palou logically crowned
Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti)
also seemed capable of joining the fight for
victory after a nice climb through the pack. But the American
was caught out by a particularly unfortunate neutralization. Just
as he had entered the pits, a spin by
Mick Schumacher (RLL) caused a yellow flag. The incident
cost him the benefit of his climb and Kirkwood ultimately had to
settle for 15th place.
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This situation
definitely opened the way for Palou in the championship race. The Spaniard, however, did not have a
particularly brilliant day. Only tenth at the finish after a
race he himself described as horrible, the Andalusian driver
nevertheless scored enough points to definitively secure
the title.
Palou thus wins his
fifth crown in six seasons after his titles in 2021, 2023,
2024, and 2025. He especially becomes champion for the fourth consecutive season, equaling the streak achieved by Sébastien Bourdais
in Champ Car between 2004 and 2007 while approaching the record
of six titles held by A.J. Foyt and Scott Dixon before him. At 28
years old, he can aim to improve this record in the future.
Finally, Romain Grosjean (Coyne)
had a tougher day and finished 19th, one lap down from
the winner, after qualifying quite well, as did his
rookie teammate Dennis Hauger. The IndyCar championship concludes next
weekend on the beautiful road course of Laguna Seca, in
California, with the runner-up spot behind Palou at stake between
Christian Lundgaard (McLaren),
Kirkwood, and O’Ward all within less than 5 points before the finale.
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