Chip Ganassi Racing ace Dixon has conceded his Spanish team-mate is going to be “tough to overcome” after scoring his fourth win of 2023 in the midpoint race of the season at Mid-Ohio last weekend.
Palou is enjoying his best-ever start to an IndyCar campaign that threatens to eclipse his results in 2021, when he won the title in his first season with the Ganassi team – only his second season in America’s premier open-wheel series.
Apart from the St Petersburg season opener, where he placed eighth, Palou has finished in the top five of every race – even including the Indianapolis 500 after a pitlane clash with Rinus VeeKay, which sent him to the back of the field.
“Huge credit to the #10 car and obviously Alex,” said Dixon. “He is on a hell of a run. He definitely has a pretty big championship lead at the moment, which is going to be definitely tough to overcome.”
Team Penske’s reigning champion Power, who finished on the podium on Sunday but languishes seventh in points – 151 off his tally – added: “Obviously everyone needs to beat Palou, but that’s going to be a very tough challenge to beat him in the championship this year.
“He is so on point in every respect, in every respect. He is not missing a thing, which is very difficult in this series, to be extremely fast, which there are a lot of guys that are, but then being able to do all the disciplines as well plus the intricacies of fuel save, tyre conservation, in-and-out laps, the qualifying.
“It’s bloody hard to have that all nailed, and he is doing it.”
Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, checkered flag, win
Photo by: Richard Dole / Motorsport Images
“It’s the best moment of my career”
Palou – who is expected to switch his allegiance to McLaren next season, with a potential Formula 1 future in his sights – admits that his current run of form is the best in his entire career.
He said: “Obviously in go-karts I had a good couple of race wins, but I don’t think I had three big wins in a row, or four in the last five, and always being up there. So, it’s the best moment of my career so far.”
Although he refutes suggestions that the title is already decided in his favour, Palou admits that if the next two race weekends – including the Iowa oval double-header – go according to plan, then it should be plain sailing in the points race.
He is already 90 points clear of his nearest rival Dixon, with eight races to go.
“We know that [the next race in] Toronto, it’s a street course, and everything can happen here there,” he said. “Same for Iowa. It’s always a crazy race, and it’s a double-header. So if you have a bad day, you’re probably going to have two bad days.
“Hopefully it’s going to be okay. I know Toronto was really good for us last year. If I remember correctly, Scott won, so we have a really good car. Hopefully, we can still have a clean race there.
“Then Iowa we’ll see. It would be nice if we’re preparing for another good result there, and we suddenly get the great result.”