FORT WORTH — Rising open-wheel star Alex Palou completed his self-described “dream season” by winning the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series championship with Chip...
IndyCar driver Alex Palou speaks with reporters during a media availability at Texas Motor Speedway on Monday, March 7, 2022 in Fort Worth, Texas.FORT WORTH — Rising open-wheel star Alex Palou completed his self-described “dream season” by winning the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series championship with Chip Ganassi Racing.
The oval-track portion of the 2022 season was scheduled to start Monday at TMS with a team test involving CGR, Team Penske and Ed Carpenter Racing. The test was to serve as a prelude to the XPEL 375 on March 20 — the first oval race on the 22-event schedule and the only oval event booked before the Indy 500 on May 29.
“This year we were preparing a lot for street courses, where we were lacking a little bit last year, and a bit in qualifying as well,” said Palou, a native of Barcelona, Spain, who will turn 25 on April 1. “We got to St. Pete, struggled a little in the beginning but got out of there with our first podium. So, really happy how we started.
Palou finished fourth in the first TMS race on May 1, won by Ganassi teammate and six-time series champion Scott Dixon of New Zealand. Palou placed seventh in the second race, which saw native Mexican Pato O’Ward score his first series victory for Arrow McLaren SP. Palou said he since has gone to school in an effort to refine his oval-track race craft via a combination of experience, the advice of teammates Dixon, Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson, seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson and plenty of simulator and iRacing “hot laps.”