Tag: Palm Springs

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Alex Palou bags $500,000 in Thermal Club Challenge race

Alex Palou cruised to victory Sunday morning in IndyCar’s Thermal Club $1 Million Dollar Challenge exhibition race at The Thermal Club, a private motorsports club in Palm Springs, California, bagging himself half a million dollars.

Alex Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing Team celebrate winning the Thermal Club $1 Million Dollar Challenge race in victory lane (Photo by Chris Owens/Penske Entertainment)
  • Palou becomes half a million dollars richer
  • Empty pockets
  • Heat results
  • Main race results

3 min read

Palou becomes a half a million dollars richer

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver and reigning two-time IndyCar champion had been in control of his destiny all weekend long, qualifying on the pole, and then comfortably winning his heat race to start on pole for the main 20-lap 12 car feature race where victory never looked in doubt, leading all 20 laps, and taking the checkered flag with over five seconds over second place Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who still won $350,000 for being runner-up.

The final race was divided into two ten-lap segments with a ten minute halftime break, with teams having to keep the same set of tyres on for the whole race.

Drivers like Colton Herta chose not to push for the first 10-lap segment and instead hanged back of the pack and sought to save his tyres for the second 10-lap segment.

Herta was able to go from tenth to fourth but still bagged himself $500,000 of the $1.7 million total purse, but was not able to reach Palou, who was out front in clean air all race long.

Palou said: “I was a bit surprised how the competitors did the first 10 laps, saving tires. I was like: ‘All right, that’s our game. I like it.”

When asked by NBC how he was going to spend his winnings he replied: “I need to buy a lot of diapers and pyjamas.”

Heat one runner up Scott McLaughlin was Alex Palou’s nearest competitor on track in the main race but two laps in, Palou had pulled a 1.7 second gap, and despite the halftime reset, Palou only extended the gap over McLaughlin further by over five seconds come the end of the race.

Alex Palou leads the Thermal Club main race with Scott McLaughlin in second (second), and Felix Rosenqvist in third (third) (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

Colton Herta only just made it into the main race in heat one by holding off rookie and fellow California native Nolan Siegel who was making his IndyCar Series debut, Ferrucci, and Will Power for sixth place, with only the top six out of the 14 drivers in heat one advancing to the main race.

Herta said: “Our strategy worked in the second half. Yeah I didn’t care. I went to feast in the second half.”

Heat one polesitter and Meyer Shank Racing driver Felix Rosenqvist had an impressive outing again, leading right where he left off in St. Pete, by holding off McLaughlin for the heat one win, and was able to bring the car home third and secure himself $250,000.

Empty pockets

Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean did not share in the fortunes of Palou’s dominant display or his ex-Andretti teammates’ fourth place, nor did Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon, after he collided with Grosjean in the heat one race start in the turn one braking zone, sending Grosjean out of control into the pack as they went through the turn one hairpin, collecting innocent bystander Rinus VeeKay in the process, taking them both out of the race.

Romain Grosjean goes skidding across the sand in turn one moments before he collides with Rinus VeeKay in the start of heat 1 (Photo by Joe Skibinksi/Penske Entertainment)

Dixon was given a drive through penalty under green conditions following the restart for avoidance contact.

Grosjean said: “It’s not what I signed up to IndyCar for.”

It was intense heat two battle for Arrow McLaren with their drivers Callum Ilott, Alexander Rossi, and Pato O’Ward as they fought over seventh, with Rossi and O’Ward finding a way past Ilott, who was standing in for David Malukas and is not scheduled to compete in any more races, with Rossi managing to get past Meyer Shank Racing driver Tom Blomqvist for the final transfer spot.

Callum Ilott (front), Alexander Rossi (second), and Pato O’Ward (third) battle over seventh place in heat 2 (Photp by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)

Rossi then scrapped with two-time IndyCar champion Josef Newgarden following the halftime break in the main race, making contact on lap 12 and driving both wide off track, allowing Lundqvist and Herta to sneak by for fifth and sixth place respectively.

Rossi finally finished ahead of Newgarden in seventh after finding a cleaner way past by the end of the lap. Newgarden finished eighth.

Pietro Fittipaldi, who had finished in fifth place in heat one, was disqualified from the main race come the halftime break due to the team not getting the car full of fuel for the race, as required by IndyCar.

The next IndyCar Series race is the prestigious Grand Prix of Long Beach on April 21st with the race starting 3pm ET time.

Heat 1 results 

  1. Felix Rosenqvist
  2. Scott McLaughlin
  3. Josef Newgarden
  4. Christian Lundgaard
  5. Agustin Canapino
  6. Colton Herta
  7. Nolan Siegel
  8. Santino Ferrucci
  9. Will Power
  10. Kyle Kirkwood
  11. Sting Ray Robb
  12. Scott Dixon
  13. Rinus VeeKay
  14. Romain Grosjean

Heat 2 results 

  1. Alex Palou
  2. Marcus Armstrong
  3. Graham Rahal
  4. Linus Lundqvist
  5. Pietro Fittipaldi
  6. Alexander Rossi
  7. Pato O’Ward
  8. Tom Blomqvist
  9. Callum Ilott
  10. Christian Rasmussen
  11. Kyffin Simpson
  12. Marcus Ericsson
  13. Colin Braun

Main race results 

  1. Alex Palou
  2. Scott McLaughlin
  3. Felix Rosenqvist
  4. Colton Herta
  5. Marcus Armstrong
  6. Linus Lundqvist
  7. Alexander Rossi
  8. Josef Newgarden
  9. Christian Lundgaard
  10. Agustin Canapino
  11. Graham Rahal
  12. Pietro Fittipaldi

Featured Image:  Alex Palou celebrates winning the Thermal Club $1 Million Dollar Challenge Race (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

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Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge race preview

The NTT IndyCar Series are getting set to race for $1 million plus dollars near Palm Springs, California at the 17-turn three mile Thermal Club circuit, in a non-points paying exhibition race, the first of it’s kind since IndyCar’s Nikon 300 at Surfers Paradise in 2008.

The Thermal Club logo printed on the straight of the Thermal Club circuit (Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)
  • Race day breakdown
  • Qualifying 
  • Full qualifying results 

5 min read

There is a $1.7 million total purse for the race, with the winning driver being awarded $500,000.

The race event will consist of two 10 lap/20 minute heat races on Sunday starting 8:45am PT/3:45pm UK time with the main race starting 9:30am PT/4:30pm UK time.

Full course yellow laps will not count towards the lap total during the heat races but the time will, the first that’s completed, either 10 laps or 20 minutes, will end each heat race.

Drivers will only be granted one set of tyres for their heat races.

The top six finishers from each heat race will advance to the main race to have a chance of winning the $500,000, with even second and third winning $350,000 and $250,000 respectively.

Callum Ilott (front), Pato O’Ward (middle), and Christian Lundgaard (rear) race around the Thermal Club circuit (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

The starting order for the heats was decided by two eight minute heat qualifying sessions, one for each of the two groups, Saturday afternoon that saw Felix Rosenqvist and Alex Palou take pole for each heat respectively.

The main race, the Sprint for the Purse, will be a 20-lap race broken down into two 10 lap segments, with a 10-minute halftime break after lap 10.

There will only be one set of tyres made available for the main race and will have no time limit for but will finish by all 20 laps being completed.

During the 10-minute halftime break, drivers will come pit road, and be able to take fuel and make adjustments.

Due to both groups of drivers only merging together for the main race with the top six from each groups’ heat races, group two have been awarded priority spots for equivalent starting positions for the main race due to Palou, who is in group two, laying down a faster pole time compared to Rosenqvist’s group one pole time.

There is a strong likelihood of teams infighting for the top six advancement through to the main race in both heats due to all three Team Penske cars being in group one, and all three Arrow Mclaren cars being in group two, three of the four Chip Ganassi Racing cars in heat two, as well as both Juncos Hollinger Racing cars of Romain Grosjean and Agustin Canapino starting next to each for heat one.

It is not the first time IndyCar have tried out heat racing, last doing so at the Iowa Speedway oval in 2012 and 2013, with current drivers Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon winning heat races in those events.

Current Indy NXT championship points leader and California native Nolan Siegel, is making his IndyCar Series debut at the event and qualified 12th for his heat one race.

Siegel was the 2023 IndyCar development series’ Rookie of the Year, and the 19-year-old is scheduled to also make IndyCar Series starts at the Grand Prix of Long Beach, the Indianapolis 500, and the Grand Prix of Toronto.

Nolan Siegel (front) and Christian Lundgaard (rear) race around the Thermal Club circuit (Photo by Chris Jones/Penske Entertainment)

Push to pass for the drivers is being made available for a total time of 40 seconds, for each qualifying session, the heat races and both 10-lap segments of the main race.

Qualifying

Qualifying consisted of two eight minute sessions, with the two group makeups being decided by a random draw, and only had one set of tires to lay down their qualifying laps.

Group 1 qualifying saw Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist bag a consecutive pole with a lap time of 1.38.5831, after grabbing pole two weeks ago in the season opener at St. Pete.

Rosenqvist talking to NBC said: “It’s so tricky out there, wind and dirt on the track. Felt confident. The speed is there.”

Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin, who qualified third in group one, speaking to NBC said: “That was awesome, it was like an old-school Supercars shootout, you go out there, and bam bam bam.”

Andretti Global’s and California native Colton Herta struggled to put a fast lap together, lacking grip at the end of the session, and will start 11th out of 14th for heat one.

Group 2 qualifying saw a dramatic change in weather conditions after a late session red flag brought out by Marcus Ericsson, that saw Palou shoot to the top with a lap time of 1.38.5675, to secure pole for heat two.

Palou, who was quickest in both test sessions on Friday, speaking to NBC said: “Amazing, looking forward to tomorrow, happy with that. Had 14 seconds of push to pass, car was good.”

Palou’s pole lap came following the 10-minute red flag, that had been brought out by Andretti Global’s Marcus Ericsson after he lost his car over the bumps in turn eight as engaged push to pass, and went backwards into the tyre wall.

When the red flag was lifted, wind gusts had eased, creating more favourable conditions for the drivers.

Both Arrow McLaren teams of Callum Ilott and Pato O’Ward, who were sat one two on the timesheet at the time of the red flag, did not go out to do one final lap, unlike the other 11 drivers in group two, and ended up eighth and ninth for qualifying, over half a second down to Palou.

O’Ward speaking to NBC during the red flag said that the “track is very sensitive to heat and wind. I could never get the car to set, it was going in the opposite direction to where I wanted to go. It’s just really gusty and feels icy out there.”

Graham Rahal qualified third for heat two in his final lap attempt following the red flag.

Speaking to NBC Rahal described his attempt as “the old fashioned pull it out.”

Don’t miss the Thermal Club $1 Million Challenge race beginning 8:45am PT Sunday.

Full qualifying results

Group 1 qualifying results for Heat 1 

  1. Felix Rosenqvist
  2. Scott McLaughlin
  3. Rinus VeeKay
  4. Christian Lundgaard
  5. Josef Newgarden
  6. Will Power
  7. Romain Grosjean
  8. Agustin Canapino
  9. Scott Dixon
  10. Santino Ferrucci
  11. Colton Herta
  12. Nolan Siegel
  13. Kyle Kirkwood
  14. Sting Ray Robb

Group 2 qualifying results for Heat 2

  1. Alex Palou
  2. Marcus Armstrong
  3. Graham Rahal
  4. Linus Lundqvist
  5. Tom Blomqvist
  6. Pietro Fittipaldi
  7. Alexander Rossi
  8. Callum Ilott
  9. Pato O’Ward
  10. Kyffin Simpson
  11. Christian Rasmussen
  12. Colin Braun
  13. Marcus Ericsson

Featured Image: Colton Herta practices around the Thermal Club circuit in Friday’s test session (Photo by Joe Skibinski/Penske Entertainment)

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