"I don't think I put one wheel wrong": Graham Rahal admits Ganassi pace is unbeatable after Alex Palou battle
Graham Rahal led the most laps at the Sonsio IndyCar Grand Prix on Saturday. However, Alex Palou had th better of him in the second half of the race as the Spaniard moved past the 36-year-old, despite the latter's utmost tries. Reflecting on his battle with the Chip Ganassi Racing driver, Rahal asserted how he didn't put even a single wheel wrong and had to settle for P6.
The Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver took over the lead of the race heading into turn one from Palou. This sent the fans into a rave as they hoped to see a new race winner in 2025 and attached their expectations to Rahal.
While the six-time race winner retained control over the Spaniard in the first half of the race as even his teammate, Devlin DeFrancesco tried to overtake Palou, the narrative flipped up in the second half of the race. After their second pit stop, Graham Rahal seemingly used every tool at his disposal to stay ahead of the CGR driver.
The 36-year-old went into a deficit in comparison to Alex Palou's P2P allowance left in the tank, but the reigning champion prevailed through. Talking about how battling the Spaniard is not an easy task and with CGR having the edge over them, Rahal said (via Frontstretch Open Wheel):
"I just told these guys like I genuinely am proud, like I don't think I locked up once, I don't think I put one wheel wrong, I defended as best I could but they're just in a league of their [own]. [They are in a] different stratosphere of grip and so we tried our best obviously; fit their bank, the Honda was quick today that's the end of the engine life for us so great job to them that thing made it a long time for us this year." (0:13 onwards)
Graham Rahal last won in 2017 and is on a 130-race winless streak.
Graham Rahal admitted it hurted to let the win slip away from him
After leading 49 laps of the 85-lap event, many deemed his performance to be stellar. Despite earning appreciation across the paddock, the 36-year-old's drought of not winning a race continued after a near miss in IMS.
Reflecting on how leaving the weekend without the race win left him hurt, Graham Rahal wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
"This one hurts but we have many things to be proud of coming out of this weekend. Some things to learn and get right for the future but overall, a positive weekend for the team. Now it’s time to turn it up and get ready for the big show."
On the other hand, the result at the Sonsio IndyCar Grand Prix marked Rahal's first top-10 result of the year, and the Ohio-born driver will be hoping to continue on this tally in the upcoming race weekends.