Will Alex Palou feel pressure in his first season with Chip Ganassi's IndyCar team?
Alex Palou is stepping into the NTT IndyCar Series limelight in 2021, and it is not just because he is moving over to Chip Ganassi Racing, one of the powerhouse teams in the sport.
He is preparing to take the seat previously occupied by Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 10 Dallara-Honda, but there is more to it than just leaving Dale Coyne w/Team Goh behind.
CGR has two drivers with more championships than anyone, and that could be very intimidating. Scott Dixon is a six-time IndyCar titlist, his most recent coming last season.
One driver will be a newby to single-seat competition, although his resume boasts one more big trophy than Dixon. Of course, his name is Jimmie Johnson, ‘old seven-time’ from the NASCAR ranks.
A third member of the team is Marcus Ericsson, who returns on a multi-year deal.
Johnson will be driving only street and road courses, 13 in total.
A further announcement will be made about who will be in the No. 48 for the remaining four ovals.
“To say I’m thrilled or excited to be making this step in my career would be an understatement,” Palou said in a release after joining CGR. "Driving for Chip Ganassi is just a dream come true. I’ve followed the team for as long as I can remember, and it’s the kind of team and owner any driver would want to race for.
“Scott has had another tremendous season, reaching 50 wins and a sixth title, so you absolutely couldn’t ask for anything more in a teammate. I can’t wait to work with Marcus and Jimmie as well, and to start contributing to the team and getting to spend more time with everyone.”
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Monday will be the first time Palou will climb into a Ganassi machine at Sebring International Raceway to prep for the upcoming season. The native of Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, Spain, is entering his sophomore season in IndyCar and will use most of his time to make sure everything is right with his car before firing the engine for testing.
No goals for Alex Palou on the first day
“There’s no specific result I want to accomplish,” he told IndyCar.com. “I just want to get used to the car again, test a couple of ideas we have for this preseason, and hopefully, it’s going to help us during the street courses and road courses. I think there’s a lot of things to try and learn.”
Palou has a bit of a feel for his new car and team, having had off-season tests at Barber with Dixon and WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. There will be a slight learning curve once the season kicks off at Barber. The original start was scheduled for the Streets of St. Petersburg but postponed to late April due to Florida's COVID-19 concerns.
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Even at the age of 23 (he will turn 24 on April 1), Palou is a young veteran, having competed in several different motorsports levels. However, he had never raced on an oval until 2020.
He did not have much success on them, crashing out in the season opener at Texas, a P14 and P11 in the Iowa doubleheader. His Indianapolis 500 debut will only be remembered for where he qualified than where he finished, P28, because of an accident in lap 121.
Palou’s 2020 wasn’t as bad as it may seem. He did register a podium at Elkhart Lake, a career-best third, and finished 16th in the points race. That can only improve with teammates that have experience in the three major motorsports sanctioning bodies.
“They all work differently, but I think it’s really good to be able to get all the different mindsets,” he said. “We have the INDYCAR mindset with Scott, we have the NASCAR mindset with Jimmie, we have the Formula One mindset with Marcus, and we have my mindset, which is trying to learn from everybody and trying to be at the same level as they are. It’s really good for the team.”
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