Palou “really happy” with Barber IndyCar pole lap

Written by Archie O’Reilly

Credit: James Black

IndyCar championship leader Álex Palou is “really happy” with his Grand Prix of Alabama qualifying effort after taking his seventh career pole position at Barber Motorsports Park.

“It was really close,” the Chip Ganassi Racing (CGR) driver said. “We didn’t know if it was going to be wet or dry so we were all panicking a little bit. You didn’t want to get caught at the worst moment. 

“The car has been really good all weekend. Especially at the Fast Six, I got the balance I wanted, the balance we’re looking for. Really happy with the lap. We don’t really get many poles. Feels good to start up front.”

Despite being a three-time champion - two-time defending - and 13-time race winner in IndyCar, Palou has not necessarily been renowned for being the outright best in qualifying. That said, he consistently places himself in a position from which he can challenge. 

“We start up front quite a lot but we don’t get many poles,” he said. “It’s important. Every track is important to have track position. It’s getting tough nowadays to keep your position, especially with the difference on tyres, the different strategies. It helps to start up front, for sure. I’ll take it every day. But it doesn’t mean we’re going to finish there.”

Palou ousted Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin by 0.1469 seconds, with the New Zealander bidding to make it three successive wins at Barber.

“Second lap was where it was,” McLaughlin said of his Fast Six run. “We definitely left a little bit up on the table. A lap around there is a lot of fun. Álex did a great job. From our team, done a really good job coming back because I feel like we had a bad test here - we went the wrong way a little bit. Fixed it yesterday, massaged it today and got it going.”

Credit: Chris Owens

McLaughlin feels at home at Barber - a track which he likens to Phillip Island back in his native New Zealand.

“I enjoy these fast, flowing, smooth tracks,” he said. “It’s high-commitment but also high-load, long-duration corners, big Gs. At the same time, these corners are leading to slow corners. You’re trying to keep a constant flow around the track. It’s all about momentum. A track like this, as soon as you miss one corner, it affects the next. That’s what makes it really fun.”

Palou took his first-ever IndyCar victory at Barber on debut for CGR in 2021 so also has fond memories of the facility often coined the ‘Augusta of Motorsports’. 

“I love the track,” he said. “It’s so much fun. Every lap you do is so much fun. It’s amazing how the car feels and how the track feels; tonne of grip, lots of ups and downs, high braking zones, high speeds. Has a little bit of everything.”

This said, there is acknowledgement that the addition of the heavy hybrid system has altered the feel of the 2.3-mile road course.

“It changes the car balance quite a lot,” Palou said. “It makes it a little bit lazier on the high-speed corners - low-speed corners as well. It’s a little bit easier to make mistakes. It’s adding a little bit more difficulty but, at the same time, it’s a lot of fun. 

“You need to regen and deploy numerous times per lap. Hopefully that plays a role in overtaking during the race.”

McLaughlin agrees that an element of fun has been added through the variety of deployment and regeneration strategies and trying to figure out what car balance works best.

“Not every driver is the same,” he said. “But you know there’s a quick way of doing it. I’ve really enjoyed studying that and understanding that. Barber, it’s been technical. It’s technical already. Adding [the hybrid], it’s been tough.”

Credit: Joe Skibinski

Palou headed into Barber with a 34-point lead over Kyle Kirkwood, who is second in the championship. After three races, he is already a maximum 54-point weekend clear of Felix Rosenqvist in fourth. 

McLaughlin is the lead Penske driver but 73 points adrift of Palou after a tricky start to the season.

“He’s good everywhere,” McLaughlin said of Palou, to which the Spaniard quipped about his absence of an oval victory. “I tried a lot of things [to stop him] before Nashville last year. I’m looking forward to the race. We always have some really good battles every race that we’ve had - very hard, fair, aggressive racing. So that’s fun. I’m excited for it.”

Lots of rain and stormy conditions are forecast overnight. Aside from a torrential downpour at the back end of second practice though, the worst of the wet conditions forecast during the day on Saturday were avoided. The weather is set to be clear by the time of Sunday’s race.

“The setup for the wet is ready anyway,” Palou said. “Anyway, it’s going to be tough for the race, even if it’s dry. With the rain this morning, we couldn’t really feel how the car was behaving on more than 10 or 15- lap tyres. It will be interesting.”

The drivers are not expecting any issues with track grip come the race given they have warmup and an Indy NXT race beforehand.

“You’ve just got to be as prepared as you can be but fluid at the same time,” McLaughlin said. “You can never really predict IndyCar. You’ve got to be ready for all situations.”