For the first time since Sebastian Bourdais’ 2007 Championship run, the 2023 IndyCar Championship was wrapped up at the penultimate round as Chip Ganassi driver, Alex Palou, secured his second title in three years at the Portland Road Course in dominant fashion over Arrow McLaren’s Felix Rosenqvist and fellow Ganassi teammate, and 6-time champion, Scott Dixon.
Palou, the first Spanish champion in IndyCar history, capped off his 2nd title in grand fashion with his 5th victory on the year with only the season finale remaining at the famed Laguna Seca circuit in Monterrey, California.
Said Palou in victory lane, “That’s what we wanted,” Palou said. “It was an amazing weekend overall. We had really fast cars. We knew we had to go for it, and we just raced how we’ve been doing all season. Super proud to be here in victory lane and super proud of the second championship.”
As the series heads to the final race of the season, flashbacks to Palou’s dominating 2022 victory rings bells as the newly crowned double champion looks to finish his year on a high with his 6th victory. With Palou’s win on Sunday, team owner Chip Ganassi now has 15 IndyCar Championships across CART/IndyCar, second only to Roger Penske with 17. Past champions for the Ganassi include Scott Dixon (6), Dario Franchitti (3), Alex Zinardi (2), Juan Pablo Montoya, and Jimmy Vasser, with Palou joining Zinardi as a fellow 2-time champion.
IndyCar heads to Monterrey to finish the season, catch all the action on Peacock on Sunday, September 10th at 2:30pm EST.