Alex Palou begins the road to the re-conquest of IndyCar

Alex Palou The assault to regain the Indycar title begins this weekend at the Firestone Grand Prix in St. Petersburg after leaving the massive three-way dispute that developed last summer between the Catalan driver, Chip Ganassi’s formation and the McLaren F1 team. When the water returned to normal, Palou continued to defend the colors of Ganassi, one of the leading teams in the championship, with the dream, in addition to the second title in the Series after the one achieved in 2021, to be crowned champion of the mythical Indianapolis 500 that you can touch with your fingers.

Palou, the 2021 champion at Ganassi, had a complex contract dispute with the team last season that was resolved in arbitration. He will compete in the last full season with Ganassi and will be the reserve driver and test driver for McLaren F1 until he intervenes in IndyCar, and will have to wait a year to join the McLaren IndyCar team.

St Petersburg timetables

Friday March 3
Free training: 1st session; 9:00 p.m
Saturday March 4
Free training: 2nd session: 4:00 pm
Classification: 20:00 hours
Sunday March 5
Race: 6:00 p.m
TV: Sports 3 Movistar+​
*times in Spain

Penske vs. Ganassi

The 2023 NTT IndyCar Series points to a new rivalry between two great structures that have shared the last ten championships. On the one hand, Team Penske presenting three candidates such as Will Power, Josef Newgarden -both already champions- and Scott McLaughlin and on the other Chip Ganassi Racing with the legendary six-time champion Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, the 2021 champion, and Marcus Ericsson, current winner of the Indy 500 and last year’s best Ganassi and fastest in the pre-season collective tests. And as judges among them the armies of Andretti and McLaren. Andretti Autosport points with Colton Herta and Romain Grosjean and Arrow McLaren with Alexander Rossi, Pato O’Ward and Felix Rosenqvist.

But equality is supreme and although some seem to aim for the crown, the options to win the races are extended to more drivers such as Helio Castroneves, Takuma Sato (only on ovals), Graham Rahal, Rinus Veekay, Jack Harvey, Christian Ludgaard or Callum Illott. This leads to a championship that all have Dallara chassis and can only choose between Honda or Chevrolet engines. It is in the ‘set up’ and in the hands of their stars where each team makes the difference.

the grill 2023

Meyer Shank Racing-Honda
06 Helio Castroneves (BRA)
​60 Simon Pagenaud (FRA)
Team Penske-Chevrolet
2 Josef Newgarden (USA)
3 Scott McLaughlin (NZL)
12 Will Power (AUS)
Arrow McLaren-Chevrolet
5 Patricio ‘Pato’ O’Ward (MEX)
6 Felix Rosenqvist (SUE)
7 Alexander Rossi (USA)
​66 Tony Kanaan (BRA) (Indy 500 only)
Chip Ganassi Racing-Honda
8 Marcus Ericsson (SUE)
9 Scott Dixon (NZL)
10 Alex Palou (ESP)
11 Marcus Armstrong (NZL) (city and road circuits) /Takuma Sato (JAP) (ovals)
Andretti Autosport-Honda
26 Colton Herta (USA)
27 Kyle Kirkwood (USA)
28 Romain Grosjean (FRA)
29 Devlin DeFrancesco (CAN)
​98 Marco Andretti (USA) (Indy 500 only)
AJ Foyt Racing-Chevrolet
14 Santino Ferrucci (USA)
55 Benjamin Pedersen (DIN)
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing-Honda
15 Graham Rahal (USA)
30 Jack Harvey (UK)
44 Katherine Legge (GB) (Indy 500 only)
45 Christian Lundgaard (DIN)
Dale Coyne Racing-Honda
18 David Malukas (USA)
51 Sting Ray Robb (USA)
Ed Carpenter Racing-Chevrolet
20 Conor Daly (USA)
21 Rinus VeeKay (PB)
33 Ed Carpenter (USA) (ovals)
​Dreyer and Reinbold Racing-Chevrolet
24 Stefan Wilson (UK)
Hollinger-Chevrolet Juncos
77 Callum Ilott (GB)
78 Agustin Canapino (ARG)

Legge, in the footsteps of Danica Patrick

Rahal Letterman Lanigan who in the 2005 and 2006 campaigns promoted the IndyCar race of the American Danica Patrick, again tested the British Katherine Legge with extensive experience in single-seaters. In principle, in 2023 the 42-year-old driver, who also competes in IMSA, was hired by Bobby Rahal to drive the team’s fourth car in the Indianapolis 500, a competition he has contested twice, in 2012 and 2013 .

27 cars lined up on the grid to increase to 33 for the legendary Indianapolis 500 that everyone wants in their record. There will be five races on ovals, seven on permanent road circuits and five on urban circuits for a total of 17 appointments.

The 2023 calendar

March 5 Firestone GP of St. Petersburg
2 April PPG 375 (Fort Worth)
April 16 Acura GP of Long Beach
April 30 Alabama Indy GP Kids
May 13 GMR GP (Indianapolis)
28 May indy 500
TheJune 4 chevrolet detroit gp
TheJune 18 Sonsio GP at Road America (Elkhart Lake)
July 2 Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Phio
July 16 honda indy toronto
July 22 Hy-Vee Indycar Race Weekend Race 1 (Iowa)
TheJuly 23 Hy-Vee Indycar Race Weekend Race 2 (Iowa)
August 6 Bid Machine Music City GP (Nashville)
TheAugust 12 Gallagher GP (Indianapolis)
August 27 Bommarito Automotive Group 500 (Madison)
3 September GP of Portland
September 10 Firestone GP of Monterey