• Defending Series Champion Palou takes series lead with his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of 2024, 10th career win

•Christian Lundgaard runs third, Scott Dixon fourth as Honda powers four of the top-five finishers

The 'Month of May' got off to a great start for Honda today on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, as Alex Palou scored his first victory of 2024 to take over the championship points lead going into the Indianapolis 500; and Honda drivers claimed four of the first five finishing positions.

Starting from the pole, Palou surrendered the early lead to fellow Honda driver Christian Lundgaard. Palou then took command of the contest mid-race and led a total of 39 laps in the 85-lap contest as the driver of the #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda scored his 10th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory and first of 2024. The win also vaulted Palou to the top of the Drivers' Championship standings with 152 points to 142 for second-finishing Will Power.

Christian Lundgaard also starred for Honda today, starting from the outside of the front row and leading much of the early running for a total of 35 laps before ultimately finishing third in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda. Two more Chip Ganassi Racing Hondas rounded out the top five, with 2023 fall road course winner Scott Dixon holding off young fellow New Zealander Marcus Armstrong, who scored a career-best fifth-place finish today.

Sonsio Grand Prix Honda Race Results

• 3rd Christian Lundgaard

• 4th Scott Dixon

• 5th Marcus Armstrong

• 7th Colton Herta

• 9th Graham Rahal

•10th Felix Rosenqvist

•11th Kyle Kirkwood

•14th Pietro Fittipaldi

•15th Kyffin Simpson-R

•16th Marcus Ericsson

•18th Jack Harvey

•23rd Tom Blomqvist-R

•24th Linus Lundqvist-R

•25th Luca Ghiotto-R

Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Andretti Global Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda

Meyer Shank Racing Honda

Andretti Global Honda

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Andretti Global Honda

Dale Coyne Racing Honda

Meyer Shank Racing Honda

Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda

R – Rookie

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers' Championship (unofficial, after 4 of 17 rounds)

Honda

Chevrolet

321points

310 points

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers' Championship Standings (unofficial, after 4 of 17 rounds)

1. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing

2. Will Power, Team Penske

3. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing

4. Colton Herta, Andretti Global

5. Felix Rosenqvist, Meyer Shank Racing

152 points

-12

-25

-25

-45

Quotes

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) race winner, takes championship points lead after four of 17 races: 'That's the way to kick off the Month of May! What a great win by the team today, and this was a team win all the way. I made a little mistake at the start giving up the lead to fellow Honda driver Christian Lundgaard but everybody on the team – mechanics, engineers, everyone, did an amazing job in the pits and got me back in the lead. Then I just had to perform with the #10 DHL Honda like we had earlier in the weekend. It was an amazing win and it's great to win back-to-back here Palou also won the May road course race here in 2023. But now the focus turns to the Indianapolis 500!'

Christian Lundgaard (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) finished third: 'We needed just a little bit more today to win. I think we did everything we could in the first two stints to keep the #45 Hy-Vee Honda out front, but we lost a bit of time in a couple of areas. We can still be proud of what we achieved today, it's our first podium in May!'

Marcus Armstrong (#11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished fifth, career-best INDYCAR finish: 'It was a good day in the office, we had good pace all day. At the end, to be honest, it wouldn't have been the wisest thing to take a big lunge at teammate Scott Dixon and potentially ruin both our days so we'll take this fifth and build on it for the future.'

Kelvin Fu (Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA) on today's Honda victory at the Sonsio Grand Prix: 'A great day for Honda, and a great way to start off the Month of May here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We took four of the top five finishing positions, seven of the top 10 and four of our teams were in the top 10 as well. It's a great start, and thanks to everyone at HRC and our partner teams. But now we shift our focus to the Indianapolis 500 and our biggest goal each and every year, winning the '500'.'

Next

The Month of May continues for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES next week on the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval, with practice and qualifying May 14-19 to set the 33-car field for the 108th running of the Indianapolis on May 26.

Photo credit: Honda
posted on conceptcarz.com

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