Palou, Herta Head Honda 1-2 at Laguna Seca

• Alex Palou extends his championship points lead with his third victory of 2024
  
• Colton Herta completes a 1-2 finish for Honda at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca
  
• Honda drivers combine to lead 80 of 95 laps as the manufacturer continues its win streak at Laguna Seca
  

Andretti Global's Colton Herta completed a 1-2 result for Honda at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, leading eight laps and matching his season-best finish with second. The result kept his championship hopes well alive as he moves up three positions to fourth in the points standings. Teammate Kyle Kirkwood led 24 laps and rounded out the top five for Honda today.

Palou's win today is fifth consecutive victory at Laguna Seca for a Honda driver since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned to the Monterey Peninsula. Previous winners include Herta in both 2019 and 2021 (no race was held in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic); with Palou winning in 2022 and Scott Dixon last year.     

Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Honda Race Results

• 1st Alex Palou • 2nd Colton Herta • 5th Kyle Kirkwood • 6th Scott Dixon  • 10th Marcus Ericsson • 11th Felix Rosenqvist • 14th Pietro Fittipaldi • 15th Christian Lundgaard • 16th David Malukas • 17th Linus Lundqvist-R • 22nd Marcus Armstrong • 23rd Kyffin Simpson-R • 24th Graham Rahal   • 25th Jack Harvey • 27th Luca Ghiotto-R

Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Andretti Global Honda Andretti Global Honda Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Andretti Global Honda Meyer Shank Racing Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda Meyer Shank Racing Honda Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Chip Ganassi Racing Honda Did not finish – contact Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda Did not finish – contact Dale Coyne Racing Honda Did not finish – mechanical Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda Did not finish – contact

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers' Championship (unofficial, after 8 of 17 rounds)

Honda Chevrolet

647 points 634 points

 

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers' Championship Standings (unofficial, after 8 of 17 rounds)

• Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing • Will Power, Team Penske     • Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing • Colton Herta, Andretti Global • Kyle Kirkwood, Andretti Global

285 points (3 wins) -23 (1 win) 32 (1 win) -68 -75

 

Quotes

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) race winner, his third victory of 2024 and 11th career INDYCAR win from 72 starts: 'Yeah, it was a chaotic race man. Those restarts at the beginning of the race were really tough for us. But we knew we had the pace, so the middle part of the race was a lot of fun. But then it got really intense with the restarts at the end. But overall, yeah, an amazing win for the #10 team and everyone at Ganassi.'

Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Global Honda) finished second: 'It's a good result. I think we were the strongest car on the strategy we used today. The Gainbridge Honda had a lot of pace today, whether we were fuel saving or not, we were fast all day. As much as I really want to win at Laguna Seca, you have to be happy with second place for sure.'

David Salters (President, Honda Racing Corporation USA) on today's Honda victory at the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey: 'A massive thank you to our hard-working men and women at HRC-US. We dominated qualifying, sweeping the first two rows for the second race in succession. Then it was very nice to see that converted to a 1-2 in the race, extending our win streak here to now five in a row at one of our 'home' tracks. Great job and congratulations to Alex Palou, Colton Herta and everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing and Andretti Global. Job well done and a very, very successful Laguna Seca.'

Fast Facts:

• Today's Honda victory is the fifth consecutive win for the manufacturer at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca since the championship returned to the Monterey Peninsula in 2019.

• Honda's first win at Laguna Seca came in 1996 with the famous pass in the 'Corkscrew' corner by Alex Zanardi on future Honda IndyCar driver/team owner Bryan Herta.  Zanardi's Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Jimmy Vasser claimed the win in 1997.  Helio Castroneves led another 1-2-3 Honda sweep at Laguna Seca in 2000.

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES now takes next weekend off before heading east to Honda's Midwestern 'home' in central Ohio, which will feature the competition debut of hybrid power plants in INDYCAR racing. The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio Presented by the 2025 Civic Hybrid, takes place July 5-7 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

Photo credit: Honda
posted on conceptcarz.com

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