Alex Palou tips his hat to Christian Lundgaard's selflessness that aided Pato O'Ward's near-perfect race at Thermal

Chip Ganassi Racing's Alex Palou won the 2025 IndyCar race at Thermal Club by overtaking Pato O'Ward in the last few laps. The Spaniard has now come out and hailed Christian Lundgaard's defense and efforts that almost won his teammate O’Ward the race in California.

Alex Palou started P3 behind the two McLaren cars of Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard. The order remained the same for the first 40 laps until the CGR drivers started making the moves. With 15 laps to go, Palou passed Lundgaard. However, the two had been battling for multiple laps before the Spaniard could successfully overtake the Arrow McLaren driver.

Alex Palou was featured on the recent episode of the Pit Pass Indy podcast as he hailed Lundgaard’s defense. The host mentioned the battle between Palou and Lundgaard as the two went side by side for half a lap before the three-time champion successfully overtook the Danish driver.

Alex Palou tipped his hat to the Arrow McLaren driver as he said,

“It was intense because I think he (Lundgaard) was, he did a great job, first of all, defending and making sure that he got me right back whenever he could. But it was more intense because I knew that he was protecting the #5 car as well. Like, every second that he was gaining was good for the #5.” (22:30 onwards)

“I think he knew that he was going to lose position, but he was about how much time was he able to give to his teammate. So he did an amazing job. I would have done the same for my team, and I'm glad that I was able to get through.”

In the end, it turned out to be a simple race for Palou, who overtook Pato O'Ward with 10 laps to go. The Spaniard built a lead of 10+ seconds as he crossed the chequered flag to start the season with back-to-back wins.

Alex Palou hailed the aggressive tire strategy for the win at Thermal Club

Alex Palou started the Thermal Club IndyCar race on used alternate tires whereas Pato O'Ward put on the new, shiny set of alternate tires. The Spaniard utilized the new softer compound later in the race, which helped him overtake Christian Lundgaard and O'Ward, as the McLarens were only left with hard primary tires.

Speaking about how the tire strategy played into the #10 CGR’s hands, Palou said (via IndyCar)

“What an amazing weekend. We had a really fast car since practice, and everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing on the 10 car executed perfectly. We knew it was aggressive to start with the used reds (alternate tires), and we knew that we were looking toward the end of the race with that 10 car, and we did it.”

The Spaniard was able to overtake O’Ward and make up the 11+ second gap to the Mexican in merely five laps after overtaking Lundgaard.