When he drove the No. 10 Honda to victory in his first start for Chip Ganassi Racing, Palou joined Michael Andretti and Dan Wheldon as the only drivers to win in their CGR debut.
That’s a feat Juan Pablo Montoya, Alex Zanardi, Scott Dixon and Dario Franchitti were unable toaccomplish.
“It feels amazing,” Palou said. “I think those names you said, they won more than one time and they won championships. They are 10 steps ahead of me. It’s just a start. It’s just the beginning. But for sure we couldn’t start better with Chip Ganassi Racing.”
When Palou won at Barber Motorsports Park, he became the second Spaniard to win an Indy car race — 16 years after Oriol Servia.
In his second year in IndyCar, Palou is part of a “destination team” at Chip Ganassi Racing. That’s one of the top teams in the series and one where a driver can find a home if he is successful.
“That’s all I wanted, to be in a position to be part of a winning team, a historical team, and to be in the No. 10. It’s just amazing,” Palou said. “The No. 10 has so much history behind it, so many like races and championships. It’s amazing.
“I believe it, but it’s difficult to believe that I am in this position with these opportunities,” Palou added. “I cannot thank enough all the Chip Ganassi Racing, but especially Chip for the opportunity that they gave me for this year.
“I think it’s the opportunity that you search for since you start on karting. But then when you move up, that’s the dream. That’s the biggest dream. It’s amazing to have the opportunity this early.”
Palou was confident he could contend for the NTT IndyCar Series title.
“It’s achievable,” Palou said. “That’s the end target, but that’s not what I’m thinking now. This championship is so long that you need to take it one race at a time, and yeah, maybe when it’s three races to go we can start talking about what’s really the championship or how is it going.
“If we have a car to finish fifth, try to finish fourth, and that’s what we’re going to try to do all year.
“This year, I have a better team around me and more experience on these tracks. I think consistency has been the key so far. When we cannot win, we finish second. When we can’t finish second, we finish third.
“Chip made that clear that is how you win championships and that is how we are going to try to win this one.”
And that’s exactly what he did, wrapping up the championship with a fourth-place finish in the season-ending Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sept. 26.
At 24, Palou is just a kid compared to his Chip Ganassi Racing teammates, including 41-year-old Dixon, 45-year-old “rookie” driver Jimmie Johnson, 46-year-old oval driver Tony Kanaan and 32-year-old emerging star Marcus Ericsson.
“So far, it’s been much, much better than I expected at Chip Ganassi Racing,” Palou said. “As a team, we work very good. Tony Kanaan has helped us at the oval events. We all work really hard. Scott Dixon has been part of the success this season for me and Marcus and Jimmie Johnson because he is the benchmark. He sets a really high standard that we need to follow and beat. He has been a big part of our success.
“It’s a bigger team, more resources. There is more everything,” Palou said. “That is the beauty of IndyCar — you can go from a fairly small team to one of the biggest teams in the field. I have to also thank Dale Coyne and Team GOH because they brought me here from Japan to the U.S. to IndyCar and to Chip for trusting me.
“It’s been a really good road so far.” n