This season too, IndyCar has provided races full of unexpected episodes, some of which were almost Hollywood-like, many of which had a direct impact on the evolution of the general classification. Obviously, the last race of the 2024 championship could not be missed to witness twists that allowed Alex Palou to be able to conquer his third title in the top American open-wheel series, confirming his place in the roll of honor after the successes achieved in 2021 and last year, in both cases with Chip Ganassi.
Race report
Yet, judging from the days preceding the final round of the championship, the driver who seemed furthest from the possible conquest of the title seemed to be Palou. The Spaniard, together with another driver still mathematically in the running for the title like Scott McLaughlin, had in fact suffered a nine-place grid penalty starting position for the unauthorized engine substitution. All this had proved to be a huge assist in favor of Will Power, who in turn was the author of the 4th time and with the awareness of being able to extend his lead over the Catalan driver, who was even 24th. Yet, the dreams of glory for the Australian Penske driver were incredibly shattered right in the early stages of the race. What stopped Power, who was also racing for the third career win in IndyCar, was not a technical failure or an accident, but a problem that is very rarely seen in the open-wheel categories: the seat belts. After losing some positions at the start, the Australian was forced to return to the pits to allow his mechanics to refasten the seatbelts that had suddenly come loose, with the maneuvers that caused the #12 to lose five laps. The championship, in fact, was decided at that moment, with Palou able to manage the rest of the race without taking too many risks, regardless of the final result.
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