Power second as Palou wins Indy GP, retakes points lead

Australia's two-time Indycar series champion Will Power has overcome key team suspensions to finish second behind a dominant Alex Palou in the Indianapolis Grand Prix.

Reigning series champion Palou won by 6.61 seconds on Saturday, becoming the first back-to-back winner on Indianapolis Motor Speedway's 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course since Power last did it in 2017 and 2018.

The Spaniard moved back into the top spot of the season standings after winning a three-way battle among the leaders on his final pit stop then beating Power into the first turn on the only restart Saturday before pulling away.

Pole winner Christian Lundgaard, of Denmark, was third.

The 43-year-old Power earned his 31st career runner-up finish, which is sixth all-time. But the Team Penske driver still hasn't won a race since June 2022.

He was at a significant disadvantage with two team members - strategist Ron Ruzewski and engineer Robbie Atkinson - each serving a two-race suspension for a cheating scandal.

And yet David Faustino, who made the calls on Saturday, still had Power racing near the front until Power's used red tires wore down during the race's final stint.

"Just didn't quite have enough on that restart," Power said. "I had to lift coming into the last corner, just had too much push. Had to lift, otherwise it would have been an interesting battle into Turn 1."

Power defended his team after the race for the cheating scandal that led to a series of penalties for Team Penske.

Defending Indy 500 champion Josef Newgarden was stripped of his season-opening win, Scott McLaughlin was stripped of his third-place finish at St. Petersburg, all three drivers were docked 10 points and fined $US25,000 and the strategist and engineers for Newgarden and Power were suspended.

"When you're a top team like Penske, people certainly like to blow everything up and make a big deal of it, although it was just a mistake," said Power, who was cleared of wrongdoing.

"It was actually a mistake. I know, I was testing when the software was put in."