Pato O’Ward missed out on the IndyCar championship this season as Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou clinched the title last time out at Portland, with two rounds to go.
Palou retained his title and has now won four IndyCar championships, while O’Ward is his nearest challenger, although he is now 151 points behind. The Mexican’s title bid was brought to a halt at Portland due to an engine issue.
O’Ward also lost the title battle in 2021 when he went head-to-head with the Spaniard; the Arrow McLaren drivers’ challenge ended at the final round at Long Beach that particular year.
Despite losing out to Palou for the second time in his career, O’Ward explained why he is pleased with his IndyCar campaign for Arrow McLaren.
He told the official IndyCar website: “Unfortunately, reliability stood in the way of us maybe making it a little bit more interesting for everyone. Congrats to Alex (Palou). It’s been really an unbelievable season for him.
Pato O’Ward: Alex Palou ‘is having an unreal, unexpected year’
“I’m happy with how my year has gone. It hasn’t been a rocket of starts, but we’ve gotten better as the year has gone on. We’ve pretty much been the best of the rest.
“So, after you see somebody like Alex have his insane year, we’re kind of having a championship season, quote, unquote. But sadly, the guy that’s leading is having an unreal, unexpected year.”
Palou has been in blistering form this year, winning eight races so far, which laid the foundations for the CGR driver’s title-winning campaign. The 28-year-old was particularly strong in the build-up to the Indy 500 when he won five of the first six races, including his first win on the oval at The Brickyard.
O’Ward also had a relatively good season with two wins so far and a flurry of podiums, but Palou’s consistency was very difficult to match across the campaign.
With two rounds to go, O’Ward will be eager to end the season on a high at the Milwaukee Mile and the season finale at Nashville Superspeedway. The Mexican performed admirably at both those tracks last year, winning the opening race in Milwaukee and finishing second at Nashville for Arrow McLaren.
Image credit: Penske Entertainment: Joe Skibinski
