When Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh rookie Alex Palou takes the track on Saturday, he will have more than his share of challenges to contend with.
Every driver will be dealing with the uncertainty of getting back on track after an eight month break and the struggle to figure out the nuances of running the protective Aeroscreen for the first time. But Palou has the added difficulty of running in his first NTT IndyCar series race, running his first oval race, and running his first race under the lights all at the same time.
Palou managed to miss out on these experiences so far in his career because he did not arrive at IndyCar through the traditional Road to Indy feeder series. He made his name known racing in Formula 3 and raced in the Japanese Super Formula and Super GT series last year before making the jump to the American open-wheel scene for 2020.
“I feel I’m the most ready I can be with the situation that we have now,” said the 23-year-old. “I’ve been comfortable running alone at Texas [during testing], but everybody tells me it’s a whole lot different story when you have 20 cars, or one car, in front.
“This weekend will be my NTT IndyCar Series debut, which has been a dream of mine. It will also be my first oval, first night race and it’s in Texas. Everything to make it a difficult and challenging debut, but I’m looking forward to it.
“We have limited track time, so it won’t be easy for me and the other rookies, but we’ll try to make the best of it. I’ll be the only driver in the field that has never raced on an oval, in any type of car, but I’m ready for the challenge.”
As if all of these factors weren’t enough, Palou has an extra disadvantage of having to shake off a particularly stressful month of May.
The Spanish driver went back to his home country when it became clear there would be a large break before IndyCar was able to run its first race. Ongoing travel restrictions proved to be rather difficult to navigate, and only through the combined efforts of many people was he able to come back to the United States in time to go racing.
“I didn’t know it was going to be so hard,” said Palou. “We’ve been working every day for the last couple of months since I just went back to Spain, but we made it.
“I have to say INDYCAR did an amazing job. I was not able to go by myself or by the help I had in Spain, so if it was not because of the IndyCar team, I would not be here today.”
Palou will be among the rookie drivers afforded an extra half hour of practice on Saturday, and he will surely use that time to get a better handle of the many challenges facing him.
