2024 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey

Race Notes

• The 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey was 95 laps on the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca road course totaling 212.61 miles. The pit road speed limit was 45 mph and the race started the third time by on the front straight. Pole sitter Alex Palou gridded drivers' left.
• All cars but those of Scott McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, Josef Newgarden, Graham Rahal, Rinus VeeKay, Christian Rasmussen and Pietro Fittipaldi started the race on primary black Firestone Firehawk tiers. Each car was required to use one new set of alternate green tires and one set of primary black tires during the race, unless rain tires were used in the race due to weather.
• At 3:23 p.m. PDT, seven minutes before the scheduled green flag, the ambient temperature was 66 degrees. The track temperature was 132 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• At 3:25 p.m., Mission Foods CEO Juan Gonzales gave the command, "Drivers, start your engines." All engines fired and all cars rolled off the grid.
• On Lap 1, the No. 10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Palou led the field to the start-finish line and was passed in Turn 2 by the No. 27 Andretti Global Honda of Kyle Kirkwood.
• The No. 28 Andretti Global Honda of Marcus Ericsson was the first car to pit on Lap 18. Ericsson was followed by race leader Kirkwood on Lap 25, briefly returning the lead to Palou until his first pit stop on Lap 26.
• Alexander Rossi, who pitted the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on Lap 23, took the race lead on the pit stop exchange and led until the race's first caution on Lap 35.
  • The No. 51 Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Luca Ghiotto made contact in Turn 4.
  • The four-lap caution opened up two competing strategies, with some drivers, including Kirkwood and Rossi, pitting under yellow while others, including Palou and Romain Grosjean, choosing to remain out and pitting later under green-flag conditions.
• The race resumed on Lap 40 with Palou leading. Yellow-flag conditions returned on Lap 41 when the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Nolan Siegel spun in Turn 2. The resulting caution was one lap in duration.
• Palou led the Lap 43 restart. Two laps later, Palou remained out front with Grosjean, Pato O'Ward, David Malukas and Marcus Armstrong completing the top five.
• Palou made his second pit stop on Lap 55 which passed the race lead to Colton Herta and the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda. Palou passed Herta for the lead in the Corkscrew on Lap 64.
• The final round of green-flag pit stops saw Newgarden briefly lead before Palou regained the race lead on Lap 75.
• Over the race's final 20 laps, there were three caution periods:
  • On Lap 75, the No. 11 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Armstrong was off course in Turn 4. The resulting yellow flag lasted for three laps.
  • On Lap 83, a two-lap caution flag flew for the No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda of Jack Harvey when it went off course.
  • On Lap 87, contact between the No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Kyffin Simpson and the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Graham Rahal brought out the race's final caution which was four laps in duration.
• Palou led a total of 48 laps and took the white flag with a two-second lead over Herta.
• Palou took the checkered flag 1.7810 seconds ahead of Herta, earning the two-time series champion his second win of 2024 and the 11th victory of his NTT IndyCar Series career. In four starts at Laguna Seca, Palou has four podium finishes and two wins.
• Points after the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey:
  1. Palou 285
  2. Power 262 (-23)
  3. Dixon 253 (-32)
  4. Herta 217 (-68)
  5. Kirkwood 210 (-75)
  6. O'Ward 208 (-77)
  7. Rossi 198 (-87)
  8. McLaughlin 188 (-97)
  9. Newgarden 181 (-104)
  10. Rosenqvist 176 (-109)
      

Session Notes

• Warm-up for the 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey was 30 minutes in duration from noon to 12:30 p.m. PDT.
• At 12:16 p.m., the session was red flagged when the No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Sting Ray Robb went off course and made contact with the barrier in Turn 6. The stoppage lasted for eight minutes. Robb was later seen and released from the INDYCAR Medical Unit at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.
• Santino Ferrucci was issued a five-minute stop-and-hold penalty for unsportsmanlike behavior following an incident involving Romain Grosjean.
• At the conclusion of warm-up, the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet of Rinus VeeKay was fastest: 1:08.4096.
  

Qualifying Notes

• Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award consists of three segments. In the first round, each group receives 10 minutes of track time with the clock starting when the first car hits the alternate start-finish line. The fastest six cars from each group advance to Round 2 while the remaining cars are assigned positions 13 to 27. Group 1 drivers occupy the odd-numbered positions from 13 to 25 while Group 2 drivers occupy the even-numbered positions from 14 to 26 and 27 based on their fastest lap times. During Round 2, the 12 advancing cars receive 10 minutes of track time with the fastest six cars advancing to the Firestone Fast Six while the remaining cars are ranked in positions seven through 12 based on their fastest laps. During the Firestone Fast Six, the six cars receive six minutes of guaranteed green-flag time. At the end of session, cars are ranked one through six based on their fastest laps.
• At the start of qualifying, the ambient temperature at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca was 74 degrees and the track temperature was 135 degrees according to Firestone engineers.
• There were no red flags or penalties issued throughout the entirety of qualifying for the 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.
• Alex Palou, Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta, Felix Rosenqvist, Alexander Rossi and Christian Lundgaard advanced to the Firestone Fast Six.
• At the conclusion of Round 3, Alex Palou's 1:07.1465 earned the Chip Ganassi Racing driver his fifth career NTT P1 Award. The result marked Palou's second pole of 2024. He was last on pole at the Sonsio Grand Prix at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
  

Session Notes

• Practice 2 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca ran from 10 to 11 a.m. PDT with 45 minutes of track time within the one-hour window.
• The session was slowed by three red flags:
  • At 10:05 a.m., the No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet of Christian Rasmussen made contact with the barrier in Turn 10. The resulting stoppage was eight minutes long. Rasmussen was later seen and released from the INDYCAR Medical Unit.
  • The No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet of Sting Ray Robb slid off track at 10:22 a.m. The red flag lasted for five minutes.
  • At 10:48 a.m., the No. 4 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Kyffin Simpson slid off track, causing a brief red flag.
• All three drivers were penalized five minutes of practice time for causing red flags.
• At the conclusion of Practice 2, the No. 26 Andretti Global Honda of Colton Herta was fastest with a 1:08.2300.
  

Session Notes

• The first practice for the 2024 Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca began on time at 2 p.m. PDT and ran for its full 75-minute duration.
• Practice 1 was slowed by two red flags. The first was for the No. 66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda of David Malukas stopped on track and the second was for a slide by the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Pato O'Ward. Both drivers were penalized five minutes of track time for causing a red flag.
• At the conclusion of the session, the No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet of Scott McLaughlin was fastest with a lap time of 1:07.6325.