The Thermal Club INDYCAR Grand Prix
Words and Images by Brandon J. O'Brien.
The second INDYCAR series event for 2025 was held at The Thermal Club this past weekend. Unlike the events held at Thermal in the past, this was a points race which made the teams and drivers happy.
Many of the drivers felt that even though Thermal is considered a "road course" it drives and feels more like a "street course" due to the narrow "cheese grater" racing surface. The two concerns for most of the teams were tire degradation and how the car handled with the extra weight of the new hybrid engine. They felt that tire degradation would be similar to Laguna Seca or Iowa Speedway prior to the resurfacing of those tracks. Both the Primary and Alternate tires provided by Firestone this year are different than the ones used in previous years. All the teams were entering this event with a blank sheet of paper. To make matters worse, temperatures for the whole weekend were predicted to be in the high 80's to low 90's.
Practice was divided into two groups. Which Group you were in was based on your pit position. The five fastest drivers in Group 1 on Friday were; #26 Colton Herta, # 60 Felix Rosenqvist, #12 Will Power, #14 Santino Ferrucci, and #9 Scott Dixon. The times went from 1:40.8439 to 1:41.4619 for the fastest five. Group 2's top five were #10 Alex Palau, #27 Kyle Kirkwood, #28 Marcus Ericsson, #21 Christian Rasmussen, and #5 Pato O'Ward. Times went from 1:40.5486 to 1:40.9092 for the fastest five.
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| Robert Shwartzman in the PREMA Racing #83 after rebuild due to a fire on Friday. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images |
The only car that had serious issues on Friday was the #83 PREMA Racing entry driven by Rookie Robert Shwartzman. This is a new, to IndyCar, team with two brand new cars. Apparently there was a fuel cell issue on the #83 car which cause a fire. Shwartzman was able to safely stop the car and exit without injury but the car and power unit required replacement. Fortunately they had a spare chassis and were able to return to the track on Sunday morning.
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| Pato O'Ward in the #5 Arrow McLaren approaching T-15 at Thermal. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images. |
The primary event on Saturday was qualifying. The top 12 cars moved up to the Fast 12. From there, the top six car moved up to the Fast Six to determine the pole winner. Team Arrow McLaren pulled out all the stops and Pato O'Ward took the pole position, closely followed by team-mate Christian Lundgaard. Both would start on Alternates.
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| Christian Lundgaard in the #7 Arrow McLaren approaching T-16 at Thermal. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images. |
Having one of the fastest cars all weekend Alex Palou put the DHL Chip Ganassi Racing car into the 3rd qualifying spot and would also start on Alternates with Colton Herta's Gainbridge car next to him on Primaries. The third row was filled out with Marcus Ericsson and Alexander Rossi, again both starting on Alternates.
This was O'Ward's first pole since the 2022 Mid-Ohio event. A surprising turn of events was that none of the Team Penske cars were able to qualify higher than 17th.
Prior to the drop of the green flag as McLaughlin and DeFrancesco were in Turn-15 DeFrancesco drove into the side of McLaughlin with both spinning out. A Drive-through penalty was awarded to DeFrancesco for "avoidable contact".
Unlike last year, all the cars were able to negotiate the tight 180-degree Turn-1. The top four cars maintained their positions and started to gain on the rest of the field. While braking for Turn-6 Callum
Ilott drove into the rear of another car tearing off his front wing. Because both cars were able to proceed the yellow flag was not displayed. Much to everyone's surprise the race ran to the end caution free.
Aside from lead changes due to pit stops the top four drivers were able to maintain their positions throughout the event until close to the end. With O'Ward and Lundgaard's final set of tires being Primaries and Palou getting Alternates, Palou was able to move his way past Lundgaard and then with 10 laps to go he was able to pass O'Ward. From then on, the outcome was determined.
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| Alex Palou in the #10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing IR-12 on his way to victory at Thermal. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images |
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| Alex Palou celebrating in Victory Circle after winning The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images |
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| Christian Lundgaard, Alex Palou, and Pato O'Ward on the podium at The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images |
In the post-race driver's Q&A session, Pato mentioned that he was unable to use his hybrid system for at least 50% of the race due to overheating. The same was acknowledged by Lundgaard. When Alex was asked if he had overheating issues he simply said that he did not. It appears that the high temperatures not only adversely affected tire degradation but also caused issues with the new hybrid systems, at least for Arrow McLaren.
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| Pato O'Ward and Christian Lundgaard the 2nd and 3rd place finishers of The Thermal Club IndyCar Grand Prix. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images |
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| The winning smile of Alex Palou at The Thermal IndyCar Grand Prix. Image Credit: 2025 Brandon O'Brien / Motor Driven Images |
The next race will be on the street course for the 50th running of the Acura Long Beach Grand Prix on April 13th.
TAGS: Alex Palou, Arrow McLaren, Brandon O'Brien, Callum Ilott, Christian Lundgaard, Colton Herta, Chip Ganassi Racing, Christian Rasmussen, DHL, Devlin DeFrancesco, Felix Rosenqvist, INDYCAR, Kyle Kirkwood, Marcus Ericsson, MotorSports Journal, Pato O'Ward, Santino Ferrucci, Scott Dixon, The Thermal Club,
