Oilpressure

The 2025 Sonsio Grand Prix is now in the books. I have attended this race every May since its inception in 2014. Seldom is there one of these that makes you sit on the edge of your seat, unless it’s raining. Saturday was no exception.

There were two things I was looking for at the start. Could front-row starter Graham Rahal sweep across pole-sitter Alex Palou and take the lead in a race that doesn’t feature a ton of passing; and would there be a pile-up going into Turn One, ending the drought of cautions we were experiencing since Lap One of the season-opener at St. Petersburg?

We got the first, but not the second. Rahal made a good move by getting a jump on Palou at the start, giving him the momentum he needed to pass Palou going into Turn One.

For the first 59 laps out of 85, Palou played follow the leader. He never allowed Rahal to get more that 0.8 seconds in front of him. Each time the two went by us down the main straightaway, you could tell that Palou was content in biding his time. While it was nice to see another number besides No.10 atop the scoring pylon, I think most of us knew that the race would not end up that way. It didn’t.

First, Rahal was encountering traffic in the form of Jacob Abel. Rahal wanted the young rookie to pull over, but Abel was certainly within his rights to fight to stay on the lead lap. Then, Rahal’s tires started going away. That’s when Palou made his move heading into Turn Seven. Rahal could do nothing but watch the man who has dominated the season drive past him. It took Palou just a couple of laps to build a more than two-second lead over Rahal.

Things got worse for Rahal when he pitted. A slow stop got worse by Rahal having to be held for an oncoming car in the pits. While I’m sure it seemed like an eternity for the already frustrated Rahal, it was the right thing to do. Bad luck made it that the timing of the oncoming car would have probably resulted in a collision in the pits. The hold probably cost Rahal an additional three seconds in the pits.

In the meantime, Palou was extending his lead as Rahal’s handling on blacks was going away – as everyone around him was on sticker reds.

A promising day ended in frustration for Rahal and his teammates. With all three making the Firestone Fast Six, and Rahal starting of the front row; the team finished sixth, eleventh and seventeenth.

Fans did get a caution late in the race, when David Malukas continued his disappointing season by going off-course in Turn Eight on Lap 70. The short caution period (two laps) ended a string of 408 laps over five races of continual green-flag racing, Anyone thinking the restart would change the results at the top was mistaken. Over the final thirteen laps, Alex Palou extended his lead to 5.484 seconds over second-place finisher Pato O’Ward, who is having a very nice season, and would be in the thick of things if Palou wasn’t going on this historic run of four wins in five races, and 248 points in five races.

Overall, this was a typical road course race at IMS on a sunny day. There was not a lot of action, but enough to keep your attention.

TV Coverage: Unlike most races that we attend in person, I actually did hear some of the live coverage from FOX. We watched the first ten laps or so in the pits with some friends. Mrs. Oilpressure was getting hot in the sun, so she chose to go back up to the media center. About five laps later, I decided I could see better up there and in more comfort. That’s what old age does to you. Five years ago, I never would have considered watching a race from the media center, unless it was raining or very cold.

So for about two thirds of the race, I was standing against the window of the media center watching the main straightaway and the pits below, watching on the video boards directly across the track, and listening to the FOX crew describe the action as it was piped into the media center, with surprisingly no time-delay from live action.

I realize I’m sounding like a broken record, but I just cannot warm up to Will Buxton. I can’t understand why the people that complained for years about Leigh Diffey, find Buxton as any improvement. I never minded Diffey like a lot did, but I find the way that Buxton emphasizes Every. Single. Word. He. Utters. to be very annoying.

I know there were some glitches again in FOX’s timing and scoring graphics, and they need to fix that. But Will Buxton is my only complaint about the FOX coverage. All three pit-reporters were excellent on Saturday, and I still think Jack Harvey gets the “most-improved” award in the first five races. Many of their graphics, including their track maps, are great additions, but I find Will Buxton to be one of the worst IndyCar chief TV announcers ever. I would put him much lower than the insufferable Marty Reid, and maybe just a notch above the much-maligned Todd Harris, who lasted only one season (2005). If a change is ever made, my pick would be either Kevin Lee or Allen Bestwick.

Special Liveries: Many teams will have special liveries this week for the Indianapolis 500. Some had special liveries this past weekend. Scott McLaughlin was sporting a special livery for this race, since his sponsor, Sonsio, was also the title sponsor for the race. Something about the black, yellow and maroon color scheme works awfully well. I wish we had gotten a picture of it.

The three Arrow McLaren cars were all carrying different liveries than we have seen all year. Like McLaughlin’s car – their color schemes all looked great. They actually looked much better than the mostly white liveries they will be carrying for the Indianapolis 500.

Attendance: We will never hear actual figures, but attendance for the two-day weekend looked sparse. We park in Lot 2 throughout each Month of May, and we have to enter through the same gate for all of the lots that are fed off of 20th street. On some Race Mornings for the GP, we have had to wait in long lines from all directions to finally get in. Saturday morning at 11:00 am, we had only two cars in front of us when we arrived at the gate. In fairness, they have implemented a new traffic pattern getting into the gate which will make traffic flow much better, but I don’t think that was the reason for the lack of a line.

Crowds behind The Pagoda, at the concession stands and in gift shops were steady at best. It made for a very pleasant experience for those of us that were there, but it probably wasn’t a good sign for the overall attendance. I could be wrong, but that was the impression I got. I hope I’m wrong.

Drive of the Day: Many drivers came from the back of the pack to salvage poor starting positions. Kyle Kirkwood was certainly a candidate, but he should have a good car anyway. He is the only driver to finish higher than Alex Palou, so given his car and his talents – he should have had a good day.

But Rinus VeeKay wins this coveted award. He was the last driver signed after being dumped by Ed carpenter in the offseason. He drives for Dale Coyne Racing, the smallest team in the paddock and one that was coming off of a horrible 2024 season. Saturday, he drove from his twenty-fourth starting position to ninth – putting him in the Top-Ten in points.

All in All: This race serves its purpose each year, and it achieved it again on Saturday. It provided meaningful racing activity at IMS to give fans three straight weekends to come to the track. After more than a dozen of these, a definite pattern has been set. I’ve heard some suggest that this race be moved to a different time of year. I hope that doesn’t happen. It may not be the best race in the world, but it serves as an appetizer for the rest of the Month of May. It gives fans a taste of what’s to come.

As I sit and type this at home in Nashville on Sunday night, I am already excited for next weekend. If we had spent this weekend as a normal weekend from home, I don’t think our anticipation would be near as high. We might be more well-rested and my wallet may not be so light, but now that we’ve had our first weekend in May; I can’t wait to see what’s next.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on May 12, 2025 at 4:04 am and is filed under Indianapolis 500, IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.