A Chip Ganassi Racing executive said the team identified a fluke battery failure that sidelined IndyCar championship leader Alex Palou in the Sept. 1 race at the Milwaukee Mile.
Barry Wanser, the senior manager of IndyCar operations for Ganassi, said the team would bring the same system – just with a new battery -- into the Sept. 15 season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.
Palou stalled on the pace laps in the second race of the Milwaukee doubleheader and missed the first 28 laps while the crew got his No. 10 Dallara-Honda running again. Though it briefly appeared he might lose the title lead to Will Power, Palou rallied to make up eight positions for a 19th-place finish. Despite his second-worst result of the season, he brings a 33-point lead into Nashville over Power (who spun and finished 10th at Milwaukee).
Terming the problem as “very unexpected,” Wanser said that the failure could have happened to any car but happened to affect Palou.
“We certainly have mileage limits that we run on the components in our control,” Wanser, who is the chief strategist for Palou, told reporters Tuesday during an IndyCar videoconference. “The battery is well under those mileage limits, and unfortunately, the manufacturer determined it was an internal failure that was not caused by any external reasons.”
Wanser confirmed the problem was unrelated to the hybrid system that was introduced midseason. Scott Dixon, Palou’s Ganassi teammate, suffered a hybrid-related failure on the pace laps at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in the July 7 debut of the hybrid.
Palou can clinch his third IndyCar championship in the past four years by finishing ninth or better at Nashville, regardless of Power’s result. Wanser credited the Spaniard’s cool demeanor with staying in the fight at Milwaukee.
“Alex just does what we ask him to do,” Wanser said. “A lot of times he does more than that. He showed his level of professionalism and how calm he can be under those circumstances at the Milwaukee race. I spoke to him, ‘Look, we’re not sure whether we’re going to be able to get the car running or not, but if we can get back in the car if we can get running, we’re just going to go out there and run laps.’ … We were fortunate to go out of the race in 27th and ended up finishing 19th. A lot of that has to do with the perseverance of the team, and Honda helped analyze the problem. Alex stayed calm in the car.”
