Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh rookie Alex Palou’s NTT IndyCar Series debut was short lived when he got caught up in an on-track incident on Lap 37 of the Genesys 300 at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday evening.

Earlier in the day, Palou had done a good job by qualifying 16th in his first ever oval qualifying session after only two hours of practice on the 1.5-mile track.

Palou was looking forward to gaining as much experience as possible in what was his first oval race and was running 15^th when he entered pit lane on Lap 35 for his first pit stop.

Unfortunately, the Spaniard only got one more lap under his belt before he was collected by fellow rookie Rinus Veekay, who made contact with the wall and shot back down the track, clipping the left rear tire on the #55 Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh entry.

“I don’t think there was much I could have done. In hindsight, I should have gone high instead of going low, but that’s easy to say now. I have to watch the replay. Maybe I could have done something different, but not with the oval experience I have right now,” shared Palou.

“It’s a shame because the car was really good. I was getting comfortable and getting up to speed. Every lap I was getting better and better and keeping up with the cars in front. I was trying to get the car balanced right for the last stints. Unfortunately, we were not able to do that.”

Next up for Palou and the Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh team will be the GMR Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 4, 2020.

The NTT IndyCar Series is getting back on track this weekend and Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh rookie Alex Palou will be facing a day of firsts on Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway as he, finally, makes his official series debut.

Palou will not only be taking part in his first NTT IndyCar Series event, but it will also mark his first oval race and night race, all in a condensed one-day schedule on the high-speed oval that is the 1.5-mile track in Fort Worth, Texas. While Palou will be the only driver on the grid having never raced on an oval, in any category, he won’t be going in completely blind having at least tested at Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year.

“These last few weeks I was really worried about just getting back to the United States and now that I’m here, I’m even happier and more excited to go racing at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. Not only did I make it, but I made it with enough time to prepare properly with the team and the engineers and to prepare myself. To be able to focus on racing and not always thinking about if I’m going to make it or not is a huge relief,” expressed Palou.

“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. The team has had good cars there in the past so it’s going to be up to me to get up to speed and get comfortable with the car again after three months away. 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. It would be awesome for Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh if we could come out with a good result as we finally get the season started.”

Palou and his fellow rookies will get an additional 30 minutes of practice  prior to the full field taking to the track for the official practice session.

The season opening Genesys 300 will go green at 7:10pm local time and will be broadcast live on GAORA in Japan  from 8:30pm JP time.

Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh rookie Alex Palou’s long-time dream is becoming reality this weekend at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Round 1 of the 2020 season.

Since he first started racing single-seater race cars, Palou had one vision in mind, that of racing in the NTT IndyCar Series. Now, about six years later, the 22-year-old Spaniard will be making his official series debut at the 1.8-mile, 14-turn street course in St. Petersburg.

“To be honest, I’ve never been this excited for the start of a race season. As I’ve said before, it’s a dream for me to be part of the NTT IndyCar Series and this weekend it officially comes true,” expressed Palou. “I’m ready for the season to start. It’s just a shame that we had a limited amount of time to test with the aeroscreen, but it’s the same for everyone as we head into this first race.”

“I can’t wait to discover the St. Petersburg track. I think it’s a good track to start the season at and I’m very much looking forward to getting in the car Friday morning.”

While this will be his first trip to the St. Petersburg event, Palou has some experience racing on street circuits having competed at Norising (Nuremburg, Germany), Pau (Southwestern France) and Macau (China).

Palou will be on track for the first official practice session of the season on Friday, March 13 at 10:45am ET. A second practice session will follow in the afternoon at 3:00pm ET. On Saturday, March 14, the rookie will have one final practice session ahead of that afternoon’s qualifying session which takes place at 2:40pm ET.

The 100-lap season opening round will go green at 3:30pm ET on Sunday, March 15 and will be broadcast live on NBCSN starting at 2:30pm ET.

All practice sessions and qualifying will be streamed live on the NBC Gold app with qualifying also being broadcast on tape delay on NBCSN Saturday, March 14 at 10:00pn ET.

In Japan, Sunday race will be lively broadcasted by GAORA, from 4:00am on Monday, 16 March, JP time.

Alex Palou’s first oval test at Texas Motor Speedway today was a success with the rookie turning 125 laps. To say he simply enjoyed it would be an understatement.

Alex Palou: “It was a crazy experience and I loved it! It’s awesome to drive on an oval.”

“It was crazier than what I expected, but it was also more fun than what I expected. At first, it was quite eye-opening because of the banking, and the speed, because everything is so quick. ”

“But you have to take it step by step. All you need are small details to make the car better and make your line better. We went from going slowly, building up my confidence to going out on a new tire run. It felt great.”

“I know it’s going to be really different when we come back here in the summer, it will be hot with lots of cars around, but for the first day I think it was perfect.”

“I can’t wait to go oval racing. I was already really excited to go oval racing because I thought I would like it, but I like it even more than what I thought. It’s just awesome to be able race on ovals this year.”

Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh rookie Alex Palou completed his first official NTT INDYCAR SERIES test on Wednesday at Circuit of the Americas by placing ninth in the 27-car field.

After weather wreaked havoc on Tuesday’s test day, the driver of the gray and hot pink #55 entry, was finally able to turn laps at full speed on Wednesday once the skies cleared and the temperatures started rising.

Palou completed 60 laps and registered a fastest lap time of 1:47.707. While building his confidence behind the wheel of his Honda powered machine, he collected important information that will be useful throughout the season and for when the team returns to the 3.41-mile, 20-turn road course in April for the AutoNation INDYCAR Challenge.

“It was a really good test at Circuit of the Americas today. It was a bit of a shame that the weather prevented us to run yesterday and this morning, so the afternoon was busy,” shared Palou. “It was a lot of fun. We tested a lot of stuff and we learned a lot. I also got confident with the car and the team. It was a very productive test. I think it’s the start of a good year. (About driving with the aeroscreen) I think it’s really good. I expected the visibility to be worse but no, it was perfectly fine.”

Palou will next be getting his first taste of an Indy car on an oval this Friday as he and the Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh squad head to Texas Motor Speedway for the Spaniard’s rookie orientation.

～Spanish Driver Alex Palou joins full-time～

TEAM GOH MOTORSPORTS INC. is pleased to announce a collaborative programme in conjunction with Dale Coyne Racing which will see Team Goh compete in the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES as “Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh”.  The North American championship includes the legendry Indianapolis 500 which is renowned as being one of the prestigious Triple Crown events in motorsport.

Many years of international competition have formed a major part of Team Goh’s motorsport success which includes the overall win of the Le Mans 24 Hours in 2004.  However, following a ten year absence the team returned to the grid in 2019 to compete in the Japanese Super GT championship. Now in 2020 Team Goh takes on a new challenge which sees a long-term friendship between former racing driver Dale Coyne and team owner Kazumichi Goh combining in order to compete at the premier level of open-wheel racing in North America, in the NTT IndyCar Series.

Alex Palou will be joining the team as their full time driver after competing for Team Goh last season in the Japanese Super GT300 Championship.  He also competed in the Japanese Super Formula Championship for which he was awarded 2019 Rookie of the Year.