Alex ꦦPalou says he was not sure if h𓄧e would be able to pass Marcus Ericsson for victory in the closing stages of the Indianapolis 500.

The blue riband round of the IndyCar season came down to a two-🐻way fight between points leader Palou and Andretti rival Ericsson after several leading contenders dropped out of contention in the second half of the race.

Ericsson had made his 🌱final pitstop just 25 laps before to run and thus had enough fuel to make it to the end, while Chip Ganassi༒’s Palou needed to be careful on the throttle in order to reach the finish.

While it was expected that Palou wou𝓀ld sit behind Ericsson to save as much fuel as possi🌺ble, he took the Swede by surprise by passing him at Turn 1 with 14 laps to run.

The Spaniard saved enough fuel over the next 10 laps to fend off the late advances of Ericsson and secure his 168澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果历史:maiden Indy 500 win.

Speaking afterwards, a breathless Palou admitted that he had to fight hard to outduel Eric𒆙sson𝓀 in a tense finish to the race.

“I cannot believe 🧔it. What an amazing day🐽. What an amazing race,” he said. “Sorry, I’m out of breath. Just celebrating. Just got really tired.

“What an꧟ amazing race by everybody, the #10 crew, CGR, HRC I cannot believe it. It's amazing 𒊎to be here, it's amazing to win.

“There were some moments I felt really 🙈good in 💮the race but at the end, I didn't know if I was going to pass Marcus or not.

"[But I] made it happen. First oval win. What ಞbetter pl𝔉ace [to do it]?

He explained: “It was tough. I🐟t was tough conditions out there, especially if you are third or fourth in the pack. Even leading🅘 the fuel consumption was super high.

“🦩Didn't want me to lead. But I wanted to lead, obviously. Made it happen. I already lost my voice and I haven't even start🥀ed celebrating.”

Palou has enjoyed an 😼incredible run of success since moving to Chip Ganassi for his second seaso🐎n in IndyCar in 2021.

After clinching his third title last year, he has 🐲carried that form into 2025, winning five out of the first six races.

Palou’s previous successes were built around his superiority on street circuits and road courses, but now that he has scored a victory at an oval he has earned his place among th𓂃e greatest IndyCar drivers of all time.

Team boss Chip Ganassi hailed Palou🔥’s performance in the 109th Indy 500, saying: “[The] guy is justღ unbelievable. I don't know what to say.

“We saved fuel for all day, doing this ⛄and doing that. We were in the draft. And then at the end, we had tꦆhose guys [backmarkers] in front helping us.

“He just beat everybody today. It's great.

“It's an incredible thing. It's gonna make Alex Palou's c🔯areer and make his life. It certainly made mine.”