The NTT IndyCar Series visited The Thermal Club in Thermal, California, on Sunday afternoon in The Thermal Club Indy Grand Prix. Arrow McLaren started on the front row with Pato O’Ward on the pole and Christian Lundgaard starting in the second position.
On the opening lap, Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin was hit by Devlin DeFrancesco at Turn 15. DeFrancesco was issued a drive-through penalty for the contact with McLaughlin. McLaughlin’s car would suffer a hybrid unit overheating issue on lap 53 ending his day.
Another incident that happened was the PREMA Racing driver Callum Ilott hit his teammate Robert Shwartzman sending his car briefly up in the air and damaging the front wing. Ilott finished in 26th place.
There were no cautions in this race. Pato O’Ward dominated the majority of this race losing the lead twice when he went to pit road. Late in the race, Chip Ganassi Racing driver Alex Palou passed Christian Lundgaard for second place on Lap 51 and began to chase down Pato O’Ward.
Palou caught O’Ward with nine laps to go and passed for the lead. Once he got the lead, he was gone, winning his second consecutive race by 10.1854 seconds over Pato O’Ward. Palou led a total of 13 laps and became the first driver since Scott Dixon in 2020 to start the season with two wins.
The rest of the top ten finishers were Christian Lundgaard third, Colton Herta fourth, Felix Rosenqvist fifth, Will Power sixth, Marcus Armstrong seventh, Kyle Kirkwood eighth, Alexander Rossi ninth, and Scott Dixon tenth.
The NTT IndyCar Series heads to Long Beach, California, for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Sunday, April 13, 2025, at 4:30 pm on Fox. Purchase tickets for all IndyCar races today at StubHub.
Finishing Order:
| Position | Driver | Interval |
| 1. | Alex Palou | – |
| 2. | Pato O’Ward | 10.1854 |
| 3. | Christian Lundgaard | 22.7330 |
| 4. | Colton Herta | 35.0722 |
| 5. | Felix Rosenqvist | 35.6297 |
| 6. | Will Power | 40.3787 |
| 7. | Marcus Armstrong | 41.5126 |
| 8. | Kyle Kirkwood | 52.2481 |
| 9. | Alexander Rossi | 52.6073 |
| 10. | Scott Dixon | 54.0525 |
| 11. | Graham Rahal | 58.2732 |
| 12. | Christian Rasmussen | 1:01.059 |
| 13. | Josef Newgarden | 1:10.428 |
| 14. | Santino Ferrucci | 1:13.037 |
| 15. | Kyffin Simpson | 1:13.239 |
| 16. | Conor Daly | 1:42.042 |
| 17. | Rinus VeeKay | 1:43.728 |
| 18. | David Malukas | 1:47.311 |
| 19. | Nolan Siegel | 1:47.795 |
| 20. | Devlin DeFrancesco | -1 |
| 21. | Marcus Ericsson | -1 |
| 22. | Robert Shwartzman | -1 |
| 23. | Sting Ray Robb | -1 |
| 24. | Louis Foster | -1 |
| 25. | Jacob Abel | -1 |
| 26. | Callum Ilott | -1 |
| 27. | Scott McLaughlin | -12 |
