Àlex Palou, the pilot from Baix Montseny who has conquered the United States

BarcelonaOn August 23rd of this year, Àlex Palou looked up and saw Donald Trump approaching him, surrounded by bodyguards and his entourage. To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States' independence, Trump organized a host of bizarre events, such as a martial arts fight and an IndyCar Series race, the most important open-wheel car racing series in North America. And the best driver in these races right now is a guy from Sant Antoni de Vilamajor, a town in the Baix Montseny region that doesn't even reach 7,000 inhabitants. Here begins the story of one of the best motor racing drivers in the history of Catalonia, a man who chose to pack his bags and head very far away to succeed. To the other side of the world.

At 29 years old, Àlex Palou has won the IndyCar Series, the most followed motor racing competition in the United States, five consecutive times, and has been able to win the famous Indianapolis 500, for example. It has already been five years of his dominance, defeating local drivers and earning respect, and everyone asks him when he will make the leap to Formula 1. For now, he has decided to continue competing in the United States, where his name is already written alongside the great legends of North American motor racing, even though in Catalonia many people do not quite understand what this competition is, which is usually held on oval circuits with banked tracks. Tracks where a legend has been written that begins with a go-kart on a small circuit in Cardedeu.

When Alex was little, his father used to take him to school and they would pass by this circuit. When he was barely three spans tall, he started asking to be able to drive a kart. His parents were a very young couple who had had him when they were not even 20 years old. Humble people who made an effort to buy their son a kart when he was five years old. His father watched Formula 1 on television, but they are not a family linked to motor racing. Simply put, Alex was fascinated by karts. And the circuit coaches were fascinated by that boy's ability to drive. In a few months, he would win his first children's race, thus beginning a journey in which Genís Marcó, the man who had also helped Fernando Alonso when he was a child, would be key. With his support and a scholarship at the CAR in Sant Cugat, Alex went through stages very quickly. He was not yet old enough to have a driver's license but he was already competing in international competitions, where he would coincide with names like Max Verstappen and George Russell, current F1 drivers. After going through different categories, he received an offer to go compete in the Japanese F3. It was a definitive step: to leave very far away. And the move worked out so well for him that he was discovered by an IndyCar team.

Motor racing is like that. Young people who take on a lot of pressure, who live far from home and compete hard. Alex, sensible and ambitious, would land in the United States at 21 years old. And less than 12 months later he was already signing for Chip Ganassi Racing, one of the most powerful teams. And he has not stopped winning since, with five consecutive triumphs that have turned him into a real star in the United States, where he spends most of his time. A young family man, Àlex Palou has gone in a few years from the Baix Montseny to Hollywood with a story that could be a movie.