Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou once again treated Portland International Raceway like his personal playground with a comfortable victory at the Grand Prix of Portland.
After starting second, Palou used his trademark overcut during the opening cycle of green-flag pit stops to jump into the lead and led 60 of 110 laps en route to a 4.1167-second victory on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural road course. It marked Palou’s 25th career victory, his third at Portland and sixth of the season.
“Everybody at CGR and Honda, they did an incredible job,” Palou said. “I had an absolutely rocket ship today. It was very, very nice to drive every single lap. I was a little bit worried there when we put those alternates (softer tire compound); they were so good. I was like, ‘Man, if somebody’s gonna keep them for the end, we might have a battle.’ But yeah, once again, everybody did an incredible job in the #10 car. Incredible to get our sixth win of the season. It’s been great.”
Pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist finished second in the #60 Meyer Shank Racing Honda, with Andretti Global’s Will Power taking third. Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Rinus VeeKay claimed fourth, ahead of another Andretti Global driver in Kyle Kirkwood settling in fifth.
Palou, the reigning and four-time IndyCar Series champion, extended his stranglehold in the title race with the win and now holds a 110-point lead over Kirkwood. Team Penske’s David Malukas, who finished 12th in the race, fell back to third, 118 points back.
The race
Count them all 👀
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Christian Lundgaard passes SIX cars before Turn 7! pic.twitter.com/i9UWA1lGGg
Rosenqvist led the field to the green flag, with Palou attempting an outside pass into Turn 1 before falling in behind. Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, who started 25th and last, gained six positions on the opening lap.
Marcus Ericsson, utilizing the softer alternate compound, delivered a late pass on Palou, on the harder primary tires, into Turn 1 to move into second on Lap 4. Meanwhile, Lundgaard continued his march forward, climbing up to 15th.
The caution came out on Lap 7, however, after the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda of Graham Rahal dropped his left-front wheel off the track at Turn 11 and slid into the tire barrier at Turn 12. He ended up taking the escape road once gathering it back up.
The likes of Josef Newgarden, Santino Ferrucci, Marcus Armstrong, Nolan Siegel, Sting Ray Robb, and Rahal took to pit lane for service.
The restart came on Lap 9, with Rosenqvist jumping out to a gap over Ericsson.
Through the opening 20 laps, Rosenqvist held a 0.8s lead over Ericsson, with Palou 1.8s behind. Andretti Global’s Will Power sat fourth, 3.9s behind, with Juncos Hollinger Racing’s VeeKay in fifth at 5.3s back.
Ericsson’s softer tires began to fade as he dropped 0.8s to Rosenqvist by Lap 24 before diving to pit lane. Kyle Kirkwood, Scott Dixon, and Grosjean also dove to pit lane. The cycle continued over the next several laps, with the race’s biggest charger, Lundgaard, progressing directly behind Dixon.
Rosenqvist and Power continued to stay out until Lap 32, with Palou staying out a lap longer. By virtue of the overcut, Palou was able to jump ahead of Rosenqvist. The drivers who had pitted under the earlier caution, including Newgarden and Ferrucci, cycled to the front.
Meanwhile, Marcus Armstrong encountered an engine issue and was forced to dive into pit lane; he retired early. Ferrucci pitted on Lap 35. Newgarden relinquished the lead on Lap 37, allowing Palou into the top spot.
Palou began nailing quick laps and extended his lead to over 6s by Lap 45, with Rosenqvist in second.
Pato O’Ward was forced into an unscheduled pit stop with a right-front vibration caused by tire blistering, dropping him to 22nd.
Palou pitted on Lap 56, handing the lead to Rosenqvist, who pitted four laps later. Power took over the race lead as a result, but pitted the next lap as the cycle continued. Newgarden assumed the lead, with Palou in second. Once Newgarden pitted a few laps later, Palou moved back into the lead, operating with a set of the harder primaries while Rosenqvist had the softer alternates.
Rosenqvist began to claw into Palou’s lead, with it shrinking down to 2.3s on Lap 72.
Kirkwood dove to pit lane from fourth on Lap 79, with the early stop within the window coming in due to concerns over air pressure loss with his left-front.
Palou lost time behind Louis Foster’s freshly pitted No. 47 RLL Honda, allowing Rosenqvist to close to within 0.7 seconds. Palou eventually cleared Foster, who then delayed Rosenqvist before the Swede made his final stop with 29 laps remaining. Palou pitted the next lap to cover. Palou and Rosenqvist were both left to run the final stint on primaries.
Power took over the race lead and continued to stay out to the point of catching backmarker traffic and missed the initial call to pit lane.
The cycle saw Palou return to the lead with a 3.3s advantage over Rosenqvist, with Power a distant third at 7.7s behind.
With 15 laps to go, Palou held a 5.7s gap over Rosenqvist, who came under threat from Power that was on a fresh set of softer alternates.
The top 10 with five laps to go were Palou, Rosenqvist, Power, VeeKay, Kirkwood, with Ericsson in sixth, followed by Scott McLaughlin, Newgarden, Simpson, and Lundgaard.
Palou controlled the closing laps to take the chequered flag 4.1167 seconds ahead of Rosenqvist, with Power third. VeeKay and Kirkwood completed the top five, followed by Ericsson, McLaughlin, Newgarden, Simpson and Lundgaard.
