Will Power Wins at Portland, IndyCar Championship Battle Tightens Slightly
Will Power started on the front row of the Grand Prix of Portland next to Santino Ferrucci. On lap one, he exited Turn 1 a nose ahead of Ferrucci and pulled away at the apex. After an eventful 110 laps, Power would emerge the winner, taking a much needed 12 extra points in the championship battle.
Power's main objective in the race was to finish ahead of the championship leader, Alex Palou. Power entered the race 66 points behind the leader, with Andretti Global's Colton Herta and Chip Ganassi's Scott Dixon in between.
With Dixon crashing out of lap one, Power leapfrogged into third position in the championship fight.
Power crossed the finish line 9.827 seconds ahead of Palou after leading 101 of 110 laps. Power earned an extra two points for leading the most laps.
"We came here very determined to get qualifying right and then execute in the race," Power told IndyCar on NBC. "It wasn't a last-ditch effort, but really, if Palou finished ahead of us, it would've been very difficult."
Palou and the No. 10 team elected to use their alternates heavily in qualifying in an attempt to capture the pole and entered the race with only mostly used alternates. This forced the Spanish driver to run primaries for most of the race, where most leaders preferred their softer alternates.
"We went a little too aggressive in qualifying yesterday and really didn't have any good used alternates," Palou explained to NBC. "It was tough work there on primaries being able to catch Will."
Herta finished fourth, losing his second-place spot in the playoffs to Power; on the final pit stop, Herta stalled his Hybrid engine, causing him five to six seconds in the box, and then more once a time penalty was added for restarting in the pit lane. Herta was not aware of the penalty before it was called.
"I wasn't aware that you couldn't restart the car on pit lane, so we picked up a little bit of a time penalty and had to drop back," Herta told NBC.
You Might Also Like
