Will Power in the No.12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet took his 44th career victory in the BitNile.com Portland Grand Prix at Portland International Raceway on Sunday.
The Australian but a beat down on the field winning the race by over 9s from championship leader Alex Palou who came home second and potentially has one hand on his second successful Astor Cup.
Power dominated the race, taking the lead from Pole sitter Santino Ferrucci into Turn 1 and lead all but 9 of the 110 laps.
Speaking following the action, Power said:
Just working hard. I’m enjoying the craft. Feel very lucky to be in this series and with this Verizon Chevy team. Days like this are hard to do. So many good drivers, so many good teams. To execute like that feels very good.
Palou now has a 54 point lead in the championship over Power which is a race win.
Speaking following the action, the Spaniard who is aiming to be the first back to back championship since Dario Franchitti in 2011 said:
The team did a great job today, but maybe we were a bit wrong with our strategy. We went too aggressive in qualifying yesterday and did not have any really good alternate [tires] to use in the race. I thought the primary and the alternates [tires] were going to be closer [in performance], but they were not. It was tough work there on the primaries. Hopefully we can pick up more points in Milwaukee. I like where we’re sitting. I like the opportunity in front of us.”
Colton Herta in the No.26 Gainbridge Honda came in fourth despite having to give up a position for using his hybrid system on pit-road after stalling his car.
“It was a pretty straightforward day. The Gainbridge Honda was fast and we moved up positions, mostly through strategy and overcutting. Our car was really fast, so we were able to go longer and make the most out of that. It was an interesting race. I can’t remember the last time that we’ve had guys run two sets of used reds other than the Indy GP in the last few years. So, it’s a little bit different for everyone today, but it was a lot of fun. We had a little bit of a moment in pit lane where I must’ve just slipped the clutch a little too quick and the car just died right there. Then, I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t start the car on pit lane, so we picked up a little bit of a time penalty and had to drop back. Besides that, it was still a pretty great day.
Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong in the No.11 American Legion Honda came home in fifth place just ahead of Marcus Ericsson.
Scott McLaughlin in the No.3 Freightliner Team Penske Chevrolet was seventh Racing come from 20th on the grid. Speaking after the race he said:
“I’m buggered. I’m tired. It was a hard charge but our Freightliner Chevy was good and the Thirsty Three’s were rapid on the pit stops. Really proud of the crew. I said to my wife who’s watching at home, hello Karly. I said top-seven today would be like a podium. I’m proud of that one and can’t wait to get home and then head to the final three races where on ovals we’ve proven we’ve been pretty good this year. We’ll see how we go.”
Santino Ferrucci in the No.14 Phoenix Investors AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet had a solid race after a fantastic run to pole. The Connecticut native came home in eighth place and jumped back into the top ten in the championship as a result.
Speaking following the action he said:
Yeah, I kind of told Will where I was going to go, and that if I got the jump and could get in front of him, I would. I would kind of string him along and pull him down into turn one. He said he was going to go up the inside and just block and give me the line into (turn) two. I don’t think he expected me to brake as early as I did, and I definitely didn’t mean to either.”
Graham Rahal was ninth just ahead of Kyle Kirkwood who rounded out the top ten commented saying:
We ended P10, so we’re up one position from where we started. Another top 10 for the crew, but ultimately, I’m kind of disappointed with it. We got a penalty at some point in the race that I strongly disagree with, but that’s part of it, I guess. We looked like we were on for a good top-five finish until the penalty, so I’m disappointed, but at least we’ll walk away with some points.”
Rinus VeeKay was 11th while Alexander Rossi came home 12th just ahead of Christian Lundgaard and Felix Rosenqvist.
Pato O’Ward was 15th just ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson who scored one of his career best results to date with 16th just ahead of Toby Sowery.
Sting Ray Robb was 18th just ahead of Juri Vips who commented following the race saying:
It was actually a pretty quiet race for me. I was just really, really struggling with the clutch all day. I had a couple of slow stops at the start. On the first one, we lost a few positions getting the fuel plug in which wasn’t the end of the world, but we would have had a different race had those gone differently. It was a clean, well-executed race otherwise. I ended up stalling (on the second stop) after struggling with the clutch all day which wasn’t ideal. We lost another two spots there. But other than this, we were looking good when we were running in clean air. The pace was as good as anyone. We were catching Palou there at the end in clean air before we caught Sting Ray so there are a lot of positives to take away. I really enjoyed being in a race car. Obviously, it was not the result we were hoping for but its hopefully not the last time.”
David Malukas was 20th for Meyer Shank Racing just ahead of Nolan Siegel while Conor Daly was 22nd just ahead of Linus Lundqvist and Jack Harvey.
Pietro Fittipaldi was 25th despite numerous drive through penalties.
Christian Rasmussen was 26th just ahead of Romain Grosjean while Scott Dixon in the No.9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda saw his championship hopes all but end after being taken out of the race on the opening lap.