As we get closer to deciding the Championship, the competition is heating up. Arriving at Portland International Raceway (PIR), the top three spots in the standings were held by Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, and Joseph Newgarden. This race was also the first time at PIR for a few of the drivers including current standings leader Pato O’Ward, second-place Alex Palou and fifth-place Marcus Ericsson.
On Saturday, the start of the day was marked by a moment of silence at 7:28 a.m. local time in the paddock, matching the exact time when the North Tower of the World Trade Center fell on Sept. 11, 2001. IndyCar honored the 20 year anniversary of the attack with a pin to remember the victims of 9/11, which is also shown on each car as a decal (see image below).
On track, Alex Palou led the pack, with a top lap of 58.7824 seconds in the first practice run, and 58.7701 in qualifying. The top qualifying spot gave him the NTT P1 Award at PIR. Palou had also started on pole for the Genesys 300, but the starting lineup for that race was decided by entrant points after qualifying was cancelled due to weather delays.
Helio Castroneves, racing on this track for the first time since 2001, had a great first practice run with a top lap of 58.8850. The qualifying runs, however, did not match the performance during practice session 1, and Helio qualified a disappointing 17th in the field.
Pato O’Ward, who arrived in Portland sitting on top of the Championship standings, started the race in P7, and Josef Newgarden, third in the standings before the Portland GP, started behind Castroneves in P18.
Alexander Rossi started the race on the front row after a qualifying time of 58.8573.
This time around the Portland track was not so kind to the 2018 winner, Takuma Sato. Sato had mechanical issues that prevented him from running for most of the first practice, and his team had to change the engine so that he could run during the qualifying session. Sato managed to qualify anyway but would start the race from P24. In 2018, after starting the race from P20, Sato won in Portland – and his fans know he is always capable of winning a race, regardless of where he sits on the starting grid.
Sato’s teammate in the Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team, Graham Rahal made it into the Firestone Fast Six field and started the race at P5 with a best lap of 59.0067 seconds.
Scott Dixon was the fastest in the final practice session, with a top lap of 59.4111.
Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions also gave the fans a fair share of the expected turn 1 drama. The Portland Chaos Corner, responsible for a five-car accident in 2018, and a four-car accident in 2019, saw several drivers make it through during practice, but it still caused havoc during the opening lap of the race.
In addition to the turn 1 troubles, the track also proved to be as slick as expected. Dixon, NTT P1 Award winner Palou, and McLaughlin veered off track in practice session 1, while Sato, Ericsson, and Daly went out spinning during practice session 2.
Interestingly enough, the Firestone supplied tires have also changed since the 2019 race. For this year, tires show slightly decreased grip, but offer reduced wear. Temperature gain rates are increased for the primary tires, and decreased for the alternate tires. Each car received six sets of primary (black) tires, four sets of alternate (red) tires, and five sets of rain (gray) tires.
To make the field even more safe, after the 2020 race in Portland was canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this was the first time that the NTT INDYCAR SERIES raced at PIR with the Aeroscreen (IndyCar’s new cockpit protection system).
On race day, the start led almost immediately to the first caution period. Alex Palou and Dixon overshot turn 1 and turn 2, fortunately without sustaining any damage.
Behind them, several drivers made contact with each other and had to pit for repair, including James Hinchcliffe, who’s car damage was too severe, forcing his early retirement from the race.
With the massive shuffle that ensued, Pato O’Ward and Graham Rahal were pushed up front for the restart on lap 11. Alex Palou restarted in 16th place followed by Dixon, Rosenqvist, Rossi, Newgarden, and Herta.
O’Ward, the points leader before this race, kept his top spot leading the race for another 15 laps until a pit stop, when he handed the lead to Rahal. With various pit stops, the race lead changed hands through Harvey, Palou, Dixon, and then back to Rahal who led for about 30 laps.
After Graham Rahal made his pit stop on lap 74, a new set of pit stops forced more leader changes, and when the dust had settled, Alex Palou had taken the lead (on lap 86) and pulled away from Alexander Rossi to secure the win.
With this win, Palou also takes the lead in the Championship with 477 points – 25 points over his closest contender, Pato O’Ward.
The next two races will decide the 2021 Championship; the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey and the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.
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