In a master class of tire management and pure pace, Alex Palou drove closer to his record-tying fourth consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship and fifth overall title with a victory Sunday in the OnlyBulls Grand Prix of Portland.
Palou earned his sixth victory of the season and 25th of his illustrious career, driving his No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a 4.1167-second victory over the No. 60 SiriusXM Honda of NTT P1 Award winner Felix Rosenqvist of Meyer Shank Racing w/Curb Agajanian.
The Spaniard increased his championship lead to 110 points over Kyle Kirkwood of Andretti Global, a gap of more than two races with just five races remaining this season.
Two-time series champion Will Power finished third in the No. 26 TWG AI Honda in his first race with Andretti Global at Portland International Raceway after winning this race the last two years with Team Penske.
Rinus VeeKay capped a strong weekend by finishing fourth in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, with Kirkwood putting two Andretti Global cars into the top five in the No. 27 Sam’s Club Honda.
The race, which had just one caution period for two laps, evolved into a chess match of tire strategy and management over its 110 laps.
Rosenqvist, Palou and Power each started on the slower, more durable Firestone Firehawk primary tire from the top three positions, respectively. Rosenqvist led the first 30 laps until he and Power both made their respective first pit stop on Lap 31, staying on the primary tires.
Palou and strategist Barry Wanser decided to stay out one lap longer on an “overcut” strategy, pitting for alternate tires on Lap 32. Palou was able to lay down a blinding lap on that extra trip around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course and exited the pits ahead of Rosenqvist and Power.
The overcut worked for Palou, as it usually does due to his mastery of tire preservation.
Palou cycled back to the lead on Lap 37 after Josef Newgarden pitted on a different strategy in the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet. From that point, Palou only trailed during pit cycles, but it wasn’t an easy canter to the checkered flag despite leading a race-high 60 laps.
The Spaniard pitted at the end of Lap 56 with a lead approaching five seconds and switched from alternate to scuffed primary tires. Meanwhile, Rosenqvist stopped at the end of Lap 59 and changed from primary to alternate tires.
The extra grip provided by the red-sidewall alternate tire helped Rosenqvist pull to within one second of Palou by Lap 80. Then Palou was able to keep the No. 45 Desnuda Organic Tequila Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Louis Foster between himself and Rosenqvist, and one lap later Palou’s lead expanded to 1.7 seconds.
Palou made his final stop at the end of Lap 82, staying on scuffed primary tires. Then it appeared Power could have a shot at catching Rosenqvist and maybe reaching Palou, as Power had a set of the quicker Firestone Firehawk alternate tires waiting in his pit stall for his final stop.
But Power never heard the call from strategist Ron Ruzewski to pit at the end of Lap 86 and stayed on track. Power then got stuck behind the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda of Scott Dixon and the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger – Goodheart Chevrolet of Sting Ray Robb in the intervening lap before he pitted on Lap 87, ending his chances of challenging Rosenqvist for second or Palou for the win.
The next NTT INDYCAR SERIES race is the inaugural Ontario Honda Dealers Indy at Markham on Sunday, Aug. 16 on the streets of Markham, Ontario.
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