Raceday has finally come to the Bitnile Grand Prix of Portland. Although Lundgaard won the NTT P1 Award after the Firestone Fast Six on Saturday, teammate O’Ward will be starting at the front on pole. The Dane will be starting from seventh on the grid. Full report and results below.
An Eventful Weekend
The week has been nothing short of penalties – Kyffin Simpson was hit with the first penalty for avoidable contact during the race at Laguna Seca. Arrow McLaren’s Lundgaard and AJ Foyt’s Ferrucci were both hit with penalties for unapproved engine changes following practice on Friday. The No. 2 Penske of Newgarden was also hit with a penalty due to an unapproved engine change
Start Your Engines
The drivers start their warm up around the last road course of the season. Championship points leader Palou is looking to secure his next win and gain points.
Friends on and off the grid, O’Ward and Rosenqvist start their race next to each other
Green Flag
O’Ward leads Rosenqvist as they make the first lap around. Rosenqvist is about one second behind the Mexican driver.
Ferrucci makes contact coming out of turn 12 straight into the other side of pit wall. He climbs out of his car quickly to the other side of the wall. The front right tire of his car hit the wall as he tried to right himself after spinning. The first caution flag of the race is brought out. Ferrucci is out without even making contact with another driver.
Most drivers are looking at a 3-stop strategy with track temperatures still rising.
Seven laps in, the cars are on their last caution lap before the flag flies green and drivers fly past turn 1.
More Action
Foster and Veekay are both hit from behind at turns 1 and 2. The caution is brought out again due to debris around the turn 1-2-3 area due to the two hits.
O’Ward remains at the front of the pack as the caution is lifted and the drivers go out again on lap 11.
Lundgaard attempts to gain on Palou with 1:01.4584 but remains a couple of tenths of a second behind the Spaniard.
Rasmussen goes off and runs through the grass back onto the track. On lap 15, Daly crashes straight into the tire barriers right at the inside of turn 10. Rasmussen took a bit too much of the first apex, launching him into Daly’s path.
Rosenqvist pits on lap 17 and comes out on a used set of soft tires. Power currently leads the pack as yet another caution flag is thrown out. Palou is just under a second behind the Penske veteran and will no doubt be fighting to close the gap once the track goes green again.
Rahal sits at sixth at 1:36.1779. Pole starter O’Ward currently sits thirteenth after an earlier stop in the pits.
The green is brought out on lap 20 and Palou stretches out to close the gap between him and Power. Kirkwood looks to make the jump on Armstrong as they sit at ninteenth and eighteenth.
Unexpected Development
O’Ward comes to a grinding halt on pitlane – there seems to be a gearbox/engine issue. The crew works to try and get their driver back out on track.
Palou sets a personal best lap of 1:00.7122 on lap 25, yet the gap between him and Power is now at 3.4 seconds.
There have been two race leaders so far; O’Ward leading until his pitstop and Power who is running with leading Palou by almost 5 seconds. There are 84 laps to go.
Race leader Power has yet to pit as he continues to increase the gap between him and the championship points leader; the gap is currently a whopping 6.5 seconds.
Losses and Gains
The No. 5 car of O’Ward is still being worked on in pitlane as the rest of the drivers go by lap after lap.
Power increases the gap yet again, now 10.5 seconds ahead of Palou. It looks eerily similar to what the 2024 Portland race looked like with Power way ahead of the rest of the grid.
Power pits for a set of soft tires and Newgarden briefly leads the pack before also heading into the pits. Rahal takes the lead with Ilott following behind with a time of 1:02.1924. Shwartzman is under a second behind his teammate. Both PREMA drivers have pitted once so far.
Currently all drivers are on soft tires as they go around on lap 40 under a green flag. The two PREMA teammates make a quick stop in the pits as Rahal leads the pack for another brief moment before diving into the pits.
Power regains his spot at the front as Lundgaard comes up behind with a time of 1:01.2010. 67 laps to go, the gap between the Dane and Power is now 3 seconds.
Palou is slowly making his way up to the front as he continues to chase a history-making season. O’Ward suffered a malfunction on his car on lap 22. This issue has been resolved and the No. 5 Arrow McLaren is back out on track to fight. He is down 8 laps as there are 60 laps of the race left.
Mind the Gap
Power now leads 20 seconds in front of Palou with a time of 1:01.3787. Palou slowly closes the gap between the two as they fight to keep their positions. Power shows his prowess around the tricky turns, seemingly gliding through the turns cleanly.
Pole sitter O’Ward is lapped again by Power as they go past turns 1 and 2 with 53 laps to go.
Power reports serious degradation on his tires with 49 laps to go. Palou climbs to the top of the pack as Power pits for used red tires. The Penske veteran will need to make this set of tires last for a while.
With 47 laps to go, Palou heads in to the pits and Newgarden takes the spot as race leader. Power comes out from the pits on hard tires and reclaims the top spot as Newgarden goes in for a pitstop. Rahal is the current race leader with Power 7.5 seconds behind. Both drivers have pitted twice during the race.
Ilott sits at third with a time of 1:01.8919 before heading into the pit. Lundgaard rises to third with 40 laps to go with a 1:01.8989. Ilott is bumped to eighth after exiting pitlane.
Power comes back as race leader with 35 laps to go with Lundgaard in second and Palou 8 seconds behind in third. Rahal is out on track with new softs as he continues quite a remarkable drive.
Leader Swaps
Lundgaard heads to the pits on used tires to refuel and get a fresh set of tires with 31 laps to go. The Dane has completed his third and final pitstop. Palou and Dixon dive into the pits for their last stops with Rahal coming back as race leader. Palou comes out 6 seconds behind with 1:15.9053.
Rahal, Power, and Lundgaard look to keep their places ahead of the rest of the grid
Newgarden spins out near turn 1 and is stalled in the middle of the track. He manages to start up again a couple of seconds later – it looks like Dixon hit the back of the Penske as they went around turn 2. Dixon has been given a penalty for contact with Newgarden with 24 laps to go.
Lundgaard is less than a second behind race leader Power. The goal will be to maintain pace to stay at the top. All running cars make it past turns 1-2-3 with no incidents at lap 90.
The Finish Is In Sight
With 20 laps to go, Lundgaard is just barely behind with a time of 1:01.9294 as Power leads with 1:01.9500. Palou cuts through to gain on the Dane but jumps back down the third as Lundgaard zips through to reclaim second.
The Spaniard is just a second behind the Penske race leader. O’Ward is currently 10 laps down despite a stellar start from pole position.
With 10 laps to go, Power stays at the top with a 1:02.5490 – a phenomenal drive so far seeing how unfortunate of a season Penske has had.
5 laps from the checkered flag, the podium seems to be set with Power at the top followed by Lundgaard and Palou. Palou spins out with 4 laps to go but saves it and gets back on track just barely behind Lundgaard.
Good Fight to the End
Power clinches yet another victory at Portland, giving Penske something to celebrate. He started the race on used red tires while Lundgaard and Palou started on new reds. With speculation around his future with Penske, Power drives over the finish line to an incredible victory.
Palou gains his fourth IndyCar championship as he secures his P3 finish at the last road course of the season. This is truly a phenomenal year for the 27 year old Chip Ganassi driver.
