Power takes hard-won victory at Portland as Palou claims the title

Written by Morgan Holiday

Credit: Chris Jones

Álex Palou claimed his third consecutive title, wrapping up the championship battle with a third place finish at the Grand Prix of Portland as Pato O'Ward dropped out of contention.

The Chip Ganassi Racing driver finished behind Will Power, who took his first win of the year with Team Penske, and Christian Lundgaard came home in second place.

How it happened

It was Lundgaard who claimed pole position on Saturday, but a grid penalty for an unapproved engine change saw his Arrow McLaren teammate O'Ward start the race from the top spot ahead of Felix Rosenqvist.

O'Ward calmly retained the lead at the green flag, staying ahead of Rosenqvist and Power through the first few corners. The field stayed racing for the first two laps until the first caution of the day came out on Lap 3 for Santino Ferrucci.

Ferrucci had made an overtake on Jacob Abel and was gaining ground before losing control of the car and spinning, hitting the wall on the start/finish straight and ending his race prematurely.

O'Ward, fighting to keep himself mathematically in the championship fight, led the field to green again on Lap 8. A scuffle at the restart involved Louis Foster and Rinus VeeKay spinning, and even though they both managed to recover from their contact, the caution was called out again to recover the debris.

The racing continued on Lap 10 as Rosenqvist made a valliant effort to take the lead but was again unable to get past O'Ward. Palou was up one place to fourth, and Lundgaard was also making up ground from his starting place of seventh to fifth.

The next scuffle between drivers happened between Conor Daly and Christian Rasmussen, as Daly attempted an overtake and Rasmussen pushed him off into the grass. The pair continued to battle for 21st place and it ended a few turns later as Daly went off and had a big impact into the tyre barriers at Turn 11.

The third caution in 15 laps came out as Daly's car was recovered. On Lap 17 the pits opened and drivers peeled into the pits to make their first stop of the race. After pit stops, Power led Palou and Scott McLaughlin.

The field went green for the fourth time on Lap 21, Power keeping ahead of Palou, as further down Lundgaard passed O'Ward who was having an issue with his car. O'Ward dropped slowly down the field with what appeared to be an electrical issue, limping back to the pits and coming to a stop before he could make it to his pit box.

Out in front, Power led Palou by seven seconds as Rosenqvist retained the net lead of the race ahead of Lundgaard. Power and Palou came into the pits on Lap 36, and Power came out ahead of Rosenqvist for the net lead of the race as Josef Newgarden took the lead on track.

Credit: James Black

Lundgaard was able to pass Rosenqvist on track as well, jumping up to second as Power gained first overall. With the first cycle of pit stops completed, Power and Lundgaard led Rosenqvist, Alex Rossi, Scott Dixon and Kyle Kirkwood.

Lundgaard and Rosenqvist pit on Lap 48, coming out in 12th and 17th respectively. Meanwhile, O'Ward's crew made fixes to the No.5 Arrow McLaren and sent him back out, now ten laps down on the rest of the field.

Power remained out in front, 18 seconds ahead of Palou in second place on track. While the Australian driver had the advantage of track position, Lundgaard had the tyre advantage with a new set of the softer alternate tyre still available for him to use later in the race.

When Power came in for his second pit stop on Lap 62, he put on a set of primary tyres and came back out still comfortably ahead of Lundgaard. By Lap 75 they were back up to first and second on track, Lundgaard less than a second and a half behind.

Palou was up to third and working to gain on second place ahead of Graham Rahal and Rossi. Lundgaard made his final stop to put on new alternate tyres on Lap 80, coming out in eighth behind Callum Ilott. Power made his final pit stop just one lap later, coming out just ahead of Lundgaard.

Josef Newgarden spun on Lap 85 coming out of the pits after getting hit from behind by Dixon. He was able to get going again before a full caution came out, but continued at the back of the field, and Dixon picked up a drive-through penalty for the incident.

Out in front, Rahal had also made his final stop, so Power led Lundgaard and Palou in their fight for the win. Lundgaard had improved to be less than a second behind Power, but he was under threat from Palou who was slowly closing in behind.

Lundgaard was helped as Power was held up by backmarker Marcus Ericsson, though it also allowed Palou to close in within a second of him and then make the move with 14 laps to go.

The Danish driver fought back and regained the place quickly, but Palou wasn't giving up that easily. Their battle allowed Power a little breathing room, pulling another two tenths away.

Power finally got past Ericsson with ten to go, as the Swedish driver moved aside for Lundgaard and Palou as well. Palou had significantly more push-to-pass left than the leaders and slowly used it to his advantage to close the gap to Lundgaard.

With four laps to go, Palou went off the track in an attempt to make the overtake on Lundgaard, maintaining third place but losing his best shot at finishing higher than third.

By the final lap it was clear that neither Lundgaard nor Palou would be able to stop Power, who came home to take his first win of the season at Portland International Raceway. Lundgaard claimed second place ahead of Palou, whose third place finish cemented his third consecutive championship.

Rahal and Rossi rounded out the top five, with Ilott, McLaughlin, Marcus Armstrong, Rosenqvist and Herta rounding out the top ten.