De Ferran beats the conservatives

It was also the first win for a car on Goodyear tyres since March 1998. Just to make it even better for the team, it was Walker Racing's first win since the middle of 1995.

In the early stages it looked like polesitter Juan Montoya and Helio Castro-Neves would battle for the lead. The Brazilian passed Montoya on the first lap but the pair stayed tied together until the first pit stops, leading the rest of the field standing.

While Castro Neves hit traffic on his in and out laps, Montoya had a clear run. Despite sliding briefly down the escape road at the Festival Curves, the Columbian opened up a 5s lead after the stops. Shortly afterwards, a header problem for Castro Neves took him out of contention again.

Montoya looked to have the win in the bag now. A spin for Richie Hearn brought out the yellows, and on the restart Montoya had a massive spin exiting the final corner. Amazingly he caught the slide so quickly that he only dropped to 2nd behind De Ferran.

The incident caused another yellow, but when the race eventually recommenced, Montoya wasted no time in passing De Ferran. The Brazilian blocked him on the inside line, so Montoya simply drove around the outside and disappeared up the road.

Then the pace car was out again, this time after PJ Jones screwed up in turn one. Everyone dived into the pits, and Montoya's Ganassi crew struggled with the left front wheel. He dropped behind De Ferran and Paul Tracy.

On the restart, Montoya immediately passed Tracy. No-one had enough fuel on board to go flat-out all the way without another stop. Most of the drivers chose to back right off and try and cruise to the flag in fuel conservation mode, but De Ferran just went for it instead, gambling on building up enough of an advantage to make a last minute stop.

The Walker driver went flat-out, opening out a huge lead as everyone else tip-toed around saving their methanol. De Ferran's strategy worked brilliantly, he was able to pit on lap 93 and emerge with a 5s lead over Montoya. Although the Columbian closed slightly, De Ferran had finally ended his team's drought with a brilliant strategic victory.

Dario Franchitti charged through the field in fine style, making up places on the track and in the pits. He finished 3rd, right on Montoya's tail. His team mate Paul Tracy had to back off more than most in the closing stages, he dropped to 5th behind Adrian Fernandez.

Others to hit trouble included Patrick Carpentier, who lost time with a pit speed violation, Michael Andretti, who stalled on his first stop, and Greg Moore who had to make a late fuel stop. Jimmy Vasser was another frontrunner whose fuel gamble failed, he was in the top ten but had to cruise around in the final stages to avoid pitting.

Result from Portland after 98 laps: