IndyCar Portland: Power in control to close points gap to Palou

Will Power has dominated the IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Portland to secure victory and close the championship points gap to Alex Palou.

The Team Penske driver snatched the lead from polesitter Santino Ferrucci into the first corner and was relatively untroubled on his way to victory, with the 43-year-old's closest competition Palou who started third and quickly made his way to second, but was unable to mount a challenge to the Australian.

Power led 101 of 110 laps and beat Palou by 9.8267s to take his third victory of the season and 44th of his IndyCar career. Power has also moved back into second in the title race, now trailing Palou by 54 points with three races to go.

“Very rewarding,” Power said of the win. “I came here determined, so did the whole team. [We] got qualifying right and then executing the race as, no last-ditch effort, but really if Palou finished ahead of us today then it was going to be very difficult [in the title fight].

He added: “A couple of bad races before this but I really, really love this series. I feel lucky to be a part of it and race all these great drivers, and see if we can get a championship.”

Power’s Team Penske team-mate Josef Newgarden took a distant third, with Andretti Global’s Colton Herta fourth, ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing’s Marcus Armstrong in fifth.

Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Photo by: Phillip Abbott / Motorsport Images

But it was a nightmare race for Chip Ganassi’s Scott Dixon who dropped out on the opening lap.

The seven-time IndyCar champion was forced off the track by an aggressive lunge by Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood, with the Kiwi losing momentum, and two corners later clashed with Pietro Fittipaldi which sent him into the Turn 8 barrier. Fittipaldi was handed a drive-through penalty for the crash.

The restart on lap five saw Power hold firm at the front, with moves further back in the field as Herta passed Christian Lundgaard to take fifth.

In a relatively uneventful race, Romain Grosjean spun coming out of Turn 1 at mid-race distance, and as he managed to get going he cut back across the racing line and made contact with Ed Carpenter Racing’s Christian Rasmussen.

Grosjean sustained right-front damage, drifting off track once more briefly before pitting. The former Formula 1 driver was later handed a drive-through penalty for the incident.

IndyCar Portland - Race results