The Australian Will Power (Penske) won this Sunday in Portland with dominance from start to finish and knew how to handle the pressure sent to him by Álex Palou (Chip Ganassi) throughout the race in a simile of what the race for the IndyCar title would be like.
Champion in 2021 and 2023, Palou leads the general classification with 484 points. Second is Power with 430 units when there are only three races left until the end of the IndyCar season.
This is the third victory of the campaign for Power, who just retired a week ago.
“It was very satisfying. It was a great job, very decisive since the classification, a total team effortwe keep fighting. “I feel happy to be part of this and fight for the championship,” he said in statements to the American broadcast.
For the Australian, the three remaining ovals, two of them next weekend, are a good chance to aim for the title.
“Next weekend we will give our best on the ovals and try to make Álex suffer”, he commented.
Palou acknowledged the team’s work, despite pointing out a possible strategic error.
“There is a team behind it, they did a great job. Maybe we got the strategy wrong. Will deserved it today, he drove so fast. I am happy with this second place“said the current champion.
Power and Palou, very far from others
Palou raced very practically, taking almost no risks and riding Power with the title in mind. He started from third place on the grid and, after seeing how his teammate and rival, New Zealander Scott Dixon, was out of action, he managed to reach second place in just eight laps to put pressure on Power.
The two, Power and Palou, led the way and made a lot of difference. Santino Ferrucci (AJ Foyt) and Frenchman Romain Grosjean (Juncos Hollinger), the main chasers at the start, were five seconds behind them in a few laps and the distance continued to increase as the race progressed.
The first pass through the pits decided the first Spanish lead. The power came in on lap 33 and Palou made another move, putting himself ahead but unable to successfully complete the overcut.
The only risks the Catalan took were in the pits. In 57, the Spaniard was the first to visit mechanics. The approach seems more conservative compared to the first third where he attacked the Power with ‘push-to-pass’.
Already on lap number 87, in the last pit stop of the two leaders, Palou tried the ‘overcut’ again without success.. The lack of caution due to the yellow flags and the good pace set prevented any further threat to the race leader.
In the final stretch, Josef Newgarden (Penske) broke into the pole positions and managed to finish with a podium, his fifth this season. It was the battle behind the leaders and also featured the two Andrettis of American Colton Herta, fourth, and Swede Marcus Ericsson, fifth.
Rivals for the title keep falling
In addition to dominating all year and always putting himself in the pole positions in every race, Palou also benefits from the misfortune of his main rivals week after week.
This time, it was Dixon, his teammate and third in the championship, who did not score.
Dixon’s race ended early, particularly on the first lap, when Brazilian Pietro Fittipaldi (Rahal Letterman) caught him and went straight into the wall, thus saying goodbye to almost all of his title options.
For the New Zealander, part of the blame lies with Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti).
“He left me nothing to react to,” commented veteran driver Chip Ganassi. For him, the title is 101 points away.
Fittippaldi is one of the race’s cheerleaders, but in a negative sense. He received a penalty for that incident and later another for hitting another driver again, this time Conor Daly (Juncos Hollinger) in the first corner.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
