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IndyCar Portland: Alex Palou secures early title win with race victory

Sports Of The Day

Alex Palou clinches his second title with fifth win of the season in penultimate 2023 IndyCar race – Scott Dixon on podium but beaten

Alex Palou is the 2023 IndyCar champion, with the Spaniard in the Chip Ganassi Racing employ wrapping up his second title in three years with a commanding victory in the penultimate race of the season, the Grand Prix of Portland, on Sunday.

While Palou’s only remaining title rival at the start of the race – Ganassi teammate Scott Dixon – finished the race in third place, Palou took his fifth win of the season. With Dixon in P3, the Spaniard would not have needed it at all to avoid being caught in the season finale next Sunday (10 September) at Laguna Seca Raceway. But worthy of a true champion, Palou wrapped up the title with victory.

“This is what we wanted! It was an incredible weekend to finish in Victory Lane and with our second title,” were Alex Palou’s first words. “To be a two-time IndyCar champion now, it feels great, like a dream,” said the 26-year-old Spaniard. (Result: IndyCar in Portland)

Alex Palou thus becomes the first IndyCar driver since Sebastien Bourdais in the 2007 ChampCar season to secure the title before the season finale. While it is Palou’s second IndyCar title since 2021, it is team owner Chip Ganassi’s 15th IndyCar title win. The first Ganassi title was won by Jimmy Vasser in the 1996 CART season.

Start: Graham Rahal leads – Alex Palou right past Scott Dixon

Graham Rahal (Rahal-Honda) started from the pole for the second time in three races. Portland previous year’s winner Scott McLaughlin (Penske-Chevrolet), was 0.033 seconds slower than Rahal in qualifying on Saturday and started the race alongside him from the front row.

The remarkable thing about Rahal’s pole lap on Saturday was that he did it on the hard tyres (Blacks), whereas the other five Q3 contenders including McLaughlin were on the soft tyres (Reds). While Rahal had surprised everyone with his Blacks strategy in qualifying, this hard tyre compound was the clear favourite of all in the race.

The title contenders from the Ganassi team started the race from fourth and fifth position, with Scott Dixon starting ahead of Alex Palou. However, in the treacherous first chicane, where everything went well this time, Palou drove straight to the front in third position, whereas Dixon dropped back to fifth. At the front, Graham Rahal took advantage of the pole for an early lead over McLaughlin.

All went well in the first chicane – apart from Josef Newgarden (Penske-Chevrolet) and Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti-Honda) going straight. However, a collision between Callum Ilott (Juncos-Chevrolet) and Romain Grosjean (Andretti-Honda) occurred at turn 7 of the first lap, after Ilott had been pushed into the dirt by Felix Rosenqvist (McLaren-Chevrolet).

The one who suffered was Grosjean. He had to pit straight away and retired some time later. Thus the Frenchman, whose Andretti contract will not be renewed after two seasons, was classified in last place (P27) in his penultimate race for Michael Andretti’s team.

The next to go off the track was Will Power on the third lap. The Penske driver slid into the grass in turn 4 in a duel against Alexander Rossi (McLaren-Chevrolet). This brought out the first of two caution periods of the day. Power caught himself a lap down and finished the final race, in which he was still the reigning IndyCar champion, in only P25.

With the first restart, Graham Rahal pulled away a little from chaser Scott McLaughlin at the front. Behind, between the two Ganassi title contenders Alex Palou and Scott Dixon, Colton Herta (Andretti-Honda) initially raced in fourth position. Herta, however, caught a speeding penalty during his first pit stop and dropped out of the lead group as a result.

Tyre strategies cause different stint lengths

Because Palou and Dixon had started on the hard tyres, unlike Rahal and McLaughlin, they were able to delay their first pit stop ten laps longer than the two on the front row. So the order at the top was Alex Palou ahead of Scott Dixon, followed by Patricio O’Ward (McLaren-Chevrolet) and his teammate Felix Rosenqvist.

Palou and Dixon only pitted for the first time after 31 and 32 laps respectively. And with this late first pit stop, Palou and Dixon passed Rahal and McLaughlin just like the McLaren duo Rosenqvist and O’Ward.

But the tyre choice in the Ganassi team was different in the second stint of the race. While Dixon again had the hard tyres on, Palou drove at the front with the unloved soft tyres. Accordingly, he had to make his second pit stop earlier.

Palou and Dixon take command

On the 48th lap, it was time. Alex Palou came into the pits in the lead. A vigorous defence against Helio Castroneves (Shank-Honda) immediately after the pit stop went unpunished for Palou. And so, in the third stint, the Spaniard, now with hard tyres again, attacked once more.

Indeed, Scott Dixon, who had inherited the lead with Palou’s second pit stop, did not come in for his second stop until lap 60. In this case, it was he who had the soft tyres fitted. Even later than the six-time IndyCar champion, only Felix Rosenqvist went on the mandatory second tyre compound.

At the start of the second half of the race, the order at the front was: Alex Palou ahead of Scott Dixon, Felix Rosenqvist and Patricio O’Ward. Meanwhile, Graham Rahal and Scott McLaughlin did not quite make it to the front after their early first pit stop. Starting from the front row, they ultimately struggled seriously to even realise a top-10 finish.

The last of three routine pit stops was made by Alex Palou as the race leader on the 79th of 110 laps. Scott Dixon followed him one lap later. With 27 laps to go, there was another yellow. The reason was a spin by IndyCar rookie Agustin Canapino (Juncos-Chevrolet) in the fast chicane after the back straight.

Palou wins ahead of Rosenqvist and Dixon

Strategically, this last yellow phase did not change anything. In terms of the order, however, there was one more change. From the last restart, there were still 22 laps to go.

Alex Palou was leading, but no longer directly in front of Scott Dixon, but in front of the soft-tyred Felix Rosenqvist, for whom the canapino caution suited him best. Dixon had a couple of lapped cars between Rosenqvist and himself at the restart. And he had the latter’s McLaren teammate Patricio O’Ward right behind him.

Outside the top 5, there was a dicey scene on the back straight on the second lap after the restart. Alexander Rossi in the third McLaren Chevrolet hit Marcus Ericsson (Ganassi-Honda) and had to pick up a new front wing. With a bit more bad luck, however, the contact would have ended much worse.

Unimpressed, Alex Palou drove up and away at the front. Scott Dixon was unable to get past Felix Rosenqvist and finished third behind the McLaren driver. Rosenqvist’s teammate Patricio O’Ward was fourth, which meant there were two Ganassi-Hondas and two McLaren-Chevrolet in the top four when the black and white checkered flag fell.

Josef Newgarden with top 5 result after botched first corner

Penske driver Josef Newgarden, who had gone straight in the first corner after the start, finished a strong race recovery in fifth place ahead of Rinus VeeKay (Carpenter-Chevrolet; 6th), Marcus Ericsson in the third Ganassi-Honda in P7 and David Malukas (Coyne-Honda; 8th).

On the other hand, Andretti driver Kyle Kirkwood, who had a tangle with Newgarden in the first corner, was P10. And Graham Rahal and Scott McLaughlin? The two drivers, who started from the first row of the grid, finished the race in P9 (McLaughlin) and P12 (Rahal) with their failed strategy.

For Jüri Vips it was his IndyCar debut this weekend. In the third Rahal-Honda (starting number 30), from whose cockpit Jack Harvey was dismissed a few weeks ago, Vips drove to 18th place on the grid in qualifying. The former Red Bull junior also finished the race in 18th position.

Rookie classification: Marcus Armstrong leads ahead of Agustin Canapino

Marcus Armstrong (Ganassi-Honda) was on course for the best race result of his first IndyCar season so far (P7 from Toronto so far). But during the last pit stop the right rear wheel was not tightened properly.

Armstrong crossed the finish line in 19th place instead of a possible sixth. In the rookie standings, the New Zealander nevertheless enters the season finale as the leader, even though he did not compete in the five oval races, unlike his rival Agustin Canapino.

This means that 16 of the 17 races of the 2023 IndyCar season have been completed. With an unassailable lead of 91 points over Scott Dixon, Alex Palou goes into next Sunday’s season finale at Laguna Seca Raceway as the established champion.

Last year, Palou took one of the most dominant race wins of the modern IndyCar era at the Laguna Seca track in California (with no title chance remaining).

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