Will Power of Australia cruised to a nearly 10-second victory on Sunday at Portland International Raceway in Oregon, earning his third win of the season to remain in the hunt for the IndyCar championship.
Starting second behind polesitter Santino Ferrucci, Power passed him entering the first turn en route to a wire-to-wire victory by 9.827 seconds and moved into second in the points race. Power entered the race 66 points behind championship leader Spaniard Alex Palou — who started third but finished second — and trimmed the deficit to 54 with three races remaining.
“We came here very determined to get qualifying right and then execute in the race,” Power told IndyCar on NBC. “It wasn’t a last-ditch effort, but really, if Palou finished ahead of us, it would’ve been very difficult.”
“It was tough work there trying to catch Will,” said Palou, who won last year at Portland and is vying for his third championship in four seasons.
Power’s teammate Josef Newgarden finished third, ahead of Colton Herta, Marcus Armstrong of New Zealand and Marcus Ericsson of Sweden. Ferrucci, who has yet to win on the circuit, placed eighth.
“It’s unfortunate, but man, I had fun,” said Ferrucci, who has eight top-10 finishes this season. “To get the pole for us was a huge deal. It’s huge to qualify on pole, we’ve just been so consistent.”
Scott Dixon of New Zealand was knocked out of the race on the first lap as he pursues a record-tying seventh IndyCar championship. He’s likely out of the running after Pietro Fittipaldi of Brazil sent him into the barrier.
Power, who has won 10 races on ovals, will look to move closer to Palou, who has zero oval wins, when IndyCar returns to Wisconsin State Fair Park for a doubleheader next weekend.
“I really, really love this series, feel lucky to be part of it and see if we can get a championship,” Power said. “We’ve been very, very good on ovals. Very solid. Obviously, it is two ovals we haven’t raced for a long time, so it’s anyone’s game. We’ll do our best and take the fight to Alex.”
–Field Level Media