Will Power puts an end to the Penske pain, and conquers the concrete at the Grand Prix of Portland for his first win in 2025. Alex Palou won his third consecutive championship, and his 4th over all in his IndyCar career.
It’s race day in Rip City. IndyCar returns to Sunday racing with the BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland. Will Alex Palou be able to secure the championship at the last road course race of the year? Or will challenger Pato O’Ward keep his championship hope alive?
Following an unapproved engine change, the No.7 Arrow McLaren of Christian Lundgaard will start in P7 after taking Pole Position on Saturday, due to a 6-place grid penalty.
Green Flag at the Grand Prix of Portland
All 27 drivers played it safe and smart going through the treacherous Turn 1, a turn known for causing chaos. Pato O’Ward maintained his lead following the conclusion of Lap 1.
Lap 3 saw Santino Ferrucci hit the barriers on the main straight at high speed, just past pit entrance. After passing Jacob Abel on the back straightaway, Ferrucci put too much power into his No. 14 AJ Foyt car, shunting the car rear first into the barriers after a violent spin. He exited the car under his own power as the race went to yellow flag caution running.
A flurry of drivers dove into the pits for a tyre change, many choosing the race favourite red-walled tyres.
Green flag resumed on Lap 7 of 110 in Portland.
Louis Foster and Rinus VeeKay spun after contact between Kyffin Simpson and Foster. Both drivers rejoined the track and continued racing. A full course caution was called shortly after. Kyffin Simpson was found at fault for the contact, being relegated to the rear of the field for avoidable contact.
Full running resumed on Lap 10.
Contact between Conor Daly and Christian Rasmussen sent both drivers off track, allowing for Louis Foster to pass at Turn 2. After their initial contact, Conor Daly hit the barriers after being run off track by Christian Rasmussen, following their initial contact. Full course yellow on Lap 15.
Race leader O’Ward came into the pits on Lap 16 of 110, for a set of black-walled primary tyres. He joined the track back in 13th. additionally, Felix Rosenqvist in P2 also peeled into the pits for new tyres, a scrubbed set of red-walled soft tyres.
Will Power lead under caution on Lap 19, with Palou and McLaughlin rounding out the Top 3.
Green flag resumed on Lap 21 of 110.
Potential power problems
A potential terminal power issue for Pato O’Ward saw the pole sitter drop rapidly through the field on the restart. However, His No. 5 McLaren managed to crawl back to the pit lane, before grinding to a halt. The No. 5 rejoined the track after diagnosing an internal power issue. O’Ward sat 8 laps down on Lap 32.
After earlier contact, no penalty was decided for the Rasmussen and Daly incident that sent Daly into the barriers and out of the race.
Team Penske played it smart on Lap 37 to see Power maintain track position over Rosenqvist, with a well executed pit stop. Also, Alex Palou found himself caught up in the pit cycle traffic, and was 14 seconds behind race leader Power on Lap 43.
Halfway to the flag
Finding clean air, Alex Palou ate away at the gap to Will Power on Lap 53 of the Grand Prix of Portland. The Penske driver was on older harder compound tyres, compared to Palou on newer, faster, red-walled softs. Christian Lundgaard also lurked further down the field for a podium finish or a race win, with a brand new set of soft tyres still available for use with one more pit cycle left in the race.
Will Power finally pitted for new hard compound tyres, retaking his position ahead of Christian Lundgaard. The Penske driver has one more stop remaining with 63 lap having been completed in Portland. Additionally, Power no longer had a new set of tyres to bolt on, meaning he would have to finish the race on used softs.
The top three on Lap 71: Power, Lundgaard, Palou.
Down at Turn 1, Josef Newgarden sat stationary on track after being spun out by Scott Dixon, following his stop for new tyres with 25 laps to go. Scott Dixon earned a penalty for avoidable contact, dropping him far down the field.
Closing out in Portland
With less than 30 laps remaining in Portland, series leader Palou has cut the gap to Power down to 2.6 seconds. However, Christian Lundgaard still stood between the spaniard and the team Penske driver.
As the top 3 were covered by less than a second, Palou held the advantage with the most push to pass remaining. However, Lundgaard executed a great defensive move against Palou, keeping the series leader behind him. This allowed Power to stretch his gap back to 1.2 seconds over Palou.
10 laps remained as the fight heated up between the top 3.
Alex Palou runs wide attempting to pass Lundgaard, and maintain 3rd by the skin of his teeth. The gap to Power was 3.2 seconds with 2 laps remaining.
The flag falls at Grand Prix of Portland
As the chequered flag fell at the Grand Prix of Portland, Will Power claimed his first win in over a year, at what could be one of his last races with Penske. Christian Lundgaard claimed a P2 finish, having kept Palou behind him. Alex Palou comes home 3rd, claiming his 4th IndyCar title, with less the 100 races under his belt.
Final Race Classification:
- Power
- Lundgaard
- Palou
- Rahal
- Rossi
- Ilott
- McLaughlin
- Armstrong
- Rosenqvist
- Herta
- Dixon
- Rasmussen
- Foster
- Robb
- Shwartzman
- Siegel
- VeeKay
- DeFrancesco
- Malukas
- Kirkwood
- Simpson
- Ericsson
- Abel
- Newgarden
- O’Ward
- Daly
- Ferrucci
