IndyCar: Grand Prix of Portland Preview

Three consecutive weekends of intense racing that will lead to the crowning of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion starts with the 110-lap/216-mile Grand Prix of Portland on Sunday, Sept. 12, on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile Portland International Raceway that opened in 1961.

“It will be an interesting three races, as tight as the championship is. It always is this way,” said Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet who won the last race at Portland in 2019. “I’ve never seen someone wrap it up in all my 15 years in INDYCAR, no one’s wrapped it up the race before the last race. It never happened. Looks like the same here.”

A maximum 54 points are available in each of the races on the Portland and Laguna Seca road courses and Long Beach temporary street circuit. None of the three venues hosted the Series in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Five drivers powered by the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged V6 Chevrolet engine are in title contention and two are in the thick of the chase. Pato O’Ward, who won both races in 2018 at Portland on the way to the Indy Lights championship, is the points leader and Josef Newgarden is 22 points arrears.

The five contending drivers – Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson – are separated by just 60 points. O’Ward, Palou and Dixon have led the standings throughout the season’s first 13 races, with Dixon seeking a record-tying seventh series championship and Newgarden his third. O’Ward, Palou and Ericsson are in pursuit of their first such crown.

“You try not to think about it too much because there’s so much racing (left),” said O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. “Whenever it’s so competitive like this series is in INDYCAR, just a lot can shift in one race. We’re just going to push until the checkered flag waves in Long Beach and see where we stand.”

O’Ward has been standing tall in his second full-time season with two wins, six other top-five finishes and three NTT P1 Awards in 13 races. He was runner-up to Newgarden in the most recent race on the World Wide Technology Raceway oval.

“Now the championship is more into the mindset of just really be aware of who we’re racing and when,” he said.

Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, has matched O’Ward with two wins and three pole starts. He advanced eight positions to place fifth in the 2019 event at Portland. Felix Rosenqvist, teammate to O’Ward this season, was runner-up.

External and internal pressures associated with maximizing points in the stretch run are familiar to Newgarden, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion in 2017 and ’19 and runner-up in 2020.

“When you go into a weekend, I think you’re just trying to maximize whatever your result is,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep doing what we’ve been doing. “We certainly have to be strong. We’re not in some cushiony position where we can just sit back and (let) anything happen to us. Hopefully we have a good, solid end here. If we do, that could add up to a championship.

“Chevy has been doing a great job for us. Real proud to represent them as always.”

Two Veterans, Three Newbies

Dixon has won six season championships for Chip Ganassi Racing (2003, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2018 and 2020) while Newgarden has won two series titles for Team Penske (2017 and 2019). O’Ward finished fourth in last year’s standings; neither Palou nor Ericsson has finished in the top 10 of an INDYCAR season.

This year’s youth-vs.-experience battle is intriguing. The Portland race will be the 349th start of Dixon’s 21-year INDYCAR career, with 286 of those races in succession. Dixon’s total number of starts ranks fifth in the sport’s history; his consecutive streak is second to Tony Kanaan’s 318.

The other four top contenders are newbies by comparison. Newgarden has made 161 series starts, Ericsson 43, O’Ward 35 and Palou 27. Do the math: Dixon has made more INDYCAR starts than the other four drivers combined, and his 51 race wins are twice the number achieved by these opponents (26).

O’Ward and Palou are 1-2 in the standings, separated by 10 points. Newgarden is third, 22 points out of the lead, with Dixon trailing O’Ward by 43 points. With 27 cars expected at each of the remaining three races, the most a driver can gain over rivals in a weekend is 49 points. That means there are 147 points to gain, essentially eliminating all other drivers as the sixth-place driver – Colton Herta — is 111 points out of the lead

New to the Title

While Dixon and Newgarden have been central figures in the past four series points races, only O’Ward has experienced INDYCAR’s title chase this deep into a season, finishing fourth last year. O’Ward was third with three races to go before dropping to fifth and finishing fourth.

Experience is generally worth something in these instances, and Dixon and Newgarden have plenty of it at the highest level of U.S. open-wheel racing. O’Ward held off Colton Herta for the Indy Lights championship in 2018. In 2017, O’Ward co-drove to an IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship title in the Prototype Challenge class, winning seven of the eight races. So, he has some idea of what’s ahead.

It has been awhile since Ericsson and Palou competed for a season championship. None of Ericsson’s three Formula One teams were capable of contending in his five F1 seasons. His last season title came in 2009 in Japan’s Formula 3 class.

Palou’s last season crown came in karting, although he finished a close third in the competitive Japanese Super Formula Series in 2019.

A Portland Renewal

In different configurations, this 12-turn, 1.964-mile permanent road course north of downtown Portland has hosted INDYCAR races since 1984. Michael Andretti and Al Unser Jr. each won three events.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES has raced there twice but didn’t last year amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Takuma Sato won in 2018, with Will Power capturing the 2019 race.

Because of last year’s cancellation, Palou and Ericsson have never raced at PIR, although Chip Ganassi Racing participated in a test in July. O’Ward has only raced there in Indy Lights, sweeping the season-ending doubleheader in 2018. Ericsson missed the 2019 race – his first season in INDYCAR – due to an F1 commitment.

Dixon has raced on the Portland circuit in both Champ Car and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, totaling four starts, although none ended with a win or even a podium. Dixon finished fifth in 2018, seventh in 2001 and 2002. Newgarden qualified second in his maiden Portland race in 2018 but finished 10th. He finished fifth in 2019.

The remaining challengers

Will Power certainly will be one to watch, not only because he won the most recent INDYCAR race held in Portland, in 2019, and won the pole in 2018 but also because he is famous for getting hot late in the summer. Since joining Team Penske full time in 2010, Power has won 15 of the 48 races held after the middle of August, with 25 podium finishes and 18 poles.

Sebastien Bourdais is another driver with significant success at Portland. He won the Champ Car races in 2004 and 2007, and he finished second in 2005 and was third in 2006. He also finished third in the inaugural NTT INDYCAR SERIES race in 2018.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, Felix Rosenqvist and Alexander Rossi also have podium finishes in the past two Portland races.

This race features the INDYCAR debut of 22-year-old English driver Callum Ilott, who will drive the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet. Ilott was a highly regarded karter and finished second to Palou in a 2012 WSK Euro Series junior class. Ilott also finished second in 2020 in Formula 2, the last rung before Formula One.

The team owned by Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger intends to compete in all three races to finish the season, although it has not named a driver for the final two.

Oliver Askew, the 2019 Indy Lights champion with 14 INDYCAR starts, will make his debut in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. He is scheduled to drive the car in each of the season’s final three races.

Among the championship contenders, Newgarden has won two of the past four races this season, but it is Ericsson who has been the most consistent over the past five races. He has an average finish of 5.4, with O’Ward next at 7.4. Newgarden is at 8.2, Dixon 9.2 and Palou 11.6.

Crew Member Spotlight

Indianapolis native Chris Welch works as the drive line specialist for AJ Foyt Racing. Now living in Plainfield, Ind., Chris and his wife Bessie have two daughters and two grandchildren. He is one of the busiest men on the team as he manages the subassembly and gearbox department and builds the gearboxes for both the No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA Chevrolet and the No. 14 ROKiT Chevrolet. We asked him a few questions…

 

How did you get involved in motorsports?

CW: “I got involved at a young age helping our neighbors clean cars and doing odd jobs on their USAC Late Model. My Dad helped our neighbors with their car as he was a welder and metal finisher by trade. I can’t pinpoint which race was my first race but I’m sure it was a Late Model race probably at Eldora Speedway (Rossburg, Ohio).”

What was the first race you worked?

CW: “I was lucky enough to help out on all kinds of cars for free at a younger age and gained a lot of experience. In the mid 90’s I got a shot at chiefing a USAC sprint car team driven by Brad Marvel and won some races and a track championship at Putnamville, Ind. (Lincoln Park Speedway).”

Did you always want to work with Indy Cars?

CW: “I never looked at Indy Cars as a career, I was looking to work my way up and travel the World of Outlaws Sprint Car circuit.”

Did you attend your first Indy car race as a fan or as a participant? When/where was it?

CW: “My first Indy Car race was in 1997 at Texas Motor Speedway, working on Scott Goodyear’s car.”

At what point did you decide to specialize in gearboxes?

CW: “I was at Panther Racing and in 1999 the team needed a gearbox guy and asked if I would be interested in learning the trade. I was lucky enough that there were a couple guys in the industry that were very helpful in showing me the ropes.”

What are the challenges of doing gearboxes for both cars during a race weekend, and how do you overcome them?

CW: “It is a challenging job on the weekends to be able to do gear changes between sessions on both cars, but the engineers usually get me the info in a timely manner and the mechanics are good at getting the cars ready to do the changes.”

You are also part of the over-the-wall pit crew and do the tear-off. There is a YouTube video of you getting hit during a pit stop (2019) but you just bounced back and continued on! What were you thinking at the time? And do you ever think about it when guys come into the pits hot?

CW: “I have been hit on pit lane a few times, but the one that sticks out was a few years ago at Texas with Sato. We were leading the race and when he came in, I was doing the inside front and saw the car coming in and saw the front tires locking up, and he was turning in. I was hoping it would catch and turn, so I stayed ready. As it got close, I knew it wasn’t going to be good, and I knew I had to get off my feet, so I wouldn’t be pinned against the wall. I got hit and tumbled over the car but knew I still had to do the job. You always keep the learning moments in the back of your head, but you can’t worry about them, you just have to trust the people around you and focus on the job at hand.”

What gives you the most satisfaction from your job?

CW: “The most satisfaction comes at the end of an event and everything is still together and running.”

What is the highlight of your career so far?

CW: “I’ve been lucky enough to be part of some very successful teams and win a lot of things like Indy (’08, ’10, ’12), 24 Hours at Daytona (overall with prototypes in ’06, ’07, ’08), 24 Hours of LeMans (class win Ford GT40 ‘16), and a couple of championships. But I would say the highlight is that I’m still here and able to do what I love to do.”

What do you enjoy doing when you aren’t working?

CW: “I have a few things I like to do when I’m not working, like spending time with the grandkids. I also play with 1/24 slot cars with a few racing buddies. I also love getting back to my roots and help my brother and nephew Jordan with their 305 winged sprint car.”

27-Car Entry List

	CAR	DRIVER	HOMETOWN	CAR NAME	TEAM	ENGINE
1	2	Josef Newgarden	Nashville, Tennessee	Hitachi Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
2	3	Scott McLaughlin (R)	Christchurch, New Zealand	PPG Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
3	4	Dalton Kellett	Stouffville, Canada	K-Line Insulators / A J Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
4	5	Pato O’Ward	Monterrey, Mexico	Arrow McLaren SP	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
5	06	Helio Castroneves	Sao Paulo, Brazil	Meyer Shank Racing	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
6	7	Felix Rosenqvist	Värnamo, Sweden	Arrow McLaren SP	Arrow McLaren SP	Chevrolet
7	8	Marcus Ericsson	Kumla, Sweden	Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
8	9	Scott Dixon	Auckland, New Zealand	PNC Bank Grow Up Great	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
9	10	Alex Palou	Barcelona, Spain	PNC Bank	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	12	Will Power	Toowoomba, Australia	Verizon 5G Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
11	14	Sebastien Bourdais	Le Mans, France	ROKiT / A J Foyt Racing	A.J. Foyt Enterprises	Chevrolet
12	15	Graham Rahal	New Albany, Ohio	Total Quartz	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
13	18	Ed Jones	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	SealMaster	Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser Sullivan	Honda
14	20	Conor Daly	Noblesville, Indiana	U.S. Air Force	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
15	21	Rinus VeeKay	Hoofddorp, Netherlands	Sonax / Autogeek	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
16	22	Simon Pagenaud	Montmorillon, France	Menards Team Penske	Team Penske	Chevrolet
17	26	Colton Herta	Valencia, California	Gainbridge	Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian	Honda
18	27	Alexander Rossi	Nevada City, California	NAPA AUTO PARTS / AutoNation	Andretti Autosport	Honda
19	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Fort Lauderdale, Florida	DHL	Andretti Autosport	Honda
20	29	James Hinchcliffe	Toronto, Canada	#ShiftToGreen	Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport	Honda
21	30	Takuma Sato	Tokyo, Japan	Panasonic / Mi-Jack	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
22	45	Oliver Askew	Jupiter, Florida	Hy-Vee	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
23	48	Jimmie Johnson (R)	El Cajon, California	Carvana	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
24	51	Romain Grosjean (R)	Geneva, Switzerland	Nurtec ODT	Dale Coyne Racing with RWR	Honda
25	59	Max Chilton	Reigate, England	Carlin	Carlin	Chevrolet
26	60	Jack Harvey	Bassingham, England	AutoNation/SiriusXM	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda
27	77	Callum Ilott (R)	Cambridge, England	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Juncos Hollinger Racing	Chevrolet

All cars use fourth-generation NTT INDYCAR SERIES chassis (Dallara IR12) with universal IR-18 aerodynamic bodywork, Chevrolet or Honda engines and Firestone tires.

(R) – Denotes Rookie of the Year candidate Issued: 9/7/2021

Fast Facts

Race weekend: Saturday, Sept. 11 – Sunday, Sept. 12

Track: Portland International Raceway, a 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course in Portland, Oregon

Race distance: 110 laps / 216.04 miles

Push-to-pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation.

Firestone tire allotment: Six sets primary, four sets alternate. Teams must use one set of primary and one new set of alternate tires in the race. (Note: A seventh set of primary tires is available to any car fielding a rookie driver.)

Twitter: @Portland_GP, @IndyCar, #PortlandGP, #INDYCAR

Event website: www.portlandgp.com

INDYCAR website: www.IndyCar.com

2019 race winner: Will Power (No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet)

2019 pole winner: Colton Herta (No. 88 Capstone Turbine Honda), 57.8111 seconds, 122.302 mph

Qualifying record: Will Power, 57.2143 seconds, 123.577 mph, Sept. 1, 2018 (Set in Round 1 of knockout qualifying)

NBC television broadcast: Race, 3 p.m. ET Sunday, Sept. 12, NBC (live). Leigh Diffey is the lead announcer alongside analysts Townsend Bell and Paul Tracy.

Peacock Premium Live Streaming: Saturday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice sessions and qualifying will stream live on Peacock Premium, NBC’s direct-to-consumer livestreaming product.

INDYCAR Radio Network broadcasts: Nick Yeoman will be the lead announcer alongside analyst Davey Hamilton. Jake Query and Michael Young are the turn announcers. Ryan Myrehn and Alex Wolff will report from the pits. The Grand Prix of Portland will air live on network affiliates, Sirius XM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. All NTT INDYCAR SERIES practices and qualifying are available on SiriusXM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app.

At-track schedule (all times local):

Saturday, Sept. 11

9 – 10:15 a.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES practice, Peacock Premium (live)

12:15 – 1:30 p.m. – Qualifying for the NTT P1 Award (three rounds of knockout qualifying), Peacock Premium (live)

3:15 – 3:45 p.m. – NTT INDYCAR SERIES final practice, Peacock Premium (live)

Sunday, Sept. 12

12:05 p.m. – Driver introductions

12:35 p.m. – Command to start engines

12:42 p.m. – Grand Prix of Portland (110 laps/216.04 miles), NBC (live)

Championship facts:

• Pato O’Ward leads the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship with three races to go for the first time in his career. O’Ward also led the points after his win in the second race of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit in June.
• Since the first INDYCAR SERIES race at Portland International Raceway, the winning driver has won the INDYCAR SERIES championship in the same season 10 times: Bobby Rahal (1987), Danny Sullivan (1988), Emerson Fittipaldi (1989), Michael Andretti (1991), Al Unser Jr. (1994), Alex Zanardi (1998), Gil de Ferran (2000), Cristiano da Matta (2002), Sebastien Bourdais (2004 and 2007).

Key championship point statistic: Since 2008, the driver who has led the championship with three races to go has won the championship eight times – Scott Dixon in 2008, 2018 and 2020, Dario Franchitti in 2011, Will Power in 2014, Simon Pagenaud in 2016 and Josef Newgarden in 2017 and 2019.

Point differential: The 10 points that separate Pato O’Ward and Alex Palou is the fourth-closest point margin since 2008. Prior to this season, the average lead with three races to go since 2008 was 31.7 points.

Championship-eligible drivers results at Portland International Raceway:

• There are 11 drivers still mathematically eligible for the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship: Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou, Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon, Marcus Ericsson, Colton Herta, Simon Pagenaud, Graham Rahal, Will Power, Takuma Sato and Rinus VeeKay. Any driver who trails the points leader by 108 points or more following the race will be eliminated from contention.

CHAMPIONSHIP WITH THREE TO GO (2008-2021)

YEAR	LEADER	SECOND	LEAD	CHAMPION
2008	Scott Dixon	Helio Castroneves	78	Scott Dixon
2009	Ryan Briscoe	Dario Franchitti	4	Dario Franchitti
2010	Will Power	Dario Franchitti	23	Dario Franchitti
2011	Dario Franchitti	Will Power	26	Dario Franchitti
2012	Will Power	Ryan Hunter-Reay	5	Ryan Hunter-Reay
2013	Helio Castroneves	Scott Dixon	49	Scott Dixon
2014	Will Power	Helio Castroneves	4	Will Power
2015	Juan Pablo Montoya	Graham Rahal	42	Scott Dixon (-48)
2016	Simon Pagenaud	Will Power	27	Simon Pagenaud
2017	Josef Newgarden	Scott Dixon	18	Josef Newgarden
2018	Scott Dixon	Alexander Rossi	29	Scott Dixon
2019	Josef Newgarden	Alexander Rossi	35	Josef Newgarden
2020	Scott Dixon	Josef Newgarden	72	Scott Dixon
2021	Pato O’Ward	Alex Palou	10	?

Race notes:

• There have been nine different winners in 13 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season. Alex Palou (Barber Motorsports Park, Road America), Colton Herta (Streets of St. Petersburg), Scott Dixon (Texas Motor Speedway-1), Pato O’Ward (Texas Motor Speedway-2, Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2), Rinus VeeKay (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-1), Helio Castroneves (Indianapolis 500), Marcus Ericsson (Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1 and Streets of Nashville), Josef Newgarden (Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course and World Wide Technology Raceway) and Will Power (Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course-2) have all won in 2021. The modern record (1946-present) for most different winners in a season is 11 in 2000, 2001 and 2014.
• There have been seven different winners in the last 10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races (Pato O’Ward, Rinus VeeKay, Helio Castroneves, Alex Palou, Marcus Ericsson, Josef Newgarden and Will Power) The only repeat winners in that stretch are O’Ward (Texas-2, and Raceway at Belle Isle Park-2), Ericsson (Raceway at Belle Isle Park-1 and Streets of Nashville) and Newgarden (Mid-Ohio and WWT Raceway).
• The Grand Prix of Portland will be the 27th INDYCAR SERIES race at Portland International Raceway, but the third since the NTT INDYCAR SERIES returned in 2018. Al Unser Jr. won the first INDYCAR SERIES race at Portland in 1984, while Will Power won the most recent race in 2019. Power, Takuma Sato and Sebastien Bourdais, who won in 2004 and 2007, are the only former winners entered in this year’s race.
• Six INDYCAR SERIES drivers have won at Portland International Raceway from the pole – Danny Sullivan (1988), Al Unser Jr. (1994), Alex Zanardi (1996), Max Papis (2001), Cristiano da Matta (2002) and Sebastien Bourdais (2004).
• Team Penske has won six times at Portland International Raceway. Penske’s winning INDYCAR SERIES drivers are Danny Sullivan (1988), Emerson Fittipaldi (1993), Al Unser Jr. (1994 and 1995), Gil de Ferran (2000) and Will Power (2019). Chip Ganassi Racing has two wins at Portland with Alex Zanardi in 1996 and 1998. Newman/Haas Racing won a record eight times at Portland.
• Seventeen drivers entered in the event have competed in past INDYCAR SERIES races at Portland International Raceway. Sebastien Bourdais has seven starts, most among the entered drivers. Ten entered drivers have led laps at the track (Bourdais 149, Will Power 66, Colton Herta 36, Alexander Rossi 32, Takuma Sato 25, Ryan Hunter-Reay 19, Scott Dixon 11, Max Chilton 10, Josef Newgarden 8 and Felix Rosenqvist 3).
• Pato O’Ward won both Indy Lights races at Portland in 2018, on his way to the series championship…Graham Rahal scored the first win of his professional racing career at Portland, winning the Star Mazda (now Indy Pro 2000 championship) race in 2005. James Hinchcliffe claimed his first Atlantics Championship win in Portland in 2006.
• Four rookies – Romain Grosjean, Callum Ilott, Jimmie Johnson and Scott McLaughlin – are expected to compete. Ilott will be making his NTT INDYCAR SERIES debut. The four rookies, along with veteran drivers Oliver Askew, Marcus Ericsson, Dalton Kellett, Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay, will all be making their first INDYCAR SERIES at Portland International Raceway.