Alex Palou clinched his second IndyCar championship in a style typical of his season with a dominant victory in the Portland Grand Prix.
He reclaimed the championship he first won when he joined Chip Ganassi Racing in 2021. Palou’s success is the first time since the reunification of American open-wheel racing in 2008 that a driver has clinched the championship before the final race.Pole-winner Graham Rahal controlled the race in its early stages. But Palou had a good opening lap, moving from fifth to third despite starting on a used set of the harder, primary tyres.
Conditions dictated that the primary tyre would be the preferred tyre throughout most of the race. When Rahal pitted at the end of lap 22, Palou moved into the lead. Rahal and Scott McLaughlin battled for track position while Palou stretched out his first stint for another 10 laps and built up a six-second advantage.
That margin was erased when Agustin Canapino spun on lap 84, causing a Safety Car period. It was the second full-course caution of what was otherwise a clean race, following a spin by Will Power on lap three.
Despite the threat of Felix Rosenqvist restarting behind him on the alternate tyre compound, Palou was not only able to keep the McLaren driver behind him but pulled clear in the final 20 laps of the race to win by 5.4 seconds. In total, Palou led 69 out of 110 laps.
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Palou’s second title is also the 15th major American open-wheel championship for Chip Ganassi Racing.
Rosenqvist finished a season-best second place, in what could be his penultimate appearance for the McLaren IndyCar team. Dixon’s bid for a record-tying seventh national title came up short in the end as he finished third.
Pato O’Ward was fourth, leaving McLaren just one more race left to avoid a win-less 2023 season. Josef Newgarden recovered from his crash in qualifying to round out the top five, while Rinus VeeKay’s sixth-place run was his best of 2023.
Marcus Ericsson was seventh, ahead of David Malukas, who came from 23rd on the grid to finish eighth – ahead of Scott McLaughlin. Kyle Kirkwood rounded out the top ten; Rahal finished 12th after slumping down the order after the final restart.
Colton Herta was on for a top-ten finish but spun with three laps remaining, and dropped to 13th.
Juri Vips was the top rookie on his debut, by default, in 18th. Marcus Armstrong finished 19th after a disaster in the pits where his rear-right wheel came detached after a pit stop, but Armstrong is still in position to clinch the Rookie of the Year award with ease next week at Laguna Seca Raceway.
Canapino’s spin was caused by a terminal mechanical failure. The only other retirement of the race was Romain Grosjean, who suffered damage in a lap one collision with Callum Ilott that led him to retire after just 32 laps.
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Portland Grand Prix results
Position | Car | Driver | Team | Engine |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 10 | Alex Palou | Ganassi | Honda |
2 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | McLaren | Chevrolet |
3 | 9 | Scott Dixon | Ganassi | Honda |
4 | 5 | Pato O’Ward | McLaren | Chevrolet |
5 | 2 | Josef Newgarden | Penske | Chevrolet |
6 | 21 | Rinus VeeKay | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
7 | 8 | Marcus Ericsson | Ganassi | Honda |
8 | 18 | David Malukas | Coyne/HMD | Honda |
9 | 3 | Scott McLaughlin | Penske | Chevrolet |
10 | 27 | Kyle Kirkwood | Andretti | Honda |
11 | 45 | Christian Lundgaard | RLL | Honda |
12 | 15 | Graham Rahal | RLL | Honda |
13 | 26 | Colton Herta | Andretti | Honda |
14 | 6 | Felix Rosenqvist | McLaren | Chevrolet |
15 | 77 | Callum Ilott | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
16 | 14 | Santino Ferrucci | Foyt | Chevrolet |
17 | 29 | Devlin DeFrancesco | Andretti | Honda |
18 | 30 | Juri Vips | RLL | Honda |
19 | 11 | Marcus Armstrong | Ganassi | Honda |
20 | 7 | Alexander Rossi | McLaren | Chevrolet |
21 | 20 | Ryan Hunter-Reay | Carpenter | Chevrolet |
22 | 55 | Benjamin Pedersen | Foyt | Chevrolet |
23 | 51 | Sting Ray Robb | Coyne/RWR | Honda |
24 | 60 | Tom Blomqvist | Meyer Shank | Honda |
25 | 12 | Will Power | Penske | Chevrolet |
26 | 78 | Agustin Canapino | Juncos Hollinger | Chevrolet |
27 | 28 | Romain Grosjean | Andretti | Honda |
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IndyCar
- Winning top rookie despite missing five races was a “tough ask” – Armstrong
- Dixon emerges through carnage to win Laguna Seca finale
- IndyCar to hold $1million pre-season exhibition race at Thermal Club
- Rosenqvist takes last-second pole in final IndyCar start for McLaren
- Malukas takes the McLaren seat Palou turned down in multi-year deal
Mark Thomson (@melthom)
4th September 2023, 0:34
Amazing that Felix Rosenqvist is both 14th and 2nd. Split personality?
MarcusAurelius (@marcusaurelius)
4th September 2023, 10:01
@melthom He’s the brother of Caio Collet. He also finished twice each race in Monza
MacLeod (@macleod)
4th September 2023, 7:58
Must be Helio Castroneves with number 06 while Felix who finished second has number 6 probaly a American thing….
Asd
4th September 2023, 10:38
Palou is a beast, but Dixon is a beast even more – securing the 2nd WDC spot.
MichaelN
4th September 2023, 19:54
Hard to argue with Palou having the measure of the field this year. Dixon was his usual consistent self, but it was often just not quite good enough with too many finishes around 6th place rather than further up. Newgarden had some great highs, but was very inconsistent and also had a few rather bad results.
Don
5th September 2023, 0:53
Palou is awesome.