Alex Palou received his second IndyCar title in three years after a superb drive to victory in Portland that noticed him ready to deal with every thing thrown at him by his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, and maintain off the Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of Felix Rosenqvist to the checkered flag.

Rosenqvist was pressured to make his ultimate cease sooner than supposed when he needed to seize the chance below a late warning interval. It allowed him to leap forward of Scott Dixon, however then he needed to nurse his softer compound rubber for a protracted ultimate stint — a process to which he was equal.

Pato O’Ward made it a fantastic day for Arrow McLaren, holding off a storming drive from Josef Newgarden and Rinus VeeKay.

Intense second between @Ericsson_Marcus and @AlexanderRossi.

📺: NBC & Peacock #INDYCAR // #PortlandGP pic.twitter.com/dgnAmk2mPj

— NTT INDYCAR SERIES (@IndyCar) September 3, 2023

From the pole, Rahal gunned his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda from Flip 12 and simply held the lead right down to Flip 1 over the Penske Chevrolet of Scott McLaughlin, whereas Chip Ganassi Racing’s factors chief Alex Palou beat Colton Herta’s Andretti Autosport Honda into Flip 1 to say third, with Scott Dixon in fifth.

O’Ward defended properly from Will Energy, who then discovered himself extreme stress from the Arrow McLaren Chevrolets of Alexander Rossi and Rosenqvist, the previous on crimson tires. This stress informed on Energy firstly of the third lap, when he spun off attempting to fend off Rossi on his exterior at Flip 4; he required a bump begin, dropped to the again of the sphere and went a lap down. One other Penske to undergo was Newgarden who fell to seventeenth after going by means of the Flip 1 runoff, together with Kyle Kirkwood (Andretti) on the opening lap.

Romain Grosjean’s wretched second half of the season continued, sustaining injury because the pack funneled by means of the twists on the opening lap, and having to go to the paddock for suspension repairs.

For the restart, Rahal led McLaughlin (each on Firestone alternates) with Palou third on the more durable compound primaries, Herta on alternates, Dixon and O’Ward on primaries, Rossi on reds, Rosenqvist on primaries. Marcus Ericsson, in the meantime, bought previous VeeKay to say ninth.

Rahal edged away from McLaughlin right into a 1.5s lead by lap 13, at which era Palou had stretched his hole over Herta to an analogous margin, and the Andretti automobile had Dixon and the three Arrow McLarens jammed up behind him, suggesting his reds have been beginning to fall off. Rosenqvist’s onerous tires have been additionally beginning to repay, and he handed Rossi for seventh on lap 16.

Herta, Rossi and Ericsson gave up on the alternates and pitted for primaries on lap 18, as did Ericsson. Herta jumped Rossi on this sequence however he was introduced in once more to serve a drive-through penalty for dashing on pitlane.

McLaughlin pitted from second on lap 21 whereas sitting 2s behind Rahal, and that prompted the chief in subsequent time by. He simply maintained observe place, and though McLaughlin gained on him along with his warmed tires, the Penske driver wasn’t fairly shut sufficient by the point they bought again round to the pit straight to drag off a cross.

Palou, in the meantime, was making hay up entrance now with a transparent observe, extending his lead over Dixon to 4s by lap 28. Lower than a second behind Dixon was O’Ward and Rosenqvist, who pitted on the finish of lap 29 – Rosenqvist for extra primaries, O’Ward for a set of reds. It was the No. 6 crew who bought its driver out first, Rosenqvist thus vaulting O’Ward.

Palou pitted on the finish of lap 31 and emerged in third on Firestone alternates, 9s forward of the Rahal vs. McLaughlin battle. Kirkwood, who had been informed to cede two positions for a blocking maneuver on VeeKay, was now operating off-strategy, however had nonetheless finished properly to recuperate from his lap 1 off.

Talking of opening lap disasters, Newgarden was properly price watching at this stage, since he had set Palou-matching instances towards the tip of his first stint and emerged from pitlane solely simply behind McLaughlin. As soon as his reds have been as much as temperature, he went onerous, and handed McLaughlin for seventh and zoomed in on Rahal.

Up entrance, Palou took benefit of his reds to drag a 5.8s margin over Dixon by lap 36, however there it stalled and the six-time champ on primaries began chipping away at his deficit, getting it down to three.5s on lap 41. Rosenqvist was operating 2s behind Dixon however 2s forward of O’Ward, and as soon as Kirkwood pitted, subsequent up was the struggle between Rahal, Newgarden and McLaughlin. Shut behind them have been Ericsson, VeeKay and Rossi.

By lap 47, Dixon was firmly in Palou’s mirrors, the hole below 1s, and it was time for the factors chief to duck in and get off his reds, leaving Dixon up entrance. Palou emerged from the pits proper in entrance of Helio Castroneves and made at the very least two strikes to defend his observe place from the Meyer Shank Racing driver.

The next lap, Newgarden pitted to shed his reds, and a lap after that, O’Ward, Rahal and McLaughlin stopped too. The latter two emerged behind Kirkwood and Newgarden, however whereas on chilly tires, in addition they bought zapped by Ericsson and VeeKay, whereas Rossi additionally bought round McLaughlin. Two laps later, Ericsson was undone by an aggressive VeeKay maneuver which despatched the 2022 Indy 500 champion off the observe at Flip 7, permitting Rahal again previous. Ericsson’s restoration held up Rossi sufficient for McLaughlin to re-pass the McLaren down the entrance straight. Just a bit additional forward, Newgarden bought across the fuel-saving Kirkwood.

Rosenqvist pitted from second on the finish of lap 58 and misplaced just one place to Palou who had bought away with a warning for his swerve in entrance of Castroneves. Dixon thus stopped and took on a set of reds, rising simply in entrance of Rosenqvist whose heat blacks weren’t sufficient to create a possibility to sort out Dixon on chilly however getting hotter reds.

These reds weren’t sufficient to get Dixon any nearer to Palou, and by lap 67 on this 110-lap race, he was the improper aspect of 10s away. 5 seconds behind Rosenqvist was O’Ward who had a 6s margin over Newgarden. Some 3.5s behind the lead Penske was VeeKay, Marcus Armstrong’s Ganassi automobile, Rahal, Ericsson and Kirkwood.

With 36 laps to go, Palou discovered himself shedding time to Dixon as he bought bottled up behind IndyCar debutant Juri Vips, and his benefit dropped to six.5s. There it stayed, as Dixon and Rosenqvist have been quickly held up by Kirkwood who had emerged from the pits filled with gas however nonetheless determined to hit his gas numbers.

Palou made his ultimate scheduled cease on the finish of lap 79 and, whereas he needed to cede observe place to Sting Ray Robb of Dale Coyne Racing on exiting, he emerged forward of Rahal who had but to cease. It wasn’t all easy for Ganassi on this spherical of stops, nonetheless, as Armstrong was despatched on his means along with his proper rear not correctly connected, costing him his potential greatest IndyCar end.

Dixon and O’Ward stopped subsequent time by, leaving Rosenqvist on the head of the sphere, however he was referred to as to pitlane when Agustin Canapino spun and stalled at Flip 11 after shedding it below braking for Flip 10. Race Management held off the yellow till Rosenqvist may pit, and whereas he got here out in entrance of Dixon, sadly this early ultimate cease meant the McLaren driver must run a really lengthy ultimate stint on reds.

For the lap 81 restart, Palou led Rosenqvist and stayed means out of assault zone, however there have been three backmarkers between Rosenqvist and Dixon. A kind of was Armstrong, who in fact let Dixon go however then protected his tail from O’Ward for a couple of corners.

Two laps later, Rossi was closely defending from Herta whereas attempting to get previous Ericsson on the again straight, however he snagged the Swede’s left-rear wheel and broke his entrance wing, which despatched him throughout the grass into Flip 10 and limping to pitlane.

With a dozen laps to go, Palou’s lead had elevated to 2.5s, whereas Rosenqvist’s precedence was attempting to match Dixon’s lap instances whereas retaining his alternates alive. He was in a position to nurse the extra fragile rubber lengthy sufficient to attain second, his greatest end result since he joined Arrow McLaren, simply earlier than his possible departure from the squad.

O’Ward held off Newgarden and VeeKay to the checkered flag, whereas Ericsson scooped seventh after resisting Herta, who spun in pursuit and dropped to thirteenth on the checkers.

David Malukas climbed from twenty fourth on the grid to say eighth forward of McLaughlin and Kirkwood.

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