Palou clinches second IndyCar championship with dominant Portland GP win

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.

The Ganassi driver made his first stop and took the lead of the race on merit, while Scott Dixon, Palou’s sole remaining championship challenger going into today, settled into second on a similar strategy. After the second round of stops, Palou’s lead had stretched to over ten seconds.

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.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

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.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

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

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

IndyCar

• McLaren left reeling after “abysmal” Barber weekend
• McLaughlin and Power put Penske back on top with one-two
• McLaughlin denies Power pole position to lead Penske one-two in Barber
• Newgarden admits he “failed my team miserably” over disqualification
• Ghiotto gets 11th hour call-up for IndyCar debut at Barber

Browse all IndyCar articles