Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – Spain’s Alex Palou captured his third consecutive IndyCar season title and fourth in five campaigns by finishing third in Sunday’s Portland Grand Prix, which was won by Australian Will Power. Palou became only the fourth driver in IndyCar history to win three consecutive season crowns after American Ted Horn, France’s Sebastien Bourdais, and Scotland’s Dario Franchitti.
“It’s unbelievable. It’s crazy. I couldn’t be happier right now,” Palou said. “This has been an amazing season, an amazing five years with CGR (Chip Ganassi Racing). I have no words to describe how grateful I am to everybody at CGR. This has been an amazing year and I cannot wait for more.” With four career season titles, Palou ranks third on the all-time IndyCar list behind the record 10 won by A.J. Foyt and the six taken by New Zealand’s Scott Dixon.
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Power collected his second victory in a row after 110 laps over the 12-turn, 1.964-mile (3.16km) Portland International Raceway road course with Dane Christian Lundgaard second and Palou third. “It was a shame we couldn’t end it with another win but we fought,” Palou said of the race. “I gave everything that I had. I tried everything to overtake Lundgaard but I couldn’t make it today.” With 626 points, Palou stands 151 ahead of Mexico’s second-place Pato O’Ward in the season ladder, an insurmountable gap with two races remaining. Palou’s eight triumphs this season include the Indianapolis 500, St. Petersburg, Thermal, Alabama, Indianapolis Grand Prix, Road America, Iowa, and Laguna Seca. Palou, 28, can still match the one-season IndyCar win record of 10 with victories later this month at Milwaukee and Nashville. A.J. Foyt won 10 races in 1964 and Al Unser Sr. won 10 in 1970 while Mario Andretti captured nine in the 1969 campaign.
Power captured his 45th career IndyCar win and first of a difficult season. “It’s a big win for all of the team,” Power said. “We’ve had a rough year. It’s not really because we’ve been off the pace. It has just been unfortunate circumstances. It was a good hard-fought win.”
Pole-sitter O’Ward was the only racer who could have denied Palou the crown, but his car suffered an electrical failure on lap 21, and he went eight laps down, all-but ensuring Palou the crown since O’Ward needed to gain 14 points on Palou in the race to stay in the title chase. O’Ward’s 25th-place finish was his worst result of the season.
O’Ward was powerless. O’Ward pitted for fuel after an early crash while Power and Palou stayed out to take first and second. But O’Ward’s car lost power and rolled to a stop on the pit lane, crew members running out and pushing him into the service area where they could work on the electrical problem. O’Ward returned to the track eight laps down with Palou second overall, stealing any drama from the title fight.
Former Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan, team principal for Arrow McLaren, said faulty electrical wiring foiled O’Ward’s bid. “The DI box, which is one of the electronic boxes that goes through to make everything work, had a connector with a little bit more of a vibration and, we don’t know why, vibrated a little too hard and actually short-fused the whole box — it was burning when we unplugged it,” the Brazilian said. “It’s one of those things. I don’t have an explanation for it. It’s really nobody’s fault. Sometimes you need a little bit of luck to survive those situations… We couldn’t really put up a fight today.”
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