portland grand prix Tag

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer As a person who’s watched the Verizon IndyCar Series on a regular basis since 2007, I’ve always wondered what my INDYCAR experience would be like. This past weekend at Portland International Raceway, I had the privilege of covering the series return in the Pacific Northwest, but it also brought some flashbacks of my days at the University of Idaho. Compared to my first NASCAR race as a credentialed media member at Sonoma Raceway in June, my first-ever INDYCAR experience was like jumping into a big pound,Read More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — In a less than ideal 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season, Gabby Chaves managed to give Harding Racing his best finish of the year with a 13th place finish in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland. After starting 21st, Chaves found himself in 11th place following the first lap mayhem involving James Hinchcliffe, Graham Rahal, Ed Jones, Scott Dixon, Zach Veach and Marco Andretti. The 2014 Indy Lights champion ran in the top 10 in the early third of the race before his first pitRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — Spencer Pigot represented the Chevrolet camp, bringing home fourth in Sunday’s Portland Grand Prix at Portland International Raceway in Oregon for his second career top-five finish. Coming from the 17th starting position, he survived the drama on Lap 1 and put himself in an excellent position of scoring his first ever top-five on a road course. He entered with his previous best taking place at Mid-Ohio in 2016 when he finished seventh. After hanging onto critical track position on the final restart onRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — The biggest concern happened at Portland International Raceway Sunday, first lap chaos. Not at the grueling chicane known as the Festival Curve, but at the entry of Turn 3. INDYCAR’s return to Portland saw a dramatic six-car crash right out of the gate, and it began when Zach Veach pinched James Hinchcliffe, resulting into contact and caused a huge ripple effect on several competitors, and potential championship implications. Once Hinchcliffe spun around, Sebastien Bourdais ran into the front of Hinchcliffe, and collected Jones,Read More

By INDYCAR PORTLAND, Oregon – Takuma Sato went to victory lane in Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland, but Scott Dixon felt like a winner, too. Alexander Rossi had mixed feelings. Dixon salvaged what could have been a disastrous points day relative to the Verizon IndyCar Series championship by finishing fifth. Rossi had bad luck of a different kind but managed to scramble back to finish eighth, losing just three points to Dixon, the leader in the season standings. GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND: Official results One double-points race remains: the INDYCAR GrandRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — The nature of track room and practice laps didn’t reflect qualifying at Portland International Raceway, and defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden acknowledged it before and after the session. Newgarden is among the 18 drivers who have never competed in an INDYCAR race at the 1.964-mile circuit, but among the more consistent top drivers on the leader board, ending up in third, sixth and ninth in the three practice sessions. He backed up his consistency by making it to the FirestoneRead More

By Christopher DeHarde, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — In the midst of a partial 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series season program, Meyer Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey surprised many by nearly advancing out of the first round of qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland and will start 13th. Harvey set a fast lap of 57.9620 seconds (121.983 mph) around the 1.964-mile road course and the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM entry in conjunction with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports will have its best start of the season on Sunday. “I think testing so far has goneRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — Fast pace often comes with a heavy price, but with a whole team collaborating a misfortune, results will show, even if it has a “Frankenstein” look. This was the case for two-time Portland Grand Prix winner Sebastien Bourdais, who will start fourth in Sunday’s race at Portland International Raceway after the entire entity of Dale Coyne Racing repaired his car after a session-ending crash during final practice. Thanks in most part of having the third entry of Santino Ferrucci, it turned outRead More

By INDYCAR PORTLAND, Oregon – Might as well add Portland International Raceway to the list of Indy car tracks where Will Power has dominated qualifying. Power had qualified seventh in his two previous races at this track – in 2006 and ’07 – and blitzing today’s Verizon IndyCar Series field gave him 25 tracks where he has won a pole. Power set a new track record in the first round of knockout qualifying of 57.2143 seconds, eclipsing the previous record of 57.597 seconds set by Justin Wilson in 2005. InRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Oregon — The two-car team of Ed Carpenter Racing showed promising speeds before qualifying for Sunday’s Portland Grand Prix, notably rookie and road course driver Jordan King. The 24-year-old from Warwick, England, had a solid result in the two Friday practice sessions, ending up sixth and ninth quickest, respectively, outpacing full-time driver Spencer Pigot. Then on final practice, King continued to show solid speed and ended up 12th. With those positive runs, he saw himself being a possible contender of making the Firestone FastRead More