portland international raceway Tag

By Road to Indy PORTLAND, Ore. – Englishman Toby Sowery claimed a well-deserved maiden Road to Indy victory this morning in a thrilling Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix at Portland International Raceway. Sowery, 23, from Cambridge, England, took the lead for HMD Motorsports/Team Pelfrey immediately after an early restart, then held off a determined challenge from yesterday’s winner Rinus VeeKay (Juncos Racing), from Hoofddorp, Netherlands. Oliver Askew, 22, from Jupiter, Fla., rebounded from a first-corner incident to climb from last place to third for Andretti Autosport. Askew’s eighth consecutiveRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Locking up the brakes heading into the Shelton Chicane during Saturday’s Firestone Fast Six cost Will Power a shot for his second straight Grand Prix of Portland pole. Instead, he’ll start as the outside pole sitter for Sunday’s 105-lap race as the trailblazing rookie Colton Herta scored his second NTT IndyCar Series pole of 2019, beating Power by 0.0192 seconds. “Not good. I flat spotted a tire and had a flat spot the next lap. It’s disappointing,” a dejected Power commented on hisRead More

By Road to Indy PORTLAND, Ore. – Kyle Kirkwood and RP Motorsport USA continued their remarkable run of success by romping to a clear victory in this afternoon’s Cooper Tires Indy Pro 2000 Grand Prix at Portland International Raceway. After qualifying second, Kirkwood, 20, from Jupiter, Fla., took advantage of a first-corner miscue by Russian teammate Artem Petrov, who started third but left his braking too late at the entry to the Festival Curves and punted first-time polesitter Sting Ray Robb (Juncos Racing) into a spin. Kirkwood wasn’t seriously challengedRead More

By Road to Indy PORTLAND, Ore. – The battle for this year’s Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship tightened to just a single point, 285-284, as Hunter McElrea claimed a comfortable victory this afternoon at Portland International Raceway. At stake is a scholarship valued at close to $300,000 to move up one step on the Road to Indy ladder to the Indy Pro 2000 Championship Presented by Cooper Tires in 2020. The New Zealander qualified on pole position this morning for Pabst Racing, then edged away gradually from season-long championship leader BradenRead More

By Road to Indy PORTLAND, Ore. – Teenaged Dutchman Rinus VeeKay had a straightforward game plan coming into this weekend’s Cooper Tires Indy Lights Grand Prix Presented by Allied Building Products at Portland International Raceway: He needed to score maximum points in order to keep alive his hopes of winning this year’s Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship crown. At stake is a scholarship to guarantee entry into a minimum of three NTT IndyCar Series events in 2020, including the 104th Indianapolis 500. VeeKay today executed that plan toRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Despite already having a championship to his name, NTT IndyCar Series points leader Josef Newgarden is anything but comfortable heading into Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland. One of the showstoppers from last year’s 105-lap contest due to his daring passes heading into the Shelton Chicane, the man with a 38-point advantage over his Penske teammate Simon Pagenaud knows the task at hand in these final two races. The gap between the two Penske teammates could favor the leader as his 38 points isRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Colton Herta continues to show his strong pace after topping the final practice charts Saturday for the Grand Prix of Portland. Herta’s No. 88 Capstone Turbine Honda was the only competitor to hit the 57 second mark with a time of 57.9939 seconds (121.916 mph), beating NTT IndyCar Series points leader Josef Newgarden by 0.1083 seconds. He did this while running on fresher tires with four minutes remaining and said that was all the difference as he continues to struggle with handling thatRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Testing is hard to come by in all across motorsports disciplines these days and the NTT IndyCar Series are no different. When those testing opportunities are given, teams make the most out of their time trying different setups and gain a competitive advantage heading into the circuit’s race weekend. This was the case for Andretti Autosport’s Ryan Hunter-Reay and Alexander Rossi, who both tested at Portland International Raceway in early August alongside their teammates Zach Veach and Marco Andretti. Also, Indy Lights driversRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Two-time Grand Prix of Portland winner Sebastien Bourdais went from putting on a flyer one lap to crashing the Turn 12 barrier the very next lap. Bourdais ran 12 laps during Friday afternoon’s practice session, with the last one being his best with a time of 57.9123 seconds (122.069 mph), knocking Will Power off the top the charts by 0.0289 seconds with just over two minutes remaining. Then a little de ja vu struck when the right front of his No. 18 SealMasterRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer PORTLAND, Ore. – Colton Herta starts his Grand Prix of Portland journey by setting the early tone during Friday morning’s opening practice session at Portland International Raceway with a time of 57.4293 seconds. Herta, who’s currently 14th in the NTT IndyCar Series points standings, was the only man to hit the 123 mph mark at 123.115 mph and out ran second place Alexander Rossi by 0.1245 seconds. While it should be all smiles, that wasn’t necessarily the case. Herta’s fastest time occurred in his first stintRead More