Will Power took his first road course win of the 2019 NTT Data IndyCar Series season Sunday, beating runner-up Felix Rosenqvist to win the accident-marred Grand Prix of Portland.
The race devolved into immediate chaos after the green came out, with Rahal-Letterman-Lanigan’s Graham Rahal attempting to pass Zach Veach on the inside into Turn 1, crashing into the Andretti-Autosport driver and taking out multiple cars. Both Arrow-Schmidt-Peterson Honda entries of James Hinchecliffe and Conor Daly were knocked out of the race in the incident, while the Ed Carpenter Racing entry of Spencer Pigot and the Team Penske car of Simon Pagenaud were also caught up in the melee.
After a surprisingly long yellow flag period, racing got back underway – though the green flag barely lasted a lap before another major on-track incident occurred. This time, Andretti’s Ryan Hunter-Reay took out Michael Shank Racing’s Jack Harvey after he attempted to defend against Alexander Rossi by braking late into Turn 1. Unable to slow down in time, Hunter-Reay locked up the tires on his yellow and red DHL-sponsored Honda, sliding into Harvey and ending both of their days.
Another caution then came out as track workers cleared Harvey and Hunter-Reay’s cars, with racing getting back underway shortly after. At this point, pole-sitter Colton Herta continued to lead, however his advantage began to fade as his red sidewall tires faded away. The black sidewall tire-shod Chip Ganassi Racing entry of Dixon then passed Herta with ease as the young 19-year old struggled for grip. Dixon’s time out front was short lived, however, after he suffered yet another mechanical issue and was forced to retire.
Dixon’s retirement essentially gifted the win to Power, who was sitting second at the time ahead of Rossi and Rosenqvist. While Power still had to save fuel and defend against a hard-charging Rosenqvist, it was an easier path to victory than if he had to attempt a pass on the usually dominant Dixon.
“I just hate giving away an easy win like that,” Dixon said post-race.
Click here for full results from 2019 IndyCar Grand Prix at Portland.
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