Sato victorious in Portland, Dixon avoids disaster

Again, theIndyCar demonstrated his propensity for spectacular races on Sunday in Portland, Oregon. On a circuit unused by the American championship for a decade, takuma sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing) achieved the feat of winning the event despite finishing 20th on the starting grid.

He made up 19 positions to win the @Portland_GP. What a breed, @TakumaSatoRacer.

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The Japanese followed a staggered strategy, which allowed him to gradually move up the peloton. He is ahead of Ryan Hunter-Real (Andretti) and the French Sébastien Bourdais (Dale Coyne Racing), however hampered by the crash at the start (read below). This is Takuma Sato's third victory in IndyCar, the first since the 500 Miles of Indianapolis (Indiana) in 2017. simon pagenaud (Penske) finished sixth after also a good comeback (22nd).

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi) is the other winner of the day. The Australian could have retired during a pile-up at the start. Miraculously, the championship leader escaped with a scratch on his front wing and a lot of dust! Conversely, Marco Andretti (Andretti, on the roof), James Hinchcliffe (Schmidt Peterson Motorsports) and Ed Jones (Chip Ganassi) retired.

Starting in 18th place, Scott Dixon then suffered a drive-through penalty for excessive speed during his pit stop. But benefiting from an offbeat strategy and mid-race neutralizations, the quadruple champion came back up to fifth place, ahead of all of his direct opponents !

Indeed, Alexander Red (Andretti), once in first place, fell back due to poor pit stop timing. He finished eighth and is now 29 points behind Scott Dixon. “It hurts but we have to bounce back, it’s something that was out of our control. »

Another challenger, Will Power (Penske) had a nightmare day. Yet in pole position, the Australian suffered gearbox problems (stuck in second in his pit stop), as well as leaving the track, a drive-through penalty and finally breaking his gearbox. Here he is 87 points behind Scott Dixon, just like Josef Newgarden (Penske, 10th).

Find the analysis of the IndyCar Portland Grand Prix in issue 2181 of AUTOhebdo by our correspondent, on sale Monday evening in digital version and Wednesday on newsstands.

IndyCar standings at Portland 2018: