PORTLAND, Ore. – Alex Palou couldn’t have picked a more advantageous time to score his first NTT IndyCar Series pole.
The second-year driver from Spain entered the weekend 10 points behind championship leader Pato O’Ward. Palou won the pole Saturday for Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland at Portland Int’l Raceway. By doing so, he also earned one point in the championship, which effectively means he is nine points behind O’Ward heading into the race.
Palou spun earlier in Saturday’s practice session but ended the 75-minute practice with the fastest time. He back that up in Saturday’s knockout round of qualifications with a fast time of 58.7701 around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile Portland Int’l Raceway for a speed of 120.306 mph in the No. 10 PNC Bank Honda for Chip Ganassi Racing.
RESULTS: Grand Prix of Portland Qualifying
It’s the first time this season that Palou’s car has had the PNC Bank livery.
“It’s amazing – I’m super happy,” said the driver from Spain. “My first pole in IndyCar. It’s the best start to a weekend we can have. We’re starting in the best position tomorrow and have a great car. It motivates us. But we were already fully motivated. The last two weekends were out of team control. We are laser focused and trying to get that championship.
“The team keeps on going one step further and pushing. It’s a good team atmosphere.”
Palou led the NTT IndyCar Series points for most the season before he had two bad race results in the row. The first was a blown engine in the Big Machine Spike Coolers Grand Prix on Aug. 14. He finished 27th in the 28-car field.
The next week in the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, Palou was involved in a crash with Rinus VeeKay and Scott Dixon on lap 65. He finished 20th.
“We had a rough two weekends in a row at Indy Road Course and Gateway, but we kept on working,” Palou said. “We kept our heads down and going for these three races that are going to be really important for us to try and get that championship. We started good. We just got one point today. The big points are tomorrow and in the last two weeks, so we’ll get them.”
Meantime, O’Ward was knocked out of advancing into the Fast Six by his Arrow McLaren SP teammate, Felix Rosenqvist, at the end of the second segment of qualifications. O’Ward will start seventh in Sunday’s 110-lap contest.
“Our pace on Reds was horrendous,” O’Ward said of his Firestone softer compound tires. “We were able to improve and where we’re starting is not that bad. It will be in Row 4. The guys I’m fighting are in front of me.
“I need to pass them.”
Another championship contender is two-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Josef Newgarden of Team Penske. He never advanced out of the first group in the first segment and will start 18th in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet for Team Penske. He enters the weekend third in points, 22 behind.
“We just didn’t have any pace,” Newgarden bemoaned. “It wasn’t a bad lap; it just wasn’t the best. I’m not quite sure why we didn’t have the speed there, we just didn’t. We’ll have to work hard on it tomorrow.
“I think I was within a tenth or a half of what I could do, but we were definitely off.”
Six-time NTT IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon is fourth in points, 43 points behind the leader. He will start third in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda after qualifying at 58.8673 (120.107 mph).
Alexander Rossi of Andretti Autosport was second fastest at 58.8573 (120.128 mph) in the No. 27 NAPA Honda followed by Dixon. Rosenqvist was fourth at 58.9505 in the No. 7 Chevrolet for Arrow McLaren SP, Graham Rahal fifth in the No. 15 Honda for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at 59.0067 (119.824 mph). Colton Herta of Andretti Autosport rounded out the Fast Six at 59.2796 (119.272 mph) in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.
Three drivers will have grid penalties because of unapproved engine changes including Rinus VeeKay, former Portland winner Takuma Sato and Ryan Hunter-Reay. Those three drivers will move to the back of the field.
Palou is a two-time NTT IndyCar Series race winner. On Saturday, he was able to compare the satisfaction of being in the fastest driver in the field, at least for this weekend.
“It feels amazing,” Palou said. “I have to say that it’s two mentalities when you go and qualify. You just want to get that pole, and it’s always super tough because not only you have to do every corner perfect, but the car must be really good, conditions, like everything must be amazing.
“I think this year we were really close, but we never got it, so it’s like you get more hungry, hungrier, and it feels amazing, especially knowing that tomorrow you are leading down to turn one. That gives you lots of satisfaction.
“We’ll try and keep that position.”