Team Penske’s Will Power is the defending winner of the Grand Prix of Portland, and one of only two repeat winners at the track since the IndyCar Series returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2018. If anyone knows the fastest way around the 1.967-mile layout, it’s the driver of the No. 12 Chevrolet.
“I’ve always liked the Portland Grand Prix track, and I feel a special connection with it because it’s where I first got to try a U.S. open-wheel car, when I tested for Derrick Walker in 2005. I can remember the switch back from paddle-shift gearbox in the World Series by Renault cars that I was racing to now being given a manual box in this Reynard Champ Car, which had 300 more horsepower and no power steering. I still recall opening up the throttle along the back straight and feeling the turbos just keep on pushing, and thinking, ‘If this is what Indy car racing is all about, then I’m up for it.’
“For Turn 1, you’re braking around the 250-meter marker, but it’s a long brake zone and it’s a tough one because you’re braking from high speed but still carrying a lot of speed across to the right-hand first apex, while also setting up for the tight Turn 2 left-hander. If you’re passing someone and haven’t got it done on the straight, you then have to compromise your line into Turn 1.
“If you’re on the inside at Turn 1 you need to make sure you’re still carrying more speed than the other guy so you can hang around the outside through Turn 2, which will give you the inside for Turn 3. But if he’s moved right on the straight to block the inside line into T1, you’ve obviously got to try and get fully alongside but on the outside of him because that’s going to give you the inside into T2. You’ve seen it done both ways – and successfully or unsuccessfully – over the years. Your big worry, if you’re not at the front, is the first corner on the first lap, because it is so tight there.
“You want to straighten out as quick as you can from Turn 2 so you can get the full power down because Turn 3 is flat, and then Turns 4 and 5 you treat as one giant right-hand curve, flowing a lot of speed through there. There is crowning on the road so you want to keep on the good side of the crown because the camber helps the car. Again, you can use the full exit of Turn 5 because you only need to move back across half a car’s-width from the left of the track to enter into Turn 6 left-hander, because it’s got such an open exit where you can use all the road.
The trip into Turn 1 at the start can be a handful if you’re stuck in the pack. Joe Skibinski/IMS
“That sends you diagonally across the track to try and open up and straighten out the entry into the right-hander of Turn 7, which is absolutely crucial to get right. If you go too slow into T7 or drop a rear wheel off at the exit – and it is easy to carry too much speed in because it’s got a really nice camber to it – it’s going to punish you all the way along the back straight, which isn’t really straight. It starts with a slight left and then a long curve right which is called Turn 8. Turn 7 is also the most obvious passing spot after Turn 1, but again, because it’s followed by a straight, it’s best if both drivers cooperate, otherwise the pass is going to lose both of you a lot of time to the other cars.
“With the hybrid set the way it is, all the off-throttle moments from Turn 4 through to 7 have completely recharged the system so you can use it along the back straight, but it goes down pretty quickly, long before you reach the turn-in for the left-handed Turn 9, which is so quick that I’ll normally stay in top and just charge in. Then maybe go down one gear before turning right for Turn 10, and then climb down three gears for second into T11.
“Because the Turn 10-11-12 sequence is almost like one long 180-degree corner, your speed – and the point at which you can floor the throttle onto the main straight – is totally dictated by understeer, so unwinding steering as soon as possible is crucial for a good exit. I reckon every one of us has, at some point in a weekend, fallen off the track onto the grass at Turn 11. It’s because if you get your exit to Turn 10 wrong and you’ve got some pick-up on your tires, or you don’t then slow enough, the nose keeps plowing wide into more marbles at turn-in for 11 and suddenly you’re over the outside curb, which has a drop-off.
“In-laps are also interesting, because the entry to pitlane is right at the exit of Turn 12, so minimizing time-loss at pitstops is all about keeping as much speed as possible through the end of the arc but bleeding it off a little so you can turn right for pit-in.
“Apart from Turns 1 and 7, to pass anywhere else requires the guy ahead to make a mistake… but there’s always a chance of that because Portland is one of those great old tracks where it’s really easy to get things wrong and cost you a bunch of time. A slow exit from Turn 2 can cost you going into 4, and it’s easy to run wide at Turn 6 or, like I said, 11.
“Wing-setting wise, it’s not so complicated – I don’t think we’ll trim out at all. Although you’ve got those two long straights where you’d want to reduce drag, you really need that downforce for those medium- and high-speed corners, especially Turn 9.
“Well, hopefully this weekend we can get our third win there, and Team Penske’s first IndyCar win of the season. Obviously, we’re way out of the championship running but for all of us on the No. 12 car, there’s a lot to fight for in these last three races.”
AT A GLANCE Race distance: 110 laps/216.04 miles 2024 pole time: 58.2046s (Santino Ferrucci, AJ Foyt Racing) 2024 fastest race lap: 59.7462s (David Malukas, Meyer Shank Racing) Push to pass parameters: 200 seconds of total time with a maximum time of 20 seconds per activation. Hybrid energy deployment parameters: Unlimited activation with a maximum deployment of 350 kilojoules (kj) per lap. Firestone tire allotment: Five sets primary, five sets alternate to be used during the event weekend. Teams must use one set of primary and one new set of alternate tires unless wet conditions are declared. One additional set is available for the weekend’s first session to teams fielding a rookie driver.
NTT INDYCAR SERIES WEEKEND SCHEDULE (all times local):
Friday, August 8 2:35-3:55 p.m. – Practice 1, FS2 (live)
Saturday, August 9 9:00-10:00 a.m. – Practice 2 (45 minutes green flag or one hour total), FS1 (live) 11:35 a.m. – Qualifying (Three rounds of knockout qualifying), FS1 (live) 4:32-4:57 p.m. – Final practice, FS1 (live)
Sunday, Aug. 10 12:15 p.m. – BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland presented by askROI “Drivers, start your engines” 12:22 p.m. – BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland presented by askROI FOX (live)
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