PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Alex Palou earned the first pole of his IndyCar career and put himself in position to reclaim the championship lead Sunday at Portland International Raceway. Palou turned a top lap of 58.7701 seconds in Saturday qualifying on the 1.964-mile, 12-turn permanent road course built in 1960. “We’ve been working hard, trying to make this happen,“ Palou told The Associated Press after his qualifying lap. Palou earned one point for winning the pole and it cut his deficit to Pato O’Ward to just nine points ahead of the 110-lap race. It put O’Ward atop the points standings and knocked Palou to second; Palou was the points leader after eight of 13 races this season.

Source: thestar September 11, 2021 21:45 UTC