• Rookie Felix Rosenqvist equals season-best result with second-place finish
• Alexander Rossi keeps championship hopes alive with third-place result
• Honda continues to lead Manufacturers’ Championship with one race remaining

PORTLAND, Ore. (September 1, 2019) – Podium results for rookie Felix Rosenqvist and championship contender Alexander Rossi highlighted the Honda effort Sunday at the Grand Prix of Portland. Rosenqvist equaled his career-best finish with a second-place result at Portland International Raceway, while Rossi moved into second place in the season-long Drivers’ Championship, with one race remaining in the 2019 NTT IndyCar Series, following his third-place run.

The 105-lap contest got off to a rocky start with a multi-car collision which ended the day for four Honda drivers, including the eighth-starting James Hinchcliffe and his Arrow Schmidt Peterson teammate, Conor Daly, who had started ninth. Just after the race went green on Lap 12, another collision ended the day prematurely for the fourth-starting Meyer Shank Racing driver, Jack Harvey, and sent Andretti Autosport driver Ryan Hunter-Reay behind the pit wall for repairs.

Pole qualifier Colton Herta led the opening 36 laps in his Harding Steinbrenner Racing Honda, but eventually gave way to Scott Dixon and went on to a fourth-place finish. In search of his second victory of the season, Dixon took his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to a three-second lead on the field on Lap 50, but lost power on Lap 52 and coasted into pit lane. A long stop to replace the battery dropped Dixon three laps off the lead and effectively ended his hopes for a sixth IndyCar Series title.

Dixon’s Ganassi teammate, Rosenqvist, moved into second place mid-race and went on to trail race winner Will Power to the checkers, equaling his runner-up result from Mid-Ohio in July. Although not in position to challenge for the victory, a third-place result for Rossi sees him headed to the September 22 season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca second in the drivers’ title fight, 41 points behind leader Josef Newgarden. Meanwhile, Honda unofficially leads the Manufacturers’ Championship by 34 points.

Next

The Verizon IndyCar Series now heads south to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California, for the September 22, double-points paying Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey. The season-ending race, to determine the 2019 Drivers’ and Manufacturers’ championships, will be televised live on the NBC Sports Network starting at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

Quotes

Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started seventh, finished third: “It is not that I wanted more [for himself], I just wanted less for [championship points leader Josef] Newgarden. I don’t think we had a race-winning car today, unfortunately. The #27 NAPA Andretti Honda boys did a good job. We maximized what we had. Starting in seventh and finishing on the podium is a good day. We finished in front of our championship rival. It will be pretty intense in California [for the season finale race at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca], but I am looking forward to it.”

Felix Rosenqvist (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started fifth, finished second, equaling career-best result from Mid-Ohio: “I thought it was a great race for us in the #10 NTT DATA Honda. I think we were stronger than Chevy on fuel mileage. The team really did a nice job. We had really good pace on the [softer compound Firestone] ‘Red’ tires, but Will Power and Penske did a little bit better on [harder compound] ‘Black’ tires. We moved up from fifth to second, and it’s a strong result. We still have another chance to win at Laguna Seca, and that’s what I’ll be focused on in a few weeks.”

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started third, led 11 laps, finished 16^th after long pit stop to replace the battery: “Obviously not the result that we wanted with the #9 PNC Bank car. We had a great car, and it was clean sailing out front for us in the lead. The team did a great job. We just lost power and when that happens you can’t shift and you can’t use the clutch. Luckily, we were able to get to pit lane so the crew could get us to the pit box [to replace the battery]. I just hate giving away an easy win like that. Congrats to Felix [Rosenqvist] on finishing second. That’s the second time he’s done that in just the past few races, so good job there. The last two races haven’t been the best for us in terms of luck, but we’ll just focus now on winning at Laguna Seca.”

Ted Klaus (President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s Honda IndyCar Series race in Portland: “It was great to see Colton [Herta] win the pole on Saturday and have another stong race today. He continues to impress us in his rookie IndyCar season, and another Honda rookie, Felix Rosenqvist went to the front today for his second podium finish of the year. It unfortunate that events out of their control ended what could have been great results for Scott Dixon and Jack Harvey, but another podium result for Alexander [Rossi] keeps him in the championship hunt going into the last race of the year in two weeks. The battle for the Manufacturers’ Championship also is going to go down to the final race at Laguna Seca, and everyone at Honda Performance Development will be giving all they have as we work to repeat our title run from 2018.”

NTT IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Portland

Circuit:                   Portland International Raceway (1.9-mile road course) Portland, Oregon

2018 Winner:     Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) 102.971 mph average speed

Weather:           Sunny, warm, 83 degrees F

Top-10 Race Results:

Fn.	St.	Driver	Team	Manufacturer	Laps	Notes
1.	2.	Will Power	Team Penske	Chevrolet	105	104.225 mph average
2.	5.	Felix Rosenqvist-R	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	105	+2.7885 seconds
3.	7.	Alexander Rossi	Andretti Autosport	Honda	105
4.	1.	Colton Herta-R	Harding Steinbrenner	Honda	105
5.	13.	Josef Newgarden	Team Penske	Chevrolet	105
6.	10.	Spencer Pigot	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet	105
7.	18.	Simon Pagenaud	Team Penske	Chevrolet	105
8.	21.	Matheus Leist	A.J. Foyt Racing	Chevrolet	105
9.	12.	Sebastien Bourdais	DCR with Vasser-Sullivan	Honda	105
10.	22.	Charlie Kimball	Carlin Racing	Chevrolet	105

Other Honda Results

13.	16.	Marco Andretti	Andretti Autosport	Honda	104	Running
15.	17.	Takuma Sato	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	Honda	103	Running
16.	3.	Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda	102	Running
17.	14.	Santino Ferrucci-R	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda	96	Did not finish – mechanical
18.	6.	Ryan Hunter-Reay	Andretti Autosport	Honda	81	Running – delayed
19.	4.	Jack Harvey	Meyer Shank Racing	Honda	13	Did not finish – contact
20.	8.	James Hinchcliffe	Arrow Schmidt Peterson	Honda	0	Did not finish – contact
21.	9.	Conor Daly	Arrow Schmidt Peterson	Honda	0	Did not finish – contact
22.	11.	Zach Veach	Andretti Autosport	Honda	0	Did not finish – contact
23.	15.	Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan	Honda	0	Did not finish – contact