Portland, OR (September 12, 2021) – Dale Coyne Racing with RWR driver Romain Grosjean was the fastest car on track during Sunday’s Grand Prix of Portland but, unfortunately, he was unable to turn it into a top result after contact at the start of the race sent him to the back of the field and multiple laps down. Despite the setback, Grosjean was able to salvage a 22nd place finish all while registering the fastest race lap.

The driver of the #51 Nurtec ODT (Rimegepant) Honda suffered damage at the start of the race following contact with another competitor going into Turn 1. While the team did a great job repairing the damage to the left front suspension, Grosjean returned to the track on Lap 17, but he had lost 15 laps to the leaders in the process.

From that point on, Grosjean used the remainder of the race to gain experience around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course and he was continuously one of the fastest cars on track, registering the fastest race lap on his 83rd orbit of the circuit with a lap time of 59.4381 seconds, half a second quicker than anyone else.

“Portland was definitely not the weekend that we were hoping for,” shared Grosjean after the race. “Qualifying was not easy and I made a mistake going into Turn 1 at the start. I’m sorry to everyone that was involved. The Dale Coyne Racing with RWR crew did an amazing job fixing our Nurtec ODT car and we went out there and had the fastest lap of the race. It’s too bad because we had really good pace, but we lost too much time at the beginning. Hopefully we do better next week at Laguna Seca.”

With today’s result Grosjean continues to sit second, but 38 points behind, in the Rookie of the Year standings. The Swiss-born Frenchman and the Dale Coyne Racing with RWR crew will have a chance to cut into that gap when they return to action next weekend at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the penultimate round of the 2021 NTT INDYCAR SERIES.