CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
PORTLAND, ORGON
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE REPORT
SEPT 3, 2023
FELIX ROSENQVIST PUTS CHEVROLET ON PODIUM IN THE BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
o Felix Rosenqvist raced his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to a second-place
o finish in today’s BITNILE.com Grand Prix of Portland
o Chevrolet drivers have led 1,179 of 1,934 laps to date at since 2018
o return; total of 1,924 after today’s 11 lap race
o Five Team Chevy drivers finished in the top-10 including Rosenqvist:
o Pato O’Ward 4th
o Josef Newgarden 5rh
o Rinius VeeKay 6th
o Scott McLaughlin 9th
o Since INDYCAR and Chevrolet returned to Portland International Raceway, Team Chevy has captured two wins (Will Power – 2019, McLaughlin – 2022), two pole awards (Power – 2018, McLaughlin – 2022), three podium finishes, all while leading 224 laps around the 12-turn, 1.964-mile natural terrain road course in Portland, Ore.
o Chevy powered divers scored 306 podiums in V6 era to date and 23 podiums thus far in 2023
PORTLAND, OREGON (September 3, 2023) – After qualifing11th, Felix Rosenqvist marched forward through the 27 car field to battle for the win. With only two cautions, teams and drivers relied on strategy, pit stops and smooth performance on track. It is his first of the season.
Front row sitter Scott McLaughlin had very fast race car and high hopes for race, but strategy didn’t play out to weather conditions.
Josef Newgarden brought home a strong fifth place finish after missing a melee on lap one from his 12th place starting spot.
Alex Palou won the race and clinched his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship. Scott Dixon was also in top-5
The NTT INDYCAR Series 2023 season concludes at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seda near Monterey, California Sept. 8-10, 2023. The green flag waves live at
TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
Pos. Driver
2nd Felix Rosenqvist
4th Pato O’Ward
5th Josef Newgarden
6th Rinus VeeKay
9th Scott McLaughlin
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“It was a tough day. I put us in a hole yesterday was my mistake in qualifying, and our car was clearly a lot quicker than starting 12. So, you know, I think at the start here, too, we definitely went even further back. This first time I’ve seen I felt like I was kind of getting into a wreck, so I just kind of bailed out. And then yeah, just took the escape road and probably didn’t even need to, but yeah, I just felt like I was about to get into one which is very possible here in Portland.
“So we fought back and the team did an amazing job. Like just so proud of the team, they were unbelievable in the pits, made the right calls all day and at a super fast car. So I you know, I’m just very thankful to the team for all their hard work and effort. And I think most importantly, today, just want to congratulate Alex and his team, very deserving champions. So, you know, tough year for us. But they did a great job super deserving, and we’ll come back next year. So that’s probably a good thing. I think so. It’s constant. You know, we’re always trying to evolve and you know, it’s trying to make a step this weekend, just evolution of how we’re going to approach things and you know, it’s always going to be the same game. It’s going to be one race at a time trying to maximize the weekend and by, you know, by far we did not maximize the weekend. No, thanks to me. So, you know, if we can clean stuff like that up, we get, you know, a little bit of the tide turn our way more so in the year than then I think we can definitely be in another championship run.”
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“An unfortunate day for the Freightliner Chevy today at Portland. I thought we were very quick today, but we just started on the wrong tire. The primaries were the preferred tire with the red alternates really falling off over a stint. Once we had to pit earlier for tires and got overcut by the drivers that started on the primaries, you find yourself stuck in the back and your day is pretty much done. Those that started with the black tires really moved forward. It’s still another top 10 for this team. We’ll keep pushing forward and finish strong next weekend at Laguna Seca.”
Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:
“Just a rough day for the Verizon 5G Chevy. I’m pretty disappointed in myself for making that mistake. I was just trying to keep (Alexander) Rossi behind me because he was on reds, and I expected them to fall off quickly. Just unacceptable because if we have a normal race we are likely fighting for a podium or top-five finish. Just have to try and move on and get a win at Laguna to finish the season.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“I wouldn’t have changed anything with the strategy. I was very happy and comfortable with the car, and I felt like I drove a really good race. It’s just frustrating; it’s the same story every time. As soon as we get to lapped cars, it’s always a race to get by them. They really destroy and diminish your chances to fight for a better position. In this case, it was a podium position. We had the pace for that, but when someone in front of you is doing everything in their power to block you, blowing their push to pass so you use yours, that shouldn’t be happening in a series like this. I hope to see the rules change in the future. But for now, we’ll settle for a P4. I’m bummed because the team deserved more today with the performance we had in pitlane, the strategy and lap times we were putting out.” just rolling our way, which it’s been awhile since it’s felt that way. The flow was just there throughout the race. That was good fun; I really enjoyed that.”
Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
“We didn’t get the win, but to me, that was kind of a comeback. We had a really good strategy. Team Chevy gave us really good power, and everything was just rolling our way, which it’s been awhile since it’s felt that way. The flow was just there throughout the race. That was good fun; I really enjoyed that.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:
”I think we were recovering from a bad first stop due to the sequence of cars coming in when we were trying to leave, and we were on for a fifth, sixth-place day. I was overtaking Marcus Ericsson when he moved in the straight, broke our front wing and that was our day. It’s a shame. We struggled this weekend to really get the balance right, but the race was probably the best part of the weekend, and it was going to be a pretty good day for the team. It still was, obviously, but it’s a shame we weren’t also able to get a result.”
Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20. Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
: “It ended up being a tough day. It would have been nice to start where we qualified. Unfortunately, starting at the back with the engine penalty put us behind from the start. We tried an alternate strategy that ultimately did not work in our favor. The positive was we had good pace, but downside was we really couldn’t use it today because of how the race shook out.”
Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:
“It was very nice to use our speed to move forward! Kudos to the No. 21 BITNILE.COM Chevrolet crew! The car felt really good and allowed me to drive aggressively. It really suited my driving style and allowed me to pass cars, which you have to be able to do here. We weren’t incredibly lucky today, we got to the front on pace. Everyone has seen it, we’ve had a very tough season. We’ve not been happy with our pace in general so to be able to make this kind of progress before the end of the season is very nice. A great big thank you to Ed Carpenter Racing! And, it’s great to have my best finish of the season so far at the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland!”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“Long race-Fighting a little bit of understeer here and there, but overall, pretty happy with the performance of the car. It’s a good step moving forward. I think we definitely could have had the top 15 had we not got spun on the final restart, but on to Laguna and just keep building.”
Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:
“Honestly it was one of our best races We just got caught out by the yellow by literally a lap. We pitted and then two laps later the yellow came out.”I think a top 15 was looking very realistic,” he contined. “Just trying to have a really good day and it was looking really good. I think it was one of our best races from my point of view, and the team also, with pit stops. We just got a little unlucky with strategy. I would say the car has come a really long way from our road course setup, so that’s very promising. Crazy there’s only one race to go, so we’ll look to finish really strong.”positive energy and work as hard as I can. It just really sucks in the moment.”
Callum Ilott, “It was a tough race for us. We got pushed in turn seven of lap one. And then unfortunately, as I’m stuck on the curb dust everywhere another car hit me. I think there’s quite a bit of damage from that but able to continue. Luckily, we got away with it. To be honest, I struggled a lot on the first set of tires on the ultimate couldn’t really get anywhere, lost a lot of ground. First off, and then yeah, tried to make up a bit from there. We had good pace in the in the end, we improved the car on the pitstops and got it back into the window. It definitely wasn’t the easiest car to work with. But once we got it back and kind of figured out what we needed to do with it. Yeah, we had good pace to just unfortunately we didn’t really put everything together and stuff was starting in the top 10 You need to put everything together so kind of a race that could have been lots of learn from the weekend. Quite a few positives. Yeah, just need to put it together and Laguna next week.
Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:
About Chevrolet
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