Alex Palou wrapped up his fourth IndyCar championship in the last five seasons on Sunday at Portland International Raceway when title contender Pato OWard lost power early in the race.
OWard started from the pole and was the only driver mathematically eligible to beat Palou for the championship. Palou went into Sunday with a cozy 121-point lead over OWard in the standings and so long as he left Portland up by 108 points, hed clinch the championship in the first race of a three consecutive weekends to close the season.
The Astor Cup became his just 22 laps into the race on the Portland road course when OWard had an electronic issue on his Arrow McLaren Chevrolet and had to make an unplanned pit stop. He returned to the track down nine laps from the leaders.
Palou finished third, OWard finished 25th and Palou has the title cemented with two races remaining in the IndyCar season. Palou was feisty in the closing portion of the race and raced unnecessarily aggressive at times even driving off course with four laps remaining and drag-racing Christian Lundgaard for position.
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AP auto racing:
周日，在波特兰国际赛道上，亚历克斯·帕卢（Alex Palou）锁定了过去五个赛季中的第四个印地赛车冠军头衔。当时，冠军争夺者帕托·奥沃德（Pato O'Ward）在比赛初期因赛车失去动力而退出竞争。
奥沃德（O'Ward）从杆位发车，是唯一在数学上有机会击败帕卢（Palou）夺冠的车手。帕卢在周日比赛前以121分的优势稳居积分榜首位，领先奥沃德。只要他在波特兰站结束后保持至少108分的领先优势，就能在本赛季连续三周的首场比赛中提前锁定总冠军头衔。
在波特兰公路赛道上，比赛仅进行了22圈，奥沃德驾驶的Arrow McLaren雪佛兰赛车便遭遇电子故障，不得不临时进站。当他重返赛道时，已落后领先车手九圈之遥，阿斯特杯就此与他失之交臂。
帕卢（Palou）最终获得第三名，奥沃德（O'Ward）位列第25名。在印地赛车赛季还剩两场比赛的情况下，帕卢已锁定冠军头衔。比赛尾声阶段，帕卢表现得斗志昂扬，有时甚至显得过于激进——在剩余四圈时一度驶离赛道，还与克里斯蒂安·伦加德（Christian Lundgaard）展开激烈的位置争夺战。
美联社赛车新闻：
